Private or State School

subversive · 08/08/12 - 03:47

Good Morning,

My friend has recently arranged for his son to attend a Private school, for which he is paying, just under £14,000. per year, extras include a few sporting activities.

Would you send your kids to Private School? Or are you happy with State Schooling?

Are you sending your kids to Private, if so why?

I asked him why would he send him, his reasoning was "to secure his future".

I am not against it, but it got me thinking, of the costs and what type of person that child will be when he or she gets older.

Most relatives or friends I know who have been to Private School, are pretty much snobby arsey pigs. Not saying all are, thats just my experience.

Aneechik · 08/08/12 - 03:53

Like everyone else, private school if I could afford it.

Lain Andrews · 08/08/12 - 04:03

Private education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age purports to equip us to live and is prescribed as a universal remedy for everything from juvenile delinquency to premature senility.

[Deleted User] · 08/08/12 - 04:07

State school, for sure. I wouldn't want my child to grow up with the type of people who come out of private schools, or even worse to potentially become one.

I would use that £14k per year to secure their future in a manner that wouldn't turn them into arrogant, snobby brats with no concept of how the real world works.

[Deleted User] · 08/08/12 - 04:09

State school.

Lain Andrews · 08/08/12 - 04:13

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

christina83 · 08/08/12 - 04:13

I think it would depend on what sort of area I lived in. Where I was brought up the state schools are very good, with good results, so if I had kids I'd definitely send them there.

subversive · 08/08/12 - 04:17

Lain Andrews wrote: »

Private education, the great mumbo jumbo and fraud of the age purports to equip us to live and is prescribed as a universal remedy for everything from juvenile delinquency to premature senility.

I see it as a school or networking really.

Your kid will grow up being friends or even good friend with some pretty rich kids who belong to rich and influential families and businesses.

Imagine if Kate Middleton, her sister Philippa and brother had never been to private school (thats if you believe that they were "commoners" like us)....

Aneechik · 08/08/12 - 04:19

christina83 wrote: »

I think it would depend on what sort of area I lived in. Where I was brought up the state schools are very good, with good results, so if I had kids I'd definitely send them there.

I agree. It's easy if you live in a nice middle class suburb or a country village, but if you live anywhere approaching even remotely urban, the chances of your local state school not being a cesspit is very slim indeed.

I suspect anyone who blindly says "state school!" either doesn't have children, wants to make themselves look good on the internet, can't afford a private school, or is just as out of touch with reality as the people they're rather inversely judging.

[Deleted User] · 08/08/12 - 04:49

It depends where you live - some areas have very good state and very good free grammar schools, provided you pass the exams.

I have been to these three types of schools and they are very different.

Personally, I think the grammar is the best, as the one I went to was free and it really pushes you to your full potential.

When I went to a state school afterwards, it was so easy and I had a laugh with the boys. I did quite well because I had the self discipline from my grammar school days to combine the work with having fun.

I sent my son to private school as a day pupil, as the state schools were pants in our area and they had no grammar schools either. It wasn't £14K either, unless they are boarders.

He did very well, as they encouraged them to be the best they could be which meant there was very little bullying compared to what he had in state schools.

shmisk · 08/08/12 - 04:51

my son is going to a SEN school, therefore state

HenryBane · 08/08/12 - 04:57

It doesn't matter, you're either smart..or you aren't.

JCR · 08/08/12 - 05:01

subversive wrote: »

I see it as a school or networking really.

Your kid will grow up being friends or even good friend with some pretty rich kids who belong to rich and influential families and businesses.

Imagine if Kate Middleton, her sister Philippa and brother had never been to private school (thats if you believe that they were "commoners" like us)....

It's not all like that though, in Edinburgh 20% of people go to independent schools, and in the suburb I'm in, pretty much everyone goes to the currently £9606 per annum George Watson's College. The people who go there aren't generally super rich and certainly aren't looking to network with anyone, just standard middle class, and it's what the middle class do around here.

