The State/ Private School Debate!

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Bleh. I find it really strange when people who have never set foot in a private school start feeling like they know everything about what goes on inside. Apparently I missed all the "being taught that we're the elite" and the "lack of good gender relations/equality" etc. even after spending 15 years there.
Why the over presumptiveness?

Also, it is a fallacy to say that one school or the other better prepares a student for the "real world". The "real world" is different for everybody.

Reply 21

Jacktri

private schools are unfair state schools have too many crappy teachers

Reply 22

fGDu

I am a state comprehensive school student, and I, like you, was given the choice on which type of school I went to. I mainly chose the comprehensive school over the independent school due to stupid reasons such as transport and because it was where all my friends were going.

I do regret this choice now, because I think I could have a better chance at a top university if I had gone to a private school, and because I think that at a private school academic aspiration and success is more encouraged. At my school I am surrounded by people who aren't very interested in academic success. On the other hand, my sister who also attends the local comprehensive (and had the opportunity to go to private school) ultimately made the right choice and likes the school.

I don't think there is a yes or no answer to "Is a private school worth the money" the answer is obviously that it all depends on the student and the schools, all private schools are different, as are comprehensive schools/grammar schools.

Reply 23

lorry:)

Original post by im so academic

Of course, there are disparities within the state school sector. I presume you go to a top state school?

havent actually checked the recent league tables, but yeah i do, and i had to work mighty hard to get in there as well!

it just pisses me off when people compare the best of the private schools with the worst of the state schools, when there is so much that is good about free education! :smile:

Reply 24

M1F2R3

Original post by laurie:)

Education isn't free, it is paid for by taxes.

Reply 25

veggie4life

If I were PM I would ban private schools :smile:

Watch out watch out there's a Marxist about!

Reply 26

lorry:)

Original post by M1F2R3

Education isn't free, it is paid for by taxes.

okay, 'free' relative to private schools. happy?

Reply 27

im so academic

Original post by veggie4life

If I were PM I would ban private schools :smile:

Watch out watch out there's a Marxist about!

Rich parents would either send their kids abroad or pay for private tutoring. It doesn't eradicate the problem.

Reply 28

soutioirsim

I go to a state school, COME AT ME BRO.

Jokes aside, Im going to Oxford, just to be a douche :sexface:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 29

win5ton

Original post by im so academic

Rich parents would either send their kids abroad or pay for private tutoring. It doesn't eradicate the problem.

Only a very few would send their kids abroad. Private tuition would still be an issue, but it would be a MUCH smaller issue than private schools. But I agree with you, private schools are a problem.

Reply 30

soutioirsim

Original post by im so academic

Rich parents would either send their kids abroad or pay for private tutoring. It doesn't eradicate the problem.

Just out of curiousity, are you state or private?

Reply 31

im so academic

Original post by win5ton

Only a very few would send their kids abroad. Private tuition would still be an issue, but it would be a MUCH smaller issue than private schools. But I agree with you, private schools are a problem.

Are you really sure about that?

Tbh, if a parent is prepared to pay £30,000 pa to get their child educated a top private school and suddenly private schools are banned, I can almost certainly guarantee you that they would send their kids abroad.

If anything private tuition would increase as there would be a lot more competition to get their kids into the top state schools, so it still doesn't eradicate.

Reply 32

im so academic

Original post by soutioirsim

Just out of curiousity, are you state or private?

Well, out of interest, what do you think? :smile:

Reply 33

yahyahyahs

Original post by LizzieHibbert

I'm 15, I go to one of the biggest coeducational comprehensive schools in the UK and I'm predicted 8 A*s and 2 As in my GCSEs. My brother is 18 and has been made a conditional offer to study for an MPhys at Durham University.
My Mum is a well-paid financial director, and could easily have afforded to send my brother and I to Manchester Grammar School and Alderley Edge for Girls, respectively. However, she discussed this with us when we were 11, because she had been forced by her parents to go to grammar school and we each came to the independant decision that the local comprehensive was right for us.
There were a number of reasons for this.
1) Coeducational schools promote better gender relations and equality.
2) Private schools are virually exclusively attended by British middle-class children of white or asian origin. That simply doesn't reflect the working or social reality.
3) A mixed level of class and intellectual ability fosters good social skills and cultural perspective.
4) Gifted children learn to self-motivate themselves.
5) 18 year olds are not pressured into University if it is not the right choice for them (Mum hated university; furthermore her godson got 4As at A-level, went to study engineering in Edinburgh and failed all of his first-year exams, because his school tutors at MGS bullied him into HE even though he didn't want to do it)
6) Privately educated children are taught that they are the elite. Talented children in state education are taught that intellectual ability does not make them better than others.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the issue.... please reply :smile:

0) Your mother is just being a Scrooge (like the Christmas ref?). She's hoarding all her money for her retirement and gave you some crappy reasons to cover.
1) Single-sex schools are fine and some of them produce some of the best results in the country.
2) What did she mean by reality? Middle-class people do work and I'm pretty sure they are real.
3) Mixed level of class and intellectual ability alienates those who aren't in the acceptable majority.
4) Gifted children are looked after by the G&T adviser.
5) All schools want their students to go to uni, state or private. My teachers tell us we're wasting our lives if we don't.
6) My cousin is privately educated and she knows that she is privileged enough to get the opportunity AND not taught that she is part of the elite. Talented children in state education are taught that intellectual ability does make them better than others, because what else can they use as 'wealth'? Money is considered too crude and looks is considered too shallow.

Edit: WE NEED MORE STATE GRAMMARS. In my totally biased opinion :smile:

Merry Christmas everyone!

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 34

soutioirsim

Original post by im so academic

Well, out of interest, what do you think? :smile:

Hmmm... Because of your infactuation with oxbridge Im going to have to say private (Just a guess tbh) :p:

Reply 35

im so academic

Original post by soutioirsim

Hmmm... Because of your infactuation with oxbridge Im going to have to say private (Just a guess tbh) :p:

Sent you a PM on what type of school I go to. :h:

Original post by LizzieHibbert

I'm predicted 8 A*s and 2 As in my GCSEs.

I'm sorry to tell you love, but predicted grades really mean very little.

Reply 38

im so academic

Original post by win5ton

You seem to misunderstand the nature of private schools. Most private schools do not charge £30000, only a small minority. Again, I suspect the choice wouldn't be as simple as you suggest, with sending little Timmy to the USA. I would also ban Grammar schools whilst I was at so there wouldn't be a large amount of tuition to pass the 11 plus. You do not seem to grasp my idea that tuition is not as large a problem as private schools are, you side step my point and instead say that tuition would increase.

YES, you did say it was a problem, (Quoting from memory so this may be slightly inaccurate) , "It would not eradicate the PROBLEM"

But I never implied that private schools are the problem.

I'm telling you this right now - state schools are the problem.

"Banning" private schools is simply not an option, there would never be a realistic chance of that ever happening, I cannot see a majority of the electorate voting for those proposals etc etc.

Keep your little fantasy in your head. Communistic principles do not work in the real world.