Private school students ?

I would have liked to go to a private school, purely because I think I would excel in a very focused and demanding environment. However, I consider going to a state school a privilege that many children in other countries do not get and so I try my hardest and hold no grudge against those lucky enough to be born into wealth.

Reply 21

The_Dragonborn

I know a few people who went to private school at me college. Apart from dressing slightly classier/smarter than others, and talking a bit posher, and generally having better grades, they aren't much different from us commoners lol.

Those girls and their posh accents tho :sexface:

Reply 22

Cap'n'cook

5

There is a private school just up the road from where I attended your big standard secondary school. The kids from up there we're always know to be ****s. They were incredibly judgemental of us 'normal' folks. 3 years after leaving school and not much has changed. The people I couldn't stand back then still get on my nerves now. Say what you want but from my experience people at private school think they are leagues above the rest of us. They place themselves on a false level

Reply 23

MostUncivilised

3

Original post by lilangel217

I just wanted to hear what your opinions are on people who attend private schools.

When you say private schools, do you also mean public schools? If yes, my opinion is that they are perfectly fine.

I know a fair few Etonians, they are lovely people.

Reply 24

username638250

7

Original post by Катя

For me, the best part of going to a public school was leaving. From day 1 it was all about exams, A*s, and bloody Oxbridge. Most people were sickeningly snobby ... direct quote from the son of some count in some country somewhere: "Yes, of course I have a proper signet ring! Doesn't everyone?"; another one from the son of the 5th richest man in X country: "poor people are all so boring, empty, soulless, they barely even read, their lives must be so empty" ... the list goes on and on.

Obviously not everyone is a future Bullingdon / Tory, but nonetheless, private schools in general tend to be kind of odd. It's basically a bubble of immense privilege and general ignorance of the real world, with beautiful buildings thrown in (depending on where you go).

Did you go to Eton or something?

I go to a day independent school that's not that well known among the public.

There's a small proportion of snobby or 'daddy's girls' but it's not that noticeable at my school. Mostly upper middle class, affluent Surrey kids. Having said that, it's a very competitive environment and A*s are the only grade that teachers tell us to aim for as a whole. A sizeable proportion (~45%) apply to Oxbridge every year and about 25% get in. BUT, people are definitely in the 'Surrey bubble'.

It really depends on what sort of private school you attend.

Reply 25

Birkenhead

3

Original post by edgarcats

I would have liked to go to a private school, purely because I think I would excel in a very focused and demanding environment. However, I consider going to a state school a privilege that many children in other countries do not get and so I try my hardest and hold no grudge against those lucky enough to be born into wealth.

If more people had this attitude where privilege inspires ambition instead of envy our country would be in a much better state.

Reply 26

Apocrypha

15

In private school, its not 'How many marks did you get'.. It's 'HOW MANY MARKS DID YOU LOSE'?!?!?

Reply 27

Le Nombre

16

Original post by Birkenhead

Immense privilege, perhaps. Not that there's anything wrong with that unless you're a snob who looks down on those with money (which sounds about right). General ignorance? No. You'd have more luck looking for that closer to home.

Depends what you mean ignorant of. An absolutely lovely girl I lived with at uni didn't believe council estates were a real thing when she first came, she went to LEH. Think it's just generally being totally unaware of another way of life, another lad couldn't believe that Cristal was really 300 a bottle when we went out to a nice bar for someone's b'day, most people have it to an extent but extremes of society notice it the most.

Reply 28

Birkenhead

3

Original post by Le Nombre

Depends what you mean ignorant of. An absolutely lovely girl I lived with at uni didn't believe council estates were a real thing when she first came, she went to LEH. Think it's just generally being totally unaware of another way of life, another lad couldn't believe that Cristal was really 300 a bottle when we went out to a nice bar for someone's b'day, most people have it to an extent but extremes of society notice it the most.

I don't think it's valid to generalise an entire section of society because of the views of individuals in that section, which is what the poster I was responding to was doing. There are probably equal numbers of individuals who went to comps who don't know what council estates are and individuals who went to privates who aren't aware of how pricey champagne is as vice versa. Ignorance is blind to class.

Reply 29

Катя

18

Original post by Birkenhead

I went to a major public school and never once encountered anything like this. The vast majority of my peers were enlightened and compassionate people, and although your snide reference to this son of a count reeks of the ignorance you accuse private school students of having, there wasn't an heir in sight at mine, still less anything similar to the attitudes in your contrived quotations.

Enlightened, compassionate? Interesting.

'The son of some count in some country somewhere'; 'the son of the 5th richest man in X country'. Absolutely reeks of fiction.

Would you like me to PM you the surnames of these people?

Immense privilege, perhaps. Not that there's anything wrong with that unless you're a snob who looks down on those with money (which sounds about right). General ignorance? No. You'd have more luck looking for that closer to home.

Er, no. "A snob who looks down on those with money"... what even?

Believe you me, it is a lot easier being rich than being poor. Any snobbery that rich people show is usually fuelled by disgust, whereas "snobbery" that poor people show is usually fuelled by jealousy. Kind of different things.

There is a hell of a lot wrong with immense privilege, because unsurprisingly, it leads to snobbery and general ignorance. More or less everybody at my school was firmly in the "poor people brought it on themselves, should've worked harder" camp, for instance. The vast majority of girls spent their weekends taking pictures of themselves in extortionately expensive Mayfair/Kensington clubs and then putting them on Facebook. When a friend of mine wrote an article about sexism in our school (a fair point, seeing as girls were only introduced to the school quite recently and it's still a very "laddish" sort of place), she was sent tons of hate mail and booed when she went into the cafeteria (by boys), which rather proved the point. I could go on for hours.

