\paperw3360 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx3255\tx6525\tx9780\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 The vast majority of the population in Great Britain enjoys free educati
on in what are known as æstate schoolsÆ. In fact the expression is a misnomer in the UK, because the state does not run schools and the basic structure of primary and secondary education is provided by schools that are funded by a local education author
ity. Nonetheless, the term is widely used to differentiate such schools from the famous fee-paying independent schools that are confusingly known as \b \cf4 \ATXht12311000 public schools\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 . Although only a minority of people in Britain a
re educated in such private schools, in the past the percentage of public-school educated men and women in positions of power and responsibility has been disproportionately high. This has had more to do with self-defence and -promotion on the part of th
e privileged few than with the quality of the education actually received. As Britain becomes an increasingly multiethnic society, such differences are gradually being ironed out.\par
