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Friday

Emma Wells

The Norfolk manor house that inspired Virginia Woolf

Many English country houses lay claim to literary legacies. Blo Norton Hall, however, has more right than most. In the summer of 1906, while in her early twenties, Virginia Woolf rented the Elizabethan Norfolk manor house with her older sister, artist Vanessa. The seven-mile journey there from Diss station, through isolated countryside, and their arrival at the secluded, moated site made a deep impression on Woolf. She wrote in her diary: ‘Every mile seemed to draw a thicker curtain than the last between you and the world. So that finally, when you are set down at the Hall, no sound whatever reaches your ear; the very light seems to filter

Thursday

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Independent thinking: private schools need reinvention, not abolition

It is one of those ancient mysteries: why has no Labour government been able to abolish private schools? Harold Wilson didn’t spare grammar schools (and nor did Edward Heath’s government, which followed). New Labour, too, for all its reforming zeal, never dared disembowel the independent sector. When the party did promise to do so – in 1983 and 2019 – it lost heavily. But are private schools about to run out of luck? For once we have a Labour opposition which is threatening to end their charitable status – and which also looks as if it will cruise to victory at the next general election. Labour’s pre-manifesto has promised to

Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

Private education’s dirty little secret

Someone once said that the two greatest moments you enjoy when owning a yacht are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. You could make a similar case for school fees: nothing feels quite as good as the day you finally stop paying them. Much as we are impressed by the hockey pitch, what we’re really choosing for our kids is a peer group All the same, I feel a bit of an ingrate grumbling about private schools, since both my daughters did very well from them. Both ended up with a superb network of seemingly lifelong friends, had a mostly very happy time at school

Harry Wallop

How to get in to an American university

Angela McAuslan-Kelly is a normal sixth-former at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen. Her dad is a bus driver and her mum works in a coffee shop. ‘They are not very wealthy,’ explains Holly Cram, a former captain of the Scottish national women’s hockey team. Angela, though, is off to Princeton in September. ‘I completely get why students want to do it. They are sold on the dream of getting a scholarship’ The reason is American universities’ extraordinarily generous scholarships, especially for sports. ‘She is very bright and she is very good at chucking a heavy thing on a wire,’ laughs Cram. Angela’s love of hammer throwing means she will soon

Sean Thomas

Will AI kill homework?

If the success of a new technology can be measured by the speed of uptake, there is no denying the epochal impact of ChatGPT. Within five days of its launch in late November, the artificial intelligence chatbot, which can provide clear, detailed answers to human questions, was being used by a million people. Now it’s used by 100 million, with a growing waiting list of those looking for a chance to try it. Even the mighty Google has allegedly issued a ‘Code Red’, realising that a machine which can answer any question without having to send you off to some unreliable websites might pose a threat to its search-engine business

Hannah Moore

In praise of British school holidays

As half-term approaches, the kids at the school gate visibly slow down. They start dragging their feet and purple smudges appear under their eyes. I feel sorry for them. Then I think of my home country, America. No half-terms. Children in the US went back to school on 3 January and they won’t have a week off until 3 June – five months without a break. Children form their own societies, Lord of the Flies-style, where the only rules are the ones the bullies enforce  If that sounds blissful from a childcare point of view, here’s the drawback: the American summer break is 11 weeks long. Eleven weeks! Now that

Frank Young

How to tempt parents away from private schools

Destroying private schools isn’t just a preoccupation of left-wing activists. The former education secretary Michael Gove said in 2019 that he wanted state schools to be so good that paying fees would be seen as an ‘eccentric choice’. Labour has explained that if it wins power, the party will scrap charitable status for private schools and charge VAT on fees. Even among Tory voters, as many people agree with this policy as oppose it. Is it surprising that support for private schools, including among the middle classes, is on the decline? The cost of private education has more than doubled in 30 years, even accounting for inflation. The average cost

Miranda Morrison

Why maths to 18 is a bad idea (by a maths teacher)

Whenever I tell people I used to be a maths teacher the most common response is: ‘I absolutely hated maths at school.’ It is an age-old tale, to loathe maths lessons (or indeed your maths teacher). So, what better way to make children loathe maths even more than to make it compulsory until the age of 18? Rishi Sunak’s plan, announced at the start of the year, aims to address innumeracy and better prepare pupils for the workplace. There are many reasons why, on the surface, it seems a sensible approach – not least because the UK is one of the few countries in the world that does not require

Henrik Karlsson

How to raise a genius

If you want to master something, you should study the highest achievements in the field. To learn how to paint beautifully, visit the National Gallery. If you want to be a great scientist, spend some time in cutting-edge laboratories. If you want to write, read great literature. But this is not what parents usually think about when considering how to educate their children. Most simply outsource the work to existing bureaucracies. Is there, however, something that they could learn from the great figures of the past? Those who grow up to be exceptional tend to spend their formative years surrounded by exceptional adults I sampled the biographies of 42 outstanding