WOW! Very Lord of the Flies. I knew a girl who was sent off to boarding school, she was bullied and miserable the whole time she was there. Went on to be a marvelous chef.

A good British friend in Germany went to a boarding school along with his brother. Stoneyhurst school [stonyhurst.ac.uk] His parents didn't get along so off they went. It was a Catholic school and when he was graduating from HS he had to make a choice of going on for ordination or leave. He had too many questions and left (so did his brother). Once we traveled to Britain and revisited this school. Very impressive and totally self reliant. Unfortunately, in his later life he grew fat, bald and became a born again Catholic.
Makes one wonder about Rhodes Scholars (Bill Clinton) who were sent to Oxford.

All true...not that I ever experienced this horrific system, but I have read enough about it to know that Monbiot has this assessment spot on. The fact that he himself was a product of this systematic brutalisation and abuse of the sons of the gentry gives it all the more credence. This education system is bound to shape the personalities and mindset of these who experience it. What I want to know is how we are to break both this cycle of abuse (I’m pretty sure nothing much has changed in these institutions) and how we can start drawing our leaders from a more representative spectrum of society. It is interesting that in the case of politicians such as Johnston & Cameron who reach the very top, most voters accept their status as top dogs without question, accepting that they belong to a ruling class...even though as it’s pointed out here, they are part of a very small elite group who are unrepresentative of society as a whole.