Prep‑School Decline Signals Elite Confessionalism

Traditional prep‑school rites that once forged a stoic, public‑minded elite are collapsing into two outcomes: modernization or hollow entrenchment. In the latter, elite formation becomes an exercise in therapeutic self‑exposure and tabloid confession rather than civic training, with memoirs like Earl Spencer’s acting as both symptom and amplifier. — If true, this reframes debates about elites, monarchy, and class as cultural legitimacy problems (how elites present themselves matters for institutional authority and political alignment).