The worst thing about schools of all descriptions is that children are forced to endure the company of a lot of other children at close quarters for hours every day and often without adult supervision / oversight. In the same way I have nothing in common with 95% of the population I generally equally dislike the behaviour of their children, and I simply would not want my children being forced to share a space with such people. There is no point in trying to inculcate good manners and morals at home if a child is simply exposed to base behaviour all day at school by other pupils who may in varying degrees be anti social, abusive, violent, manipulative, bullying, delinquent, or overtly criminal. I went to one of the worst private boarding schools in the country at the age of 8 and my parents were abroad. We all sat on nominated tables to eat. The "head" of our table in adult life was convicted of some of the most brutal sexually sadistic murders in criminal history, with more than a suspicion that there were a multitude of other offences unaccounted for. Sending any child to a state school you simply do not know who they are mixing with.