HenryBane · 08/08/12 - 05:07

JCR wrote: »

It's not all like that though, in Edinburgh 20% of people go to independent schools, and in the suburb I'm in, pretty much everyone goes to the currently £9606 per annum George Watson's College. The people who go there aren't generally super rich and certainly aren't looking to network with anyone, just standard middle class, and it's what the middle class do around here.

They never teach you common sense though, it's why most of you hang on to mummy and daddy because you can't even boil an egg.

asp746 · 08/08/12 - 06:57

i would've loved to send my kids to private school. I just think facilities and quality of teaching are more superior.

Our local comp is the pits - i've just had 2 kids through high school and the quality of teaching was dire and also no consistecy with teachers - a couple in particular regularly off with kids just being supervised by supply teachers.

Punkchick · 08/08/12 - 07:13

Private school for sure, the state schools around here are terrible. If there was a good state school I would consider it, but there isn't and both my husband and I believe education to be the most important part of a child's development and future, so will do whatever it takes to get them the best. Not all private schools are good far from it, but the ones that are, give their pupils a good step up in life. I have seen the way a lot of local children behave around here and I would be mortified if my own child acted in the same way, but I would only have myself to blame if I sent them to school with the monsters and they turned out the same. In contrast one of the local private schools often have pupils taking tennis lessons at my gym, and they are always so polite and well behaved.

cultureman · 08/08/12 - 07:52

If you want to understand how society really works with regard to education, listen to those who know it from the inside.

I agree with Jonathan Miller's recent musings on the subject.

Sir Jonathan Miller 'ashamed' to be helping pay private school fees

The theatre director Sir Jonathan Miller has admitted feeling “ashamed” to be supporting his grandchildren through private school to make sure they get a good education.

Sir Jonathan, a renowned socialist, said he was angered at “belonging to a society which makes such as sharp distinction” between rich and poor.

He insisted there was “something deeply malignant about a structure which makes it necessary to make these invidious choices” to guarantee children get the best possible schooling.

Sir Jonathan told The Sunday Times he was contributed towards his grandchildren’s upbringing, adding: “I do give them a little bit just to ensure there is some sort of security, but I feel rather ashamed of it and I feel ashamed of belonging to a society which makes such a sharp distinction between the prosperous and the assured, whose future is guaranteed, and those who are not.”

He said: “It all ought to be state education. It’s part and parcel of this profound and malignant separation of the prosperous from the poor.

“People who have huge amounts of [money? /wealth? (the actual word is missing from the article)] can afford to wrap their children in all sorts of protective educational devices which guarantee that they will become like their parents.”

Sir Jonathan, who was educated at the independent St Paul’s School, West London, and Cambridge University, added: “One wants to have freedom of choice – it is a very important thing – but there is something deeply malignant about a structure which makes it necessary to make these invidious choices to guarantee your children are enveloped in protected devices.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9453885/Sir-Jonathan-Miller-ashamed-to-be-helping-pay-private-school-fees.html

[Deleted User] · 08/08/12 - 07:57

I went to a private boarding school and contrary to popular belief we do not walk around hoity toity and spending summer on daddies yacht... and we can boil an egg, infact some of my old peers went on to become chefs. Sure you might get the odd hoo haa Henry from Eton, but that is the complete end of the spectrum.

You just know at private school because parents are paying they are going to be on the side of the school/ teachers and any disruption in class will be quickly resolved (plus they used to be smaller classes....a lot smaller)

dawnrayd · 08/08/12 - 08:07

If I had kids, and could afford it, then I'd send them to private school. I think it would be wrong not give them the best opportunities in life due to any personal reverse-snobbery. When I went to university, I met plenty of people (some are still mates 15 years later) who had been to private school, the majority who were down to earth and decent people, and definitely changed my previous assumptions about the so-called "type of people" they produced.

