LEADERSHIP TRAINING IN ELITE AMERICAN BOARDING SCHOOLS: RECONCILING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT IS TAUGHT AND WHAT IS LEARNED

Power without authority is fragile; to be effective, leaders must appear to deserve their positions. This sense of legitimacy is the most important end product of going through Prep school. This sense of legitimacy is magnified by the sense of collective identity that Prep schools generate among their students, and much of the bonding process essential to upper‐class solidarity begins in this institution. This is the social glove that holds together the privileged classes, often at the expense of individuality but to the long‐term gain of upper‐class hegemony.