Is it time to ban private schools

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Life is unfair when you have very little money - believe me I know, not being able to afford things isn't nice. But thats the way the world works. The only thing you can do is work as hard as possible in your comprehensive, try to get into uni, try to get a well paying job, so that should you decide to have kids they go to private school and not have the same obstacles in regards to education.

Yes, that's true. I would not say ban private schools completely, but I would say make them more accessible to students who cannot afford it.

Reply 41

Serine Soul

Original post by TreeTaps

Same, my school although not so ethnically diverse, was one of the very worst schools that it was close to being closed down a couple of years ago. Many did not go onto college or further education. However, I am very happy I went there as it has taught me to be in control of my education and many life skills for the future (it is not often when a chair whizzes past your head, but I can now dodge it).

Same with scissors oh gosh

Yeah, honestly, I may have got higher grades at a private or whatever but I've learnt loads more by going to that school.

Reply 42

TreeTaps

Original post by Perplexing Pleb

Private school is not a ticket to university. At the one I went to people got grades ranging from U's (some of them were not stupid and got far better GCSE's than I did) to A*'s. The people who got the highest grades were all bright in the first place and worked very hard.

But it helps in obtaining higher grades, for example there is more support in a student's studies, rather than having a higher turnover rate of teachers. And there is a better quality of teaching readily available. In low achieving comprehensives there is no support.

Reply 43

AmyS93

Original post by Quantex

Private schools are of immense benefit to a certain type of child so should not be banned. While genuinely bright kids will excel at any crappy school and waltz into the university of their choice with minimal effort, those who are a little slow on the uptake and can't excel on merit alone will benefit from private education. Granted, despite having tens of thousands of pounds on them, the majority of privately educated kids will still fail to meet their parents expectations of getting into Oxbridge but, hey, you can only polish a turd so much.

This is a good point in favour of private schools. Parents can help their child achieve greatness whereas before perhaps they would not have been able to. If they have the money, giving your child an advantageous education is a worthy investment!

Quite a lot do get into Oxbridge though. As mentioned in a previous post, there is a much higher percentage of privately educated students at Oxbridge in comparison to other universities. and i'm a lovely gleaming turd

Reply 44

TreeTaps

Original post by caitlin121

Some private schools - Eton I think might an example - provide scholarships, which are donated by parents that have children in the school. That was originally the point of the grammar school, to provide a first class education for people who otherwise could not afford it but still had the raw academic ability.

Yes, but they are not many scholarships, and there are only 164 grammar schools in the UK and a total of 24,372 schools, which is still not enough.

Reply 45

math42

Original post by Cold 187um

Private schools are fantastic. They allow people to send their children somewhere where there is a decent learning environment, decent tutoring, and not so many bullies. You won't find people from working class or lower-middle class backgrounds in private schools so it's a good way to shield children from negative social influences. Private schools are an important way to maintain class separation, it's not a good idea for someone to mix with children from low class backgrounds at school because there are too many low class thugs and chavs at comprehensive schools.

Haha wow. I'm sure nobody in a private school has ever had an unsavoury personality or been a negative social influence. You act like anyone whose parents aren't rich has some automatic shield against these "thugs and chavs" but the rich kids are somehow inherently more vulnerable, valuable and deserving of protection.
This being said, I'm divided on this. The notion of private schools where people can buy a better start in life is discomforting to me, but the notion of banning such a thing outright is also discomforting.

Reply 46

caitlin121

Original post by TreeTaps

Yes, but they are not many scholarships, and there are only 164 grammar schools in the UK and a total of 24,372 schools, which is still not enough.

You can blame the lack of grammar schools on the government. As for the scholarships, unfortunately yes, there are few, mainly because it is down the generosity of the parents or former pupils of the school to provide them.

Reply 47

TreeTaps

Original post by AmyS93

Shouldn't a person's academic ability enable them to go to Oxbridge instead of the money their parents have earned. Therefore, if everyone had the same quality of education there would not be a huge disparity in numbers for the admission of extremely good universities. And so many bright young pupils could study at a world class university, sadly that door just closes in them, unless they are willing to work extremely hard and make up for it.

