From Cookson & Persell's `Preparing For Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools'--Part 15

In their 1985 book, Preparing For Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools, Peter W. Cookson Jr. and Cardine Hodges Persell wrote the following about the U.S. power elite's private school and elite prep school educational system and indicated what kind of folks control most elite prep schools:

“…Prep school educators often depict themselves as mentors to the next generation of the power elite…Like other power structures, the prep power structure is hierarchical…

“At the top of the prep school power hierarchy is the board of trustees…These trustees are not elected…Instead, trustees select their own members…Most board members are successful in some area of the business world…The real power of most boards is exercised by an executive committee, which includes the president, the most influential board member…

“…An analysis of available data [from the 1980s] on 538 trustees from 22 schools indicated that 41 percent of the trustees of these schools are listed in either the Social Register, Who’s Who, or both…At a socially elite school like St. Paul’s in New Hampshire, 63 percent of the trustees are listed in the Social Register…

“…Trustees cannot be controlled by the faculty, and quite often they will take the opportunity…to root out difficult cliques or individuals. Part of looking to the future is knowing when to clean house…Much of the power of the trustees is difficult to detect within the school community because they tend to keep low profiles…The unobtrusiveness of most boards is an example of how power can be exercised without publicity; they are indeed the power behind the throne, and many students may only be dimly aware of the board’s importance or even presence…”