The Student Room Group

Should private schools be closed?

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of course not - ultimately education is an investment, not a right (as you use it for the purpose of getting a better job than you otherwise would), and you do not have the freedom to interfere with the freedom of others unless they're taking away your own freedom, and education is not a freedom, or else everybody born into third world poverty is a slave to a non-existent master which doesn't make sense. equality is a legitimate virtue, but uniformity and monopoly is not a legitimate nor a moral means. you'll never get equality even with free uni and banned private schools; the richer parents will always be able to pay for better resources and extra tutors.
The privately educated still contribute in taxes towards the state education of everyone else, in addition to any fees they pay for private education. Closing private schools would therefore simply make all the state schools worse off, as there'd be an extra burden in terms of pupils on state schools.

Private schools tend to be academically rigorous institutions. As many people have said, lower-achieving state schools should try to emulate them in terms of academic achievement.

Also, getting rid of private schools would not solve any sort of problem in terms of inequality of education. As long as people have money they will treat education as a commodity, and it cannot therefore ever be 100% fair. If you got rid of private schools, you would have a lot of rich parents who would simply send their tutored-up children to the highest performing state-schools, thus increasing the competition for places and, again, all you're doing is making those who are clever but can't pay for education inevitably lose out.

I would suggest we keep the private schools while creating a tiered State system with grammar schools. This would be the best way towards increased social mobility. Sure, it's not perfect, but it seems the fairest of the options that there are.
Reply 22
Original post by Le Nombre
Recently the Charities Commission has revoked the previous advice and said they no longer have to justify their tax break by giving out a certain number of bursaries, allowing community use of the facilities etc. Given many independents are struggling financilly expect to see bursaries slashed as a consequence.


Oh dear, I wasn't aware of that! Although that does affect my point to an extent, I still maintain that closing private schools would result in a lowered standard of state education.

Original post by Ben_K
I am saying there is a huge disparity in the quality of education displayed in private and public schools.

Public schools and Private schools are the same thing. You mean Public schools and State schools.

Original post by Ben_K
closing private schools would push the average of public schools performance up as previous private school students would move into public schools

And how exactly would that raise the standard of education? It would still be a case of rich kids gaining good grades, and there would be no overall benefit to lower-income students. Additionally, as there's already a hierarchy of state schools, rich parents would purchase properties close to those schools to get their children in, with the end result being that good schools would continue to seem exceptional while underachieving schools would still underachieve.

Original post by Ben_K
I think it would possibly also benefit public schools as private school teachers who (in most cases teach to a higher standard than those in a public school) would move into public schools and benefit more of society as a result.

That's one of the few pro's about closing public schools (even though it's based on an assumption). However, I believe their effect would be offset by the fact that more students in state schools = more funding required. Seeing as most schools are already cash-strapped, there would be less resources and extra help per student, so standards still go down.

Also, there's still the above problem of the best teachers applying for posts at the best schools, so "bad" schools remain bad.

Of course, this is assuming that good teachers make all the difference in public schools. Even if we assume that public school teachers are a cut above the rest (many actually aren't), I think parents have a much larger impact on a child's education. The parents of many students in underachieving schools just don't really understand or care about education, whereas you don't really have that problem in public schools.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 23
Original post by Vian


Public schools and Private schools are the same thing. You mean Public schools and State schools.



My bad :smile:
Reply 24
Original post by Ben_K
My bad :smile:


I still remember when I found that out through these very forums! :colondollar:
Original post by Vian
Oh dear, I wasn't aware of that! Although that does affect my point to an extent, I still maintain that closing private schools would result in a lowered standard of state education.



Hmmm it depends, personally I think having lots of parents who presumably value education involved in the state school system (where governors can wield quite a lot of influence), and have good contacts in business etc. would help state schools improve.

I still wouldn't advocate shutting them, it's people's right to do as they wish with their money, but given the new bursaries situation I'm at a total ****ing loss as to how they justify a tax break and BUPA doesn't.
Reply 26
It's something to strive towards, the way I see it.

If you didn't go private school, work your ass off so your kids and can benefit from a better education.
Reply 27
Original post by Vian
I still remember when I found that out through these very forums! :colondollar:


It would be much easier to differentiate the two by calling one a private and one a public school but hey ho. Right i'm off to bed now, I start early tomorrow :smile:
Original post by Ben_K
It would be much easier to differentiate the two by calling one a private and one a public school but hey ho. Right i'm off to bed now, I start early tomorrow :smile:


'public' school in this sense doesn't mean public sector, but the opposite to local schools. Local/council/state schools are only open to the local area, whereas public schools are open to everyone :smile: I think the correct term now would be independent school though

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Reply 29
Wait... so there are people here who are perfectly happy to have their own tax raised, to ensure that children are physically unable to receive top education? Bitterness much?

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