A Spy by Nature - Charles Cumming [78]
‘Come on, Milius. You believe in free markets just as much as the next guy…’
True. But I don’t admit this.
‘Just a second. So in order to make their money they’ve created a culture of fear overseen by big-brother management consultants - no offence to you and Kathy - whose only concern is to get their annual bonus. The last thing it has anything to do with is curing people.’
Former makes to interrupt me again but I keep on going.
‘Education is worse: nobody wants to become a teacher any more because in the mind of the public, being a teacher is just a notch above cleaning toilets for a living. Just like doctors, they’ve been treated with utter contempt, subjected to endless form-filling, changes in the curriculum, low salaries, you name it. And all because the Tories don’t have the guts to say that the real problem isn’t the teachers, it’s bad parenting. And you know why they don’t say that? Because parents vote.’
‘You think that’ll change if Labour win?’
I give a spluttering laugh, more contemptuous than I had intended.
‘No. No way. Maybe they’ll try and make a difference in schools, but until the accumulation of knowledge stops being unfashionable, until kids are encouraged to stay at school past sixteen, and until they find parents who actually take responsibility for their kids when they go home in the evening, nothing will change. Nothing.’
‘It’s no different in the States,’ Fortner says, curling his mouth downward and shaking his head. ‘In some cities we have kids checking in assault rifles before assembly. You go to a high school in Watts it’s like passing through security at Tel Aviv airport.’
‘Sure. But your system isn’t a toss-up between private and public education. Only a very few people actually pay to go to high school in the States, right?’
‘Right.’
‘That’s not the case in this country. Here, you can buy your way out of the mess. And the worst of it is that the more state education goes into decline, the more parents are going to send their children to fee-paying schools, and the more teachers are going to want jobs outside the state sector because they don’t need the grief of working in an inner-city comprehensive. So the gap between rich and poor will widen. It’s exactly the same pattern with medical care. The only way not to have to wait three years for an operation is to pay for it. But you want to know what really sickens me?’
‘I feel sure you’re gonna tell me.’
‘Our fee-paying schools. They have unbelievable facilities, superb teaching resources, and they cost a fortune. But they’re wasted on the people who can afford to go there.’
‘Why d’you say that?’
‘Look at what the students do after ten years of being privately educated. Most of them go and work in the City with the sole objective of making money. Nobody ever puts anything back in. Nobody is taught to feel a responsibility towards their society. It’s women and children first with those guys, but only if Tarquin isn’t worried about losing the twelve per cent bonus on his offshore investment portfolio. That’s the extent of his imagination.’
‘But these are bright guys, Milius. And maybe after working in the City they go into the law or politics, or they start their own small business and create jobs for other people.’
‘Bullshit. Excuse me, Fort, but that’s bullshit. They’ll just make sure they have enough money to send their son to Winchester and then the whole cycle will begin all over again. Another generation of inbred fuckwits who are spoon-fed just enough of the right information by gifted teachers that they can scrape through their A-levels, go to university and waste some more of the taxpayer’s money. You know what? We should have to pay to go to university like you do in the States: at least then we’d appreciate it more.’
Fortner smirks and mutters ‘Yeah’ under his breath. A vapour of sweat has appeared on his forehead and he has a thin line of Guinness threaded across his upper lip.
I try a different tack.
‘Reminds me of a story