Lucy Ward

High-income parents are enrol-ling their children in philanthropy workshops designed to teach them how to use their wealth to do good. Rich parents regard the workshops as a lesson in using money responsibly and encouraging their children to consider how to help others.

It is 3.30pm and a dozen little boys in long shorts, blue check shirts and ties are sitting around tables in a London schoolroom that is decked out with typical infant-class paraphernalia — alphabet charts, winter-themed paintings, and posters of healthy foodstuffs. On the teacher’s instruction, the four-year-olds close their eyes, then open them on command to describe a scene drawn on the back of a paper plate.