I had a terrible experience. Most people I've met at similar public schools (at parties and such, or through mutual friends) turned out to be pretty petty and/or sickeningly shallow. (Note the 'most', not 'all'.)

If you loved Eton (I'm guessing Eton), then great, good for you. Writing long, passive-aggressive sentences with fancy phrases like 'reeks of ignorance' and 'the attitudes in your contrived quotations' is a bit of a waste of time.

Reply 30

Катя

18

Original post by Birkenhead

Ignorance is blind to class.

No. Wealth brings privilege, and this privilege is not one that most people have. A lot of privileged, wealthy people go through life believing that they succeeded through merit alone / that things aren't really "that hard", and develop a sort of snobbery towards those who weren't quite so lucky.

Ignorance isn't "blind" to class. An upper-middle class, privately-educated-from-day-one boy is highly unlikely to be as well-versed in life's difficulties as a working class / 1st generation immigrant / etc one. Obviously, there will be exceptions. However, saying that ignorance is blind to class is, in itself, ignorance, and is only ever really said by immensely privileged people who don't like being made to feel uncomfortable.

It's hardly a difficult concept. Wealthy people are largely ignorant of the issues poor people face, just like white people are largely ignorant of the issues black people face, or like non-disabled people are largely ignorant of the issues disabled people face.

So, yes, unsurprisingly, if you have a very wealthy school with very wealthy people in it, you'll get a largely ignorant / arrogant sort of atmosphere.

Reply 31

Катя

18

Original post by Birkenhead

Since you are no longer at this school, and since this school supposedly has 1200 people in it, it wouldn't threaten your privacy to share with us which it was. Might lend your otherwise ridiculous posts a little credibility.

I checked and as it turns out I lied, it's ~1100.

I went to Wellington. Would you like photographic proof?

"A little credibility", Jesus Christ. It's a bloody internet forum.

Reply 32

danconway

14

I go to a private school! I'm not particularly rich, though I guess £5,500 per term does sort of shout 'rich snob' to some - certainly not as much as with some public schools! *ahem* Eton *ahem*

But yeah, people at my school are perfectly nice and we don't look down on state schools, especially since most of my friends went to them after primary school. Of course, there's always light joshing at the expense of state schools- and none of this is vicious at all, but it goes both ways - just because we go to private schools doesn't mean we're 'posh'!
Meet some of us, I promise, we don't bite :smile:

The point is, if you could go to a private school, wouldn't you? Of course, that then leads me to suggest that the education might be better (of course, going to a selective school might mean that the pupils are better, not the education) :O

But there's gotta be a reason why people pay for an education.

Reply 33

maiawh

i am fundamentally against private schools, because i simply don't think it's fair- i don't think that because you have more money you should be able to have a higher standard of education. i do not have any prejudice to the pupils other than i think they hold a lot of privilege and seem to have an astounding level of confidence (not necessarily a bad thing).

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 34

geodawson

1

Original post by MJ1012

Who doesn't love her?

Hahaha, I go to an Australian private school and am a girl. I feel Chris Lilley is giving those overseas a wrong impression of us Aussie private school girls! :wink:

Reply 35

MJ1012

18

Original post by geodawson

Hahaha, I go to an Australian private school and am a girl. I feel Chris Lilley is giving those overseas a wrong impression of us Aussie private school girls! :wink:

Well all of them are very attractive, except Erin, the butch, fat lesson. :tongue:

Reply 36

Old_Simon

12

Original post by Катя

I checked and as it turns out I lied, it's ~1100.

I went to Wellington. Would you like photographic proof?

"A little credibility", Jesus Christ. It's a bloody internet forum.

LOl. By public school standards Wellington is quite egalitarian .

Reply 37

Le Nombre

16

Original post by Birkenhead

I don't think it's valid to generalise an entire section of society because of the views of individuals in that section, which is what the poster I was responding to was doing. There are probably equal numbers of individuals who went to comps who don't know what council estates are and individuals who went to privates who aren't aware of how pricey champagne is as vice versa. Ignorance is blind to class.

I think given the nature of the schools there are more likely to be very wealthy people at independent boarding and very poor people at state, and those will correspond to a high likelihood of being unaware of those things. Obviously the majority in those groups won't be like that, but the chances are increased.

Also, as I think you study law and just for the comedy, check out this RoF classic on the subject, 3-Ducks' efforts are spectacular: http://www.rollonfriday.com/Discussion/MainDiscussion/tabid/79/Id/10151521/currentPage/0/Default.aspx

Original post by Old_Simon

LOl. By public school standards Wellington is quite egalitarian .

And the driving force behind the most impressive attempt to boost numbers ever witnessed 'Charge 20k a year for state schools so they absolutely all come here'!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 38

Pride

21

I think the perception of private school kids is that they are out of touch with society. It's probably the case for all middle class families to an extent. But yea, I probably wouldn't want to put my child in a private school, even if I was wealthy, partly because I think it's a waste of money, but also to avoid putting my child in a bubble of great privilege, where they are around people who have a very limited view of the real world, and are therefore unable to appreciate the privileges they have.

I study medicine right now, and it is a highly competitive course, and therefore it is dominated by private schools (50% privately educated in some medical schools). I speak to them all of the time, and it's not necessarily that they are bad people, but there are certain character traits that they've acquired from their upbringing and private education that I wouldn't want in my children (if I go on to have any). Traits like being naive about inequality in the country and the world, being arrogant, being excessively competitive, placing too much emphasis on work/career/wealth.

That said one of the reasons why private schools dominate so much, I think, is that they are taught some really great skills that those in state schools don't get taught as effectively, like leadership and public speaking. Often they're so confident, and like to put themselves up for positions of leadership, because they're so used to competing and persuading people with a speech.