why do people hate private schools?

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'Snobby'? Why? you make such an assumption. Private schools are no more all snobby than state schools are all chavvy. Believe me when I say the snobbiest kids I've ever encountered came from a local comprehensive. Their snobbiness was made all the worse by the fact they really thought they could look down their noses at their peers. They were so accustomed to looking down their noses in school that they carried this into the community. I just have never come across this in my own school environment. The one time I remember a classmate making some disparaging remark about another classmate on a scholarship ended with her being shot down in flames by some and others, myself included,, just turned our back on her. Its really pretty uncool to be snooty, which shouldn't be confused with good manners and decent social skills.
Was it worth paying for? According to my parents - yes. Would they make the same choice if they had their time over? According to mum, most definitely. I know that I will send any children I have to a quality school. If it means paying for it then that's just what I will have to do. i think the main difference between a selective or good state school and a private school may well be in the range of opportunities that the private school offers. As I heard my folks discuss with a relative who aspired to this for her own son, choosing a private education isn't just about affording fees, in some ways that's the least of it. It's all the extras, like different kits, instruments, tuition and school trips. Despite this they've said they do not and never will regret their choice.

I do agree though that every child should have the kind of school experience that I've had however unless the taxpayer is prepared to invest so much more in the system it won't happen. I don't see that's a reason to end private education. It's maybe unfair but until we live in a truly communist state where no personal gain or advantage is ever permitted over and above the agreed standard level then unfairness will remain a fact of life. We just have to suck it up.

Well I don't go to a state comprehensive so i dont know.

Ironically if I could, i may send my kids to private school. Idk tbh. But it's a lot of money. You may be in a privileged position to afford it but that's besides the point.

Meritocracy isn't a feature of communism; It's the complete opposite. Shouldn't all children have equal opportunity? Where schools can discriminate through academic ability and not by how much their parents have?

Reply 661

DougallnDougall

Original post by drogon

I don't think that argument works though because logically you would have to prevent any advantage in the home environment, local community etc. Where do you stop? For instance do you dictate that families must all having identical home environments since it's unfair that some children have their own rooms that are conducive for studying while others need to share? Do you ban parents from employing private tutors to compensate for inadequate state provision? Ironing out inequalities and unfairness to create a perfectly level playing field might sound like utopia but in reality it would be quite dystopic. I think that I would not just be aspiring to create wealth for my own satisfaction but also for my family. What kind of disincentive would it be to individuals if they were banned from using any wealth created to benefit their own children? That just sounds seriously weird to me. .

Reply 662

Francis Urquhart

Went to a private school to see a talk as headboy of a comprehensive sixth-form.

I'd asked not-to-go as i would feel totally out of place, and it was like hogwarts.

We were the only comprehensive kids there, and lord it showed.

I don't/didn't represent any of them, but i did go home and want to cry, thinking about how hard i'd worked against so much....class-disruption...being a young carer.....surviving an abusive relationship.....yet these kids here had all of the support that i'd never had. Am i jealous? No...because it was a boarding school and no matter how bad my life was...my family was always nearby. Albeit in a rather chaotic state. However it is highly demotivating for ANY comprehensive child to realise that they're up against that calibre of student. Life really is a genetic freakin' lottery.

It's also very hard working in secondary education trying to motivate students when you know what+who they're up against in the jobs market...it's just totally disheartening. If i had one wish it would be to wish private schools away, and let true skill shine through regardless of class disruption and such..the truly best kids will ALWAYS find a way.

Best regards
Francis

PS: Even remembering visiting that bloody place makes me sad....there was me in my next suit, all these kids with the latest phones, resturant-quality meals..mahogony desks, and tailored suits. It's more than education, it's showing these kids the quality of life that they can expect after private school, and as a result it creates a kind of entitlement.

Reply 663

GannaSpanna

In simple terms state schools tell you to go find a banana, grammer schools give you a banana and private schools give you a banana, peel it for you and then feed you the banana.

The stuff might sound stupid but its the truth, but the point is that private schools don't understand that the ability to find the banana, peel the banana and eat it will make each and one of the top pupils at state schools much more successful than those who go private schools.

