' … this elegantly crafted minature of a book … [distills] into 107 pages of marvellously lucid, dispassionate and well-organised text the diverse arguments and conflicting evidence on the subject.' The Times Literary Supplement

• Introduction; 1. Literacy and schooling; 2. Was technical education to blame?; 3. The counterarguments; 4. The education of the elite, 1870–1914; 5. 1914–44: missed opportunities; 6. Postwar decline: the betrayed teenager?; 7. Higher education and the public schools: privilege and relevance?; Conclusion.

' … this elegantly crafted minature of a book … [distills] into 107 pages of marvellously lucid, dispassionate and well-organised text the diverse arguments and conflicting evidence on the subject.' The Times Literary Supplement

• Introduction; 1. Literacy and schooling; 2. Was technical education to blame?; 3. The counterarguments; 4. The education of the elite, 1870–1914; 5. 1914–44: missed opportunities; 6. Postwar decline: the betrayed teenager?; 7. Higher education and the public schools: privilege and relevance?; Conclusion.

' … this elegantly crafted minature of a book … [distills] into 107 pages of marvellously lucid, dispassionate and well-organised text the diverse arguments and conflicting evidence on the subject.' The Times Literary Supplement

• Introduction; 1. Literacy and schooling; 2. Was technical education to blame?; 3. The counterarguments; 4. The education of the elite, 1870–1914; 5. 1914–44: missed opportunities; 6. Postwar decline: the betrayed teenager?; 7. Higher education and the public schools: privilege and relevance?; Conclusion.