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Private or State School
subversive
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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.
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.
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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.
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)....
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.
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.
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.
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.
I agree with Jonathan Miller's recent musings on the subject.
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)
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.
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
My time at boarding school didn't help me get a job, I got my job through my own hard work.
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