Btw my sister goes to a private school and i got to a state school.

Reply 664

MalayHKG

Original post by isaaccharles

I have come across several people on TSR who constantly hate private schools and claim that privately educated people don't work hard for A*s. But why all the hate?

The hatred of Private schools and British Public School students stems from the fact that they are the fuel for inequality and have proved detrimental to British Society for Hundreds of years and if you happened to have researched the backgrounds of all the British Prime Ministers in the past 100 years, 90% are from Public School or Independent School.

Whilst these Prime Ministers claim to improve State Education, this just simply hasn't happened and I'm not one bit surprised.

Imagine this, You're born into wealth and affluence and brought up in a middle/upper class family in the Shires and have been sent to prep school and then to Public School and then fast tracked into Oxbridge all the while you've grown up surrounded by privileged individuals like yourself and have made friends with those from similar backgrounds.

So when you rise to power, are you seriously going to improve State Education for the underclass so that they can be more successful in life and gain better qualifications and perhaps challenge those from private school in jobs which the private school boys are 'meant to have' and potentially jeopardising your position and all of your friends and families position as the top of the class system?- Links with Sense of Entitlement

The simple answer is no.

I as a state school boy loathe the private schools for this, my friends at Private school are able to achieve so much more in life because of the fact that they've gone to private school and I feel as if anything I do, there's a sense that it's never going to be as good as what those from private schools do. Take secondary school, whilst I'm predicted 7 A*s and 3 A's at GCSE, my friend at Westminster School is predicted 12 A*'s and 2 A's.

If we look at this from a broader perspective, if you grow up knowing that everything you're doing is going to be inferior to those from private school, there's a sense of why do it?

Furthermore, I aspire to be an Investment Banker so I shall focus in the Finance sector.

I for one am aware of the Old Boys system amongst these Private Schools which claim to help their past students maintain a relationship with their school where they spent formal years of their childhood at.

I will tell you this, that is complete and utter ******** - Excuse my colourful language -

The real reason why the Old Boys system is in place is so that their current boys can leave with contacts with those who used to go to the school themselves and are now most likely to be in careers which are what the boys just leaving school would like to do thus when they apply for the job, their CV will say I went to ... and this will ring a bell in the person reading the application and something along the lines of "Oh, I he went to my alma mater, i shall give him the job" will come to mind.

I hate private schools because of everything they stand for and openly promote.
I hate private schools for the fact that they're detrimental to society
I hate private schools because they maintain the class divide.

Reply 665

nexttime

Original post by Elivercury

I'm pretty certain Oxbridge still take like 70%+ students from private schools, ...

Original post by DamnDaniel2

In Oxford I believe it's 57% Private schools and the rest state schools...

'When I don't know a statistic I just make it up, even when its easy to Google. Life is more fun that way'

:angry:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate?wssl=1

Reply 666

Elivercury

Original post by nexttime

'When I don't know a statistic I just make it up, even when its easy to Google. Life is more fun that way'

:angry:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate?wssl=1

Great, it's 55.6%. Which incidentally, I note also includes grammar schools. I would be curious to know the breakdown within "state".

Given the relative proportion of private school attendees to state school attendees, this is still pretty skewed.

Reply 667

PrettyGirlx

I am a student from a private school (Wycombe Abbey) and my brother formerly used to attend Eton College. I 100% agree with you, well I don't know for sure, but a ton of my brother's friends from Eton got accepted to Cambridge and Oxford, and trust me if you compare some of his friends who got accepted, they don't seem "Cambridge/Oxford worthy" - I know that may seem wrong to say but personally I feel that some of them aren't the intelligent type, not someone who you can just engage in a casual conversation with yet they passed the interview etc. My brother applied to Oxford and yes did get accepted but rejected and will be studying at Edinburgh instead. He feels he personally didn't do that great in A-levels and feels weird about the idea that he got accepted to Oxford. I feel that this isn't right, as I know much smarter state-educated students who do outstanding and still don't get accepted.