[Deleted User] · 08/08/12 - 08:13

Private for sure (if I could afford it)

lemoncurd · 08/08/12 - 08:28

jy1541 wrote: »

State school, for sure. I wouldn't want my child to grow up with the type of people who come out of private schools, or even worse to potentially become one.

I would use that £14k per year to secure their future in a manner that wouldn't turn them into arrogant, snobby brats with no concept of how the real world works.

As someone who went to an independent school, I take umbrage at this. Strangely enough, I don't think I'm either arrogant or snobby. I chose the school simply because it was the closest one (about 10 minutes walk from my Coronation Street-style terrace house in Bolton), and thankfully, the cost was mostly covered by Assisted Places (with my lovely Grandfather making up the difference).

I loved my time there. I don't know if it made me a better person than had I gone to the local comprehensive, but I am now a perfectly grounded professional. And I will be the first to say that many of my lovely, intelligent colleagues went through state education, so it's clearly not the case that one type of education will necessarily feed one into a different tier of profession to the other.

Pisces Cloud · 08/08/12 - 08:33

On the whole I don't think private schools are any better than state schools. It's the elitist mentality that we have in this country that's the problem. A lot of people do think that private schools are better and that's why just 7% of people who attend them hold most of the top jobs in this country.

Watcher #1 · 08/08/12 - 08:40

Aneechik wrote: »

I suspect anyone who blindly says "state school!" either doesn't have children, wants to make themselves look good on the internet, can't afford a private school, or is just as out of touch with reality as the people they're rather inversely judging.

Or, like me, they beleive that everyone is entitled to the best education possible, and the best way to achieve that is to support the state school system, through being (among other things) a school governor, active within the fund raising group (for extra materials and equipment) and generally involved in the school and extended community.

My kids attend state school, as did I - didn't stop me achieving at a high level academically.

I could equally as blithley (and ignornatly) suggest that anyone who says 'private school' is self-centred, blaming their failure on others, and doesn't really get the idea that if we get everyone to be the best they can, we all benefit... but I won't

elliecat · 08/08/12 - 08:47

I would happily pay for my childs education. I would give them the same oppurtunities I had. Had I gone to the local comprehensive I believe I would not have done as well as I did. I needed the discipline that I got at private school, I needed the structure, the extra's that came with being privately educated (the streaming for Maths, the small classes, the choice of subjects). I was at boarding school and we weren't snobs or extremely rich. Parents went without so they could afford the school fees, we never had holidays abroad we went camping in Wales, my parents never got brand new cars they used their until they fell apart, a lot of my school friends were forces children so hardly the hooray henriettas who spend all Daddy's money on designer clothes and holiday's.

My time at boarding school didn't help me get a job, I got my job through my own hard work.

[Deleted User] · 08/08/12 - 09:06

Watcher #1 wrote: »

Or, like me, they beleive that everyone is entitled to the best education possible, and the best way to achieve that is to support the state school system, through being (among other things) a school governor, active within the fund raising group (for extra materials and equipment) and generally involved in the school and extended community.

My kids attend state school, as did I - didn't stop me achieving at a high level academically.

I could equally as blithley (and ignornatly) suggest that anyone who says 'private school' is self-centred, blaming their failure on others, and doesn't really get the idea that if we get everyone to be the best they can, we all benefit... but I won't

Isn't what is great about his country is that there is an education system available free for all with a choice of other systems for those that want them, same with healthcare.

I think we benefit from having both. I think choice is a good thing.

Watcher #1 · 08/08/12 - 09:13

ladymoanalot wrote: »

Isn't what is great about his country is that there is an education system available free for all with a choice of other systems for those that want them, same with healthcare.

I think we benefit from having both. I think choice is a good thing.

I would agree in principle, but I think we should be aiming for a system where the free at point of use provision is excellent, and the choice is for specialist requirements, and we get away from the corrosive idea that choice (as currently used) almost requires some schools to be failing/poor.

Properly streamed schools (because children develop at different rates), with proper resources, and engaged with parents - giving every child an excellent education is what we should be aiming for

Hey there!

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