@Zodlebud: Education is NOT a market. It's a right for every child.
Let's just agree to disagree on this.
Yes, wealthy international elite have always attended UK schools but it has gone waaaay beyond that now where the balance has truly shifted.
In some schools I have seen 1/3 coming from only 1 particular nation with a total of 2/3 non-UK students.
To cap it off, a bulk of the reamining1/3 is made up of those uber wealthy that now hold UK citizenship (bought for £2M or so with the caveat of creating a business - in one case, purely set up to get in more overseas from their country only) .
I am simply reporting an observation but of course you are entitled to your opinions. I am basing mine on objective observations....I think the extreme position we are in now does not require for me to exaggerate as it's a bad sad sorry state of affairs.
As you said yourself,
"boarding schools are increasingly becoming increasingly selective purely on the basis of whether or not you can afford the fees"
....Increasingly, it's the international parents that can afford these now and the trend is only going one way.
If your point is that the UK super wealthy can still afford the fees, then if you strip out the ones that are either non-does & those that bought citizenship but still hold allegiance to their home country (observation again) then there are some of those folk left but do we really only want to see those as the sole representatives in leading UK boarding/inde schools?
What about the hard aspirational folks from the UK that used to send their kids to these school enmass until the last 10 or so years....?
I'm talking about the Doctors, solicitors, pharmacists, etc....
As you said though, it's a "market" and "boarding schools are increasingly becoming increasingly selective purely on the basis of whether or not you can afford the fees"
So your point is, if you can't afford it then you shouldn't bother.....hardly a progressive point this the overall argument.
Drug dealers have plenty money these days, and online fraudsters.....let's take them too, right!
My point is not to compare the international to these types of folk but to say that money should not be the overriding factor.
These schools have pandered to the international set to chase the money for far too long.
It has created an environment where there is no an arms race to build the next best building, swimming pool, sports centre, debating room, etc...so as to attract this level of money.
ENOUGH!
The ironic thing is in discussion with the parents from the nation that make up 1/3 of schools.....I discovered that they are complaining about their being too many internationals in these schools and not enough British.....even they don't want to see it!
Naturally, you would need to talk to parents to glean this information so I am on good terms parents from all communites.
The British pupils, the British parents and the British community that is created around this is what brings the international set to these schools, NOT the old fashioned buildings.....lose them at your peril!
The leading schools give us British the opportunity to give our kids a head start in an increasingly international competitive world.
If we squander this opportunity for our kids because of a ill thought out capital ideology as you inferred (if you can't afford it then tough), then Britain really has lost its edge.
Most international folk take this head start away with them along with any hope of the benefits of this leading education being looped back in to Britain....instead it's lost to overseas.
Wake up and smell the coffee!
Again, I would like to state that a good balance of international students enriches all schools. The balance is wrong and it's driving up fees and thereby excluding British kids.