Reply 48

Jonny360

Original post by ieatyou1

Looks like we found the posh white boy.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Your racist class-ism is not appreciated.

Reply 49

caitlin121

Original post by ieatyou1

Looks like we found the posh white boy.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Classism works both ways you know.

Reply 50

caitlin121

Original post by Cold 187um

Well, you're not wrong

Reply 51

AmyS93

Original post by TreeTaps

You can't, as far as I am aware, buy a place to Oxbridge like you seem to think rich people do, but what you can do buy is a better education so your children gain the academic ability necessary for application to Oxbridge.
EDIT: just to clarify, I'm not saying you need a private education to go to Oxbridge but it can help.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 52

RiskVsReward

Lol at these stupid people. Just because my dad makes 70k+ I shouldn't be able to get a better education? Not my fault some people are simply unlucky and have to go to chav schools lol. Freaking some of you guy, like communists...

Edit: not srs.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 53

stimpy27

Original post by Cold 187um

Wow, well this comment makes you look like a right nob. Snob!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 54

troubadour.

Anybody arguing in favour of private schools is right in saying that it's totalitarian to ban private institutions that 'help' (emphasis on those inverted commas) their students write personal statements and give them timetabled coaching in interview technique, entrance exam prep etc. Totally right.

But don't then whine about state schooled students getting contextual consideration/offers in university admissions. :tongue:

In fact, make that positive discrimination. If you don't want the playing field levelled on the grounds that they're private institutions, you surely won't mind being set straight when the institutions in question are public (as most UK universities are). :tongue:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 55

maddyg

It's not that it's just you who was lucky enough to go to a private school, and that someone else is unlucky, it's all about how the injustice of the system keeps poorer people poor, and the rich get richer. It's institutionalised. And did you really just refer to state schools as 'chav schools'?

Reply 56

maddyg

[QUOTE=Cold 187um;60428827]Private schools are fantastic. They allow people to send their children somewhere where there is a decent learning environment, decent tutoring, and not so many bullies. You won't find people from working class or lower-middle class backgrounds in private schools so it's a good way to shield children from negative social influences. Private schools are an important way to maintain class separation, it's not a good idea for someone to mix with children from low class backgrounds at school because there are too many low class thugs and chavs at comprehensive schools.
Can't tell if this is being sarcastic. If it's not then wow you're extremely ignorant.

Reply 57

maddyg

[QUOTE=RiskVsReward;60431883]Lol at these stupid people. Just because my dad makes 70k+ I shouldn't be able to get a better education? Not my fault some people are simply unlucky and have to go to chav schools lol. Freaking some of you guy, like communists...

Edit: not srs.
Oh sorry it's not srs

Reply 58

RiskVsReward

Original post by maddyg

Oh sorry it's not srs

lol I was joking, I come from a very very poor area with parents who make less than 27k lol.

Reply 59

troubadour.

Original post by AmyS93

I don't think the better education is what most people object to when it comes to applying to Oxbridge. It's the fact that private (and grammar) schools often have 'Oxbridge clubs' where they actively work to get otherwise mediocre students into Oxbridge using every trick they can. Timetabled coaching on interview technique, entrance exam prep, anything at all that will allow them to increase the statistic by which they advertise themselves to future students/parents: the number of people they sent to Oxbridge the previous year.

It's part of a wider problem with class in this country but, frankly, I don't see how the people who run these schools sleep soundly at night, knowing that they're helping a potentially undeserving student to get into a top university in exchange for money, thereby depriving a more deserving student of that place. But again, it's all about the national obsession with class -- the people running these schools likely have a considerable amount of pressure put on them by parents who want to see returns on their investment.

As far as I see it, university admissions cannot be fair as long as this perversion of education continues unabated. My usual stance is to be opposed to positive discrimination of any kind but, on this one occasion, I'll make an exception. If this problem isn't going to be fixed on the level of schools, it'll have to be fixed by universities and private school students can moan all they want about it; I don't care. It's not the job of public universities and state school students to ensure that the upper class get returns on their investment.