State school pupils lack confidence – you won’t fix that in the classroom (Julian Baggini)

'As someone who was state-educated, the key difference I notice between me and my privately schooled peers is that they have a kind of social confidence that I and my ilk lack. This confidence has no clear connection with self-esteem or self-confidence, and has absolutely nothing to do with virtue. A privately educated person might be a psychological wreck or a scoundrel, but they still tend to approach the world with a sense of entitlement and possibility which means they simply expect to be taken seriously and given opportunities.

That kind of confidence is something most of us who went through the state system never acquire. It can’t be taught, but can only be nurtured by life repeatedly proving that such confidence is justified. So before we tell people that they should cultivate a winning personality, we have to demonstrate to them that winning is more than just a distant possibility.'

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