It should be a legal requirement of all schools, whether they are state schools or public/private/faith schools; to make sure that all pupils read ‘The ragged trousered Philanthropists’ by Robert Tressell, as soon as they reach secondary school age (12 years).

Not only should they be required to read it, it should be specifically taught in class, and the teacher should be required to explain the text to all the children. The children should be tested at the end of the course to see if they have fully understood all the concepts within the text. If they have not completely comprehended the text, they should keep retaking the course until they do fully understand all aspects of the text.

This would not only be an excellent learning tool as it would pull together lots of cross-curricula lessons (e.g. English Language/Literature, History, Politics, sociology); it would also, more importantly, teach them how society currently works. Yes that’s right, currently, it’s exactly the same now as it was over 100 years ago. Read the book and you will see.