A Kick In The Privates

So GCSE results are up in state schools and down in fee-paying ones. Not much of a measure of education as such, I grant you. But I have always suspected that the latter were not really that good after all, or at least that they were as likely as the former to be good, bad or indifferent. After all, they have long been in the vanguard of disputing the validity of the current examination system, yet they base their commercial appeal on how good they are at those very same exams. What's all that about?