Richer parents should pay for state school education

TenOfThem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25798659

In summary

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Parents with combined earnings of 80k+ should pay for their children's state schooling

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But only if they send them to "good" schools

Interested in views, my thoughts would be

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They already pay more as they are taxed more

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If they are forced to pay extra then why would they keep thier children in state schools

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How does this improve other school (that is the suggestion)

The proposer seems to think that "good" schools are only "good" because they have money which is nonsense

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

imtelling

if you earned that sort of money have no idea why you would want to send your children to state education anyway.

Reply 2

TenOfThem

Original post by imtelling

if you earned that sort of money have no idea why you would want to send your children to state education anyway.

Why not - there are some great state schools

And, some rubbish private schools

Reply 3

imtelling

Original post by TenOfThem

Why not - there are some great state schools

And, some rubbish private schools

well, yes i suppose you could find a really crap private school but the quality of private education virtually always is a better option than state schools.

the real problem with state schools is discipline. in private schools discipline is not really an issues because they have much more leverage on the students. unlike state schools, private schools simply do not have to tolerate disruptive students.

certainly, my state school was a zoo. it was a horrendous learning environment. the private school my brother went too was like a different planet in terms of the learning environment.

you get what you pay for after all.

Reply 4

The_Internet

Bloody hell - £20,000 / year!

Id rather go private. Also doesnt forcing parents to pay for primary education go against what the United nations say? I havent looked it up properly but I seem to remember that one of the rules said that all children should have free education at least in the elementary years

For developing nations, for them to "break" this rule is understandable but we are a developed nation which can afford to educate our children

Not only this but forcing people to pay only increases our risk of declining Internationally

Reply 5

IAmABaws

It'll never actually happen.

Reply 6

contradicta

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25798659

Personally, I see the problem but I don't think this is the correct solution. As well as the fact that if your on 100k and have 1 child you could afford 20k fees but if you had 3 children? It's just not practical. Education should be free to all regardless of what you have or don't have.

What do you think?

Edit: just seen the same thread in news and current affairs - sorry

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 7

TenOfThem

Original post by imtelling

Some state schools are very poor, there are some serious discipline issues

That is not the case in many schools

I would suggest that the only differences between my classroom and a private school class are

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Number of students in the class

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Some of my groups have very low ability

Reply 8

redferry

Original post by TenOfThem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25798659

In summary

•

Parents with combined earnings of 80k+ should pay for their children's state schooling

•

But only if they send them to "good" schools

Interested in views, my thoughts would be

•

They already pay more as they are taxed more

•

If they are forced to pay extra then why would they keep thier children in state schools

•

How does this improve other school (that is the suggestion)

The proposer seems to think that "good" schools are only "good" because they have money which is nonsense

Its a stupid idea while private schools still exist.

Reply 9

contradicta

Original post by imtelling

if you earned that sort of money have no idea why you would want to send your children to state education anyway.

For people with more than one child on 80k than might not be realistic.

Also not everyone lives near a private school, and boarding fees are extraordinarily high.

Reply 10

Observatory

Dr Anthony Seldon, headmaster at the private Wellington College, raises the idea in a report for cross-party think tank the Social Market Foundation,

He wants to remove the incentive for parents who could afford private schools to choose good state schools instead.

Reply 11

tory88

That's ridiculous. People are already discouraged from wanting to be well off (I'm talking £80,000/year, not millions). Besides which, in that case you'd just send the children to private schools, and often children from well-off families do better than average, even at state schools, so that'd actually be reducing the quality of the classes in the state school. Less high-level people to compete with means less high achievers overall.

Reply 12

CEKTOP

Original post by TenOfThem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25798659

In summary

•

Parents with combined earnings of 80k+ should pay for their children's state schooling

•

But only if they send them to "good" schools

Interested in views, my thoughts would be

•

They already pay more as they are taxed more

•

If they are forced to pay extra then why would they keep thier children in state schools

•

How does this improve other school (that is the suggestion)

The proposer seems to think that "good" schools are only "good" because they have money which is nonsense

Hang the socialist **** I say. Richer people contribute more in taxes already.

Reply 13

TurboCretin

So they should pay for state education once via taxes and again in fees? The fact that this (a) makes no sense and (b) benefits private schools smacks of ulterior motives.

I don't think this is so much about raising the standards of state schools as ensuring that those parents who can afford to go private do so. The proponent cited in the article is headmaster of a private school, for crying out loud.

Also, the part about independent schools sharing facilities and teaching with state schools? Probably less to do with altruism and more to do with maintaining independent schools' charitable status for tax purposes.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 14

Chlorophile

Another thing I saw in this article in The Times was that private schools should allocate 10% of their places to 'the poorest pupils'. Again, this is another case of discriminating against the lower middle class who are not wealthy enough to send their children to private schools, but are also not poor enough to be eligible for these bursaries and scholarships.

Reply 15

tengentoppa

Awful idea. Why should the rich be penalised for being successful?

Reply 16

Le Nombre

Original post by imtelling

if you earned that sort of money have no idea why you would want to send your children to state education anyway.

Mine did. They felt the local school could do a better job and they had a bit of inside info as my dad was the head and my uncle the head of the local independent.

Original post by CEKTOP

Hang the socialist **** I say. Richer people contribute more in taxes already.

Suspect he's actually thinking of the success if his own private institution by providing parents a huge incentive to use it rather than state schools.

Reply 17

jadoreétudier

The thought of private schools kinda makes me sick. State school standards should be raised, but I guess that requires money.

I don't know where this figure of £20,000 is coming from. I thought my state school was given just over £5000 from the council for each pupil each year. Although I'm not really sure what that covers, but I thought it was everything including teachers' salaries.

Reply 18

CJKay

Original post by imtelling

if you earned that sort of money have no idea why you would want to send your children to state education anyway.

My parents did and there's no way in hell they could have afforded to send 3 children to private schools. Just because somebody has a certain income it does not mean they don't have other priorities... such as keeping their children alive.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 19

CEKTOP

Original post by Le Nombre

Suspect he's actually thinking of the success if his own private institution by providing parents a huge incentive to use it rather than state schools.

Still a socialist ****, 80k is not that much in London, especially given the fact that you have to give at least a third of it away to subsidise beer and fags for chavs along with jobless immigrants who shouldn't be in the country in the first place.