Why Does Everyone on Telly Go to Private School? The Pros and Cons of Making Characters Inconceivably Wealthy

Words: Michaela Makusha

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Despite my belief that private schools should not exist, I find myself drawn to television, films and books set in these places. I - and many like me - have become eager consumers of the boarding school mystique and managed to romanticise it all for so long, despite the quite obvious red flags. Writers have given us rich descriptions of the countryside alongside the aesthetics of 16th-century buildings, uniforms accessorised with jewelled headbands and designer handbags to keep us from probing too far into why these shows are set amongst an unreachable elite. 

Private schools are obviously useful narratively in equal parts of intrigue and convenience. The elitism, wealth, and glamour associated with private schools create a captivating backdrop for characters and plot development. Two characters don’t want to talk to each other? Too bad, they have fencing together and also live in the same dormitory. Doing something that is potentially illegal? Much like in Get Even, a rich father can make all your problems go away with a simple donation!

There is a formula to the private school drama. Take a shy, but good-looking student from a ‘poor’ background. Add in a cute love interest who is an idiot because, well, all the characters are teenagers. Throw in a few mean students who are nasty because they’re elitist - sorry, I mean because their parents hate them. A few classes here and there remind us at times that the characters are in fact at school. All of these together add up to create the perfect microcosm in which we can examine class, gender and racial dynamics we see in society wrapped up in striped blazers. And yet, so many of these shows fail to do that. 

The common trope in private school shows is the portrayal of privileged and wealthy students being conflicted by their positions, but ultimately doing little to change anything. The outsider lead character allows readers and viewers to experience the new world alongside the protagonist - Simon in Young Royals, Ruby in Maxton Hall, and Kitty Wei in Get Even all fit this archetype - but while the contrast between the protagonist's background and the privileged environment of the private school can add depth to the narrative, the storyline that rich people are aware but useless about class disparity falls flat.
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Another tired trope is the overuse of our outsider lead as a tool for looking at love, pulling them into a disparate romance that’s doomed to fail. While the contrast between the protagonist's background and the privileged environment of their private school beau could lead to interesting conversations. Yet more often than not it just ends up with our lead feeling sad about being poor and I don’t need to see people sad because their high school partner is richer than them! I want to see people reckoning with the implications of private education in wider society and while it may sound like advice from a Jane Austen novel, class does still matter when it comes to relationships. Ideas on politics, how we experience the world differs because of the socio-economic situations we are raised in.

Young Royals, Prince Wilhelm and Simon’s relationship in particular, stands out as a good illustration of the complexities around dating outside of your class. Simon, as an outsider to the royal family, is uncomfortable with the attention Wilhelm receives and Wilhelm becomes increasingly unhappy with not only having to hide his sexuality with his family and the adoring public, but his feelings too. Simon and Wilhelm are developed into well-rounded, loveable characters and we root for them. The show gives a nuance to their relationship that explores not only wealth and privilege, but how both impact us as individuals and in relationships. 

“The students aim for analysing the colonial legacy and whitewashing the school does, whilst battling with having to conform to succeed in a system that only wishes to appear as though it is changing.” 

These shows often depict the poorer students - who usually come from regular, middle-class backgrounds - as morbidly fascinated with the way their wealthy peers live and react with a mixture of discomfort and surprise. Perhaps it is meant to be an indication of how audiences react, I would definitely feel somewhat similar. In Maxton Hall, we have countless examples of our dashing young protagonist James easily getting access to historical archives, hosting parties at the drop of a hat and having a personal chauffeur available at his beck and call. Similar too to Gossip Girl in which we see how Blair Waldorf can organise anything from a private flight to Paris to a midnight soiree just to prove a point. 

What is new and exciting in this genre in the past couple of years, however, is a more intimate representation of the toll that constant assimilation and cognitive dissonance can take on one’s ability to make ethical decisions. In Borders, the comedy from BBC Three, a group of black students from South London are invited to improve St Gilbert's boarding school’s reputation. The students aim for analysing the colonial legacy and whitewashing the school does, whilst battling with having to conform to succeed in a system that only wishes to appear as though it is changing. 

Being poorer is one thing, but entering into an entirely white ecosystem is another.  Race and class are often conflated with no real analysis. There is no recognition of the experiences of middle/upper-class black people versus other people of colour, but Boarders explores these nuances. Through the characters of Koku, who is black and from a wealthy family and Abby, daughter of the headmaster of St Gilbert’s, the show gives life to lesser-depicted experiences of blackness and the political differences that can stem from them. 

Just like any genre, there are the shows that do private school well and others that do nothing with the rich history of tropes and tribulations that have been set up for exploration. And while you’d think I’d prioritise the former, the reality is that any show set in private education is something that I will always reach for. I can watch, roll my eyes and enjoy the ignorances on screen; I think of it as the Taylor Swift of tropes.