20 November

More fun evidence that societies are built out of imitation and status. Now that everybody is going private, a new way to differentiate yourself is to go public. If everybody follows this trend, people will then shift back to private, to differentiate themselves again. Has nothing to do with what actually happens in the schools. Not criticising imitation and status either, it really is what makes a society exist in the first place. People might deny that imitation is the root of everything that happens in a society, but I haven't seen an exception to the rule yet. It's the same reason the most senior doctors in the UK insist upon being called "Mr" (they're usually blokes), rather than "Doctor".