Reply 668

ShaunMarshall

I dislike private schools because morally it isn't right that someone should be better educated purely because they were born in a wealthy family. This reinforces the idea that many people have, that is that the wealthy have more opportunities. I believe private schools should be abolished and more money should be invested in schools to give everyone an equal opportunity in life. I am not a Marxist nor do I hate wealthy people, but the idea that just because somebody came from a wealthy family they receive a better education is immoral. I know several people from private schools and they are all straight A students and they aren't even especially intelligent compared to me or my other friends, they are just given better resources and more qualified and experience teachers.

Reply 669

CaitlinN15

I dislike them because I don't believe in the 2 tier educational system, at the end of the day wealth shouldn't define what degrees, unis and jobs people can do. Yes some people are naturally more intelligent than others however there are some people in state schools who can get the same, or even better grades than those in private schools but because their parents can wave their cheque books in the air they're seemed as geniuses. I also believe that there's some people in private schools who do not deserve higher standard of education, there are some pupils in private schools who are not that academic strong compared to others but again, wealth is seen as the label rather than intelligent. There's probably someone somewhere who's smart enough to work out a cure for a disease or something, but yet cannot afford the good enough education to get them there. It's morally wrong and not fair.

I've noticed also private school kids sometimes don't seem to try that hard compared to state kids because they have the attitude 'money is everything blah blah'. From my state college, a lot of people moved from a private high school and their attitude to education was completely different to ours and didn't even recieve 'oustanding grades' but they've been brought up in the background of 'money means everything'..

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Reply 670

Plagioclase

Original post by Elivercury

It's not skewed when you look at the proportion of private school students who actually apply to Oxford.

Reply 671

nikkinunu

Original post by BratMonster

Unfortunately I agree with this big ol turd. It's the posh preppy twots that go there.

this is so not true lmao i go to private school and in my year there are about 5 extremely posh people, it just depends where it is i guess like in the very centre of london everyone are like the stereotypes, but not everywhere

Reply 672

username3894850

I went to all three/4 types of schools: comprehensive, private and the one which I find best:home / self taught.
There is a commenter below that states to have really bad experiences at private school. I believe her story as much I can believer bad experience at comprehensive school. Okay, so with private schools MONEY IS A DISCRETE TOPIC THAT IS MOSTLY JUDGED, which is NEVER related to LEARNING in a NEUTRAL environment. So, a private school should really act as an independent school system that has to provide its own funds from clients. Simply put. It's like buying a plastic jacket from Chanel and buying a plastic jacket from Primark. The beautiful secret is both are not from sustainable sources and both have similar qualities. The same applies to schools. The secret to good education is a healthy environment where a student can ask and learn freely. You find uncivilised students in both schools, but if you study at home there will be no fellow students copying off your Physics reports behind your back whilst you go to the toilet and then once you return they smile right in your face. I mean in schools there is a system to which you can report problems to but schools have never prevented problems happening. They always treat the victim instead of the problem maker or the one that broke the civilised rule. Private schools are just any other schools but may trade or promote things that are not representing their actual skills or attitude on teaching or on student welfare and MORALS. The end. I'm also a part time private tutor of a range of students and all have something which I see as serious to complain about to justify their lag in actual progress.

Reply 673

Little Popcorns

It’s the fact that it’s unfair that rich people pay for their kids to get ahead which leaves the poor further behind.

Reply 674

Foreverconfu

You can’t polish a turd

Reply 675

aishokthen

I mean I go to a private school and my best friend there joined a few years ago. She's definitely what a fair few people would describe as 'chavvy' but her step-mum works at our school which is why she goes there. To be honest my school's kind of **** though, it's really not any better than some state schools. A kid in the year below me got kicked out for beating up some kid in his year with a hockey stick or some **** and he came back to school the next week because his parents bought the headmaster off. In general people in my year aren't too up their own arse in terms of being posh and stuff but idk there are always a few. Honestly the more annoying people are the people (it's generally the boys) who like to go on about the 'chavs' in the nearest state school and all the fights they've had with them but don't realise literally everything they do is just trying to be more like what they think state school kids are like.

