A new fast-selling book in England last week cracked an angry whip at the public (i.e., private) school system. Called George Brown's Schooldays, and written by Bruce Marshall, * it parodies Thomas Hughes's preachy, sentimental story of life at Rugby, Tom Brown's School Days (1857). The new novel rips the hide from the hidebound educational philosophy that has produced many great men and even more numerous small ones.
At a public school known as Dunmere, students learn what the self-righteous Headmaster calls "the three Cs: Christianity, the cold bath and cricket." They notably fail to learn a big D: democracy. Even among...
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