CPSA in the Media
Well, the media in the broadest possible sense. Some excellent coverage, but also a few plugs on other websites.
The Daily Telegraph
"Private School Teachers Don't Know It All" by Rowan Pelling
If these tragic tales ring bells, may I recommend the funniest website of all time: The Crap Public Schools Association.
» 29th May 2007
The Times
T2 lead article: "To fail them all their days"
As police investigate allegations of bullying at a top independent school, Ben Locker and William Dornan argue that public schools are snobbish anachronisms that do not equip pupils for the modern world.
» 3rd April 2007
Letters Page
Ben Locker and William Dornan’s views (“To fail them all their days?”, times2, April 3) smack of a sensationalist and, more worryingly, an outdated impression of the independent sector.
»
5th April 2007
The Resident (www.theresident.co.uk)
As anyone who has seen drunken and well-heeled teenagers burning stolen fences on the North Cornwall coast knows, a public school education is not automatic proof of either good manners or a sense of social duty. And nor has it ever been. As the former brothel madam Janie Jones recalled after dealing with a client who mentioned his schooling to guarantee his behaviour: “We didn’t know what a Wykehamist was, so we looked it up in the dictionary. When we couldn’t find it, we assumed it meant pervert. So Franie went, and he was.”
»
June 2007 (pdf file)
The Sunday Herald
As if Irn Broon were not foe enough, two former public school pupils have written a book biting the hand that occasionally fed them. Ben Locker and William Dorman [sic] say that it is "unthinking" to argue that public schools provide children automatically with the best start in life. In their view, many public schools are mired in snobbery and tradition. Moreover the standard of education is variable, parents use speech days for social-climbing, and bullying is rife.
Naming no names, the authors cite one school which is under police investigation over allegations that younger pupils were tied to a chair and forced to watch images on the internet of torture, murder and pornography.
What can one say, except that it was never like that in Jennings's day. Mercifully, Mr Locker and Mr Dorman [sic] have recovered from their experience in such an environment, crediting St Andrews University - which they both attended - for providing "a sort of social decompression chamber" in which they became "acclimatised to the rest of the world".
Yes, you read right. St Andrews yooni. A social decompression chamber. Halfway house to the real world. Yah! Wow!
» Alan Taylor's Diary, 8th April 2007
The Guardian
According to the admirable crappublicschools.org, the song of Stamford School in Lincolnshire runs thus: "In Father Time's remoter days/By strange coincidences/Noah built the Ark, and someone else/Schola Stamfordiensis." A most promising start, obviously. But we have a nagging feeling there must be even worse out there. The usual £30 to the winner.
» Diary, 21st November 2006
Our essential quest for this country's Crappiest School Song is over, you fools. For the untold legions of you who plainly would rather it wasn't, we refer you to the most excellent www.crappublicschools.org, where you will find, in extenso, literally dozens of the bloody things, many in Latin.
» Diary, 28th November 2006
Tatler
Swinesend review, May 2007: "A must for every smart loo".
Harry's Place
"For the rest of you, please trust me when I tell you that the last thing the country needs is a further injection of the public school spirit."
Bill Dornan
» May 2007
Membership Today
"However, for some unfortunates, attending public school did not live up to its promises of guaranteed academic, personal and career success.
Two such individuals are Ben Locker and William Dornan..."
» May 2007
Sour Grapes
I can't quite remember how I came upon the Crap Public Schools Association, but it probably had something to do with looking up one of the ne'er-do-wells listed, among them Angus Deayton, Aleister Crowley, Jeffrey Archer, Keith Floyd or Christopher Hitchens (who was sent to Leys school because, his mother allegedly said, "If there is going to be an upper class in this country, then Christopher is going to be in it". Poor dear, how she must cry herself to sleep).
» 3rd May, 2006
Channel 4
Titus Oates (1649–1705)
www.crappublicschools.org/alumni/o/index.html
Short biography of Oates in the 'Heroes, scoundrels and others' section of the Crap Public Schools Association website. Worth reading for the glee in which Oates's nefarious deeds are related.
» Channel 4 Monarchy Site