Reply 676

izzi_xox

I've been going to a private school since I was 2, and I can say for sure there are 2 types of private skls. You have places similar to Eton which is full of people who are actually rich, and quite stuck-up at times (most of these people are kids of high status ppl etc etc), not all of them, but the majority. Then you have mine which is a private grammar, it's not formal at all, it's just a place to go to if you want smaller class sizes since the schools in my area are all under inspection by Ofsted and have huge class sizes. My school offers a ton of bursaries and scholarships to people, so nobody is actually paying anywhere close to the actual fees.
I think people also need to realise not everyone is loaded, eg for primary my parents used my grandfather's will which he had been saving up for a long time, and then for high skl i got an 100% scholarship. If parents do spend money for their kids education, I think that shows a good example to other parents, instead of spending their money on a house, car or holidays, they decide to spend it on their child's learning so they could perhaps get a better chance in the beginning of their school career.
Nevertheless, even though pretty much all of the kids in my skl are just average people, there are a few people who are snobs and they're not afraid to boast about their money in front of others, but I see the same type of people in state schools too so it works both ways.

Reply 677

Anagogic

The problem is no one has any say of how/where they are born.

Why should someone be given a head start just based upon luck, while people may say if you can't afford a private education you shouldn't have kids (which is ludacris) the child has still had no say in the matter.

Education is heavily influenced by wealth, Education should be an equaliser where those who work hard and have the aptitude are rewarded.

I've seen many examples where people have been failing in state schools and have gone to private schools and got nothing below a B, the impact it has is pretty insane.

That's not to say that you can't do well at a state school, this is in the general sense where when children are given poor direction and help they are unlikely to apply themselves.

Reply 678

Johnny Tightlips

Because private schools are (usually) better than state schools in terms of exam results etc. because they have better teachers and facilities because they have more money.
So you're paying all the money to do better in exams.
Better exam results gives better prospects in later life.
Prosperity later on = send kids to private school later on.
And so the cycle continues. It basically reinforces the class system, because in order to do better in life you need to pay, but how can you pay when you don't have the qualifications because you didn't go to a private school? Poor people stay poor, middle class people stay middle class (generalising massively here, but you get the idea. Certainly, not all those who go to private school do well and not all those who go to state school are doomed to fail). So no wonder people feel disgruntled by those who go to private schools, as its a prominent reminder to them that life is unfair. People who go to private schools shouldn't be ashamed however; after all, it's not their fault they were born into a family who can afford (and want to fork out on) a good school. As long as they use their education well (working hard to get a job that can help society as a whole, as opposed to lazily working through and getting a job as some *****r banker) it's fine by me.

Personally, I think the whole english education system is poor. It's just a hoop-jumping competition which some people are better trained for than others. It doesn't really nurture intelligence.
Also, teaching is an extremely important profession that can literally mean the difference between someone doing well in life or not. Yet nowadays any old schmuck can be a teacher, and are often unmotivated or ill-prepared.
Finally, I think the character of a person is most important to doing well in education. A good friend of mine went to a sh*t hole of a state school (it's now shut down because of how bad it was), yet he still got 7A* at GCSE. He was very driven to do well, yet also confident enough to not succumb to bullying. That was the main reason he scored so high.
Conversely, I go to a prestigious private school (la di da); there are many people there who have had life handed to them on a silver platter and can't be ass*d to do anything for themselves (on a side note, it is these people who form the stereotype of anyone who goes to a private school; lazy rich cocky bast*rds who don't work hard at all, and have good exam results handed over to them by teachers. Whilst I'm sure this is true for some of the uber expensive state schools (like eton or marlborough) it is certainly not true for other private schools, and I think that should be made clear). These people do not do well because of their character (unless, as mentioned, they go to a very expensive (30k per year) school where good results are literally bought (probably, although I'm only guessing here lol!)).

Basically, education is a marathon. Private schools have better coaches, but at the end of the day, we all run the same race (and it's a sh*tty race at that).

Those are my thoughts on the matter.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 679

blueamaraxx

Well i go to private secondary (went to primary state) and can see the difference honestly quite a lot of people aren’t grateful for everything they have, dont work hard, go on trips like every holiday. Tbf i get the reputation bc some of the girls from my school have parents who are completely loaded (one went to the races). BUT there are some who work really hard and make the most of it