To wonder if you are against private schools…

Because it gives rich kids an advantage over poor kids, which isn't fair. It's not complicated.

However, people generally want to buy better if they can afford it. Just look in style & beauty; people recommending dresses at £200 quid from 'boutique' brands, not Primani
Where is your incentive to earn to buy the things you want, including health and education, if you are not allowed to spend your money where you want?
If I were a teacher, I would choose private anyday; at least when parents are buying education, they are incentivised to support their child doing their work, and less likely to disrupt education by whipping them off on holiday during term time. Less likely to abuse teachers too

i have 3 DC - one an adult , I have experience of 4 different state primaries , 1 private , 1 grammar state school and 2 non selective state schools . The state Grammar is head and shoulders above all the others . The private is being used because DC crumbled in the massive state secondary school .

The aim should be for all schools to give children the opportunities of the best schools - in my experience that’s the state grammar ( or perhaps the schools Starmers kids go to ). The private isn’t that great - it just suits DC .

@Brananan , exactly this. My boys were state educated until the elder had his first year at the highly competitive local state secondary school. Discipline was dreadful and we were all fed up of having to contend with the feral offspring of useless parents. It’s very often not money that makes independent schools better.

Because I know at least 3 parents who will tell you it's so Clara can learn some obscure instrument on a Wednesday afternoon but actually it's because they don't want her associating with the riff raff, aka, our kids.

I completely agree

Agreed

For the person asking 'why?' Well to me this is so self evident that it's hard to explain why but basically because it's unfair and entrenches inequality.

I don't want to live in a world where it is impossible or very difficult for children from poorer families to succeed in life because the rich have hoarded all the wealth and opportunities and private schools are a way that rich people do that (so are grammar schools and tutors)

It often isn't the quality of education or the facilities that are being bought. It's the connections and depressingly not having to associate with people deemed 'lesser'

They create a two-tier system, in a political world where for more than half of the last century, those with the political power to influence education do not use the system. If you do not use a product, you have little interest in the quality of the product.

Why doesn't everyone do that hey 🙄

But it is within the state sector. House prices close to outstanding / good schools are higher than those near ‘requires improvement’ schools. Grammars push them property prices up further. Demographics are no broader in certain state schools and may be narrower than in private schools.

Not true. I would NEVER send my children to a state school. If they were banned in the UK I would simply educate abroad.

You will never get rid of inequality in education, there are too many variables - the most volatile of which is the parent’s attitude towards school/education.

You can invest all the money you want but if parents don’t engage, it will get you nowhere.

Patents will always “buy advantage” where they can, whether it is through buying houses in catchment for the good schools, tutoring, or extensive extracurricular activities. You will never stop that.

I went to a hideous state school - inner city Bristol, one of the worst schools in the country for attendance and attainment (8% GCSE pass rate) - and I wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone.

The fact is that most people who are so vehemently opposed to private schools are lucky enough to have the option of a good State offering, because I don’t believe for a minute that any parent would willingly send their child to an underachieving school.

All schools should be great, but until you fix the parents it will never happen so I don’t begrudge those who have the means/opportunity to send their kids to private. Ultimately we are all just trying to do what’s right by our own individual children.

I agree, but even amongst the state system you have good schools and bad schools, so the children don’t have the same opportunities. Even if private schools didn’t exist and those kids went into the state system, it may make a small difference given it’s only 6% of children who go to private school, but not enough to make it equal. I don’t believe we’ll ever be able to give all children the same opportunities sadly, we’d need to give our society a total overhaul.

This! It's not hard to understand.

My child attends a private school that’s fully funded by the local authority. Not all children attend private schools out of choice, and it doesn’t mean their parents are wealthy to be able to send their child to private school.
For us he spent 5 years in a main stream school that tried their best to support him, but with his verbal dyspraxia and dyslexia the gap between him and his peers was widening with it not being possible to catch them up.
he has been at the private school (into his 3rd year there) and is thriving, with smaller classes and the teachers being able to take the time to explain the curriculum it’s massively benefiting him. We are very lucky, but see people’s argument from both sides.

I remember when I started working in banking asking a colleague why people asked where I went to school... I thought they were just being nosey. That's what I'm 'against' - private schooling isn't even about 'a better education' that a child still has to work hard to access, it's about unearned equity in the form of contacts and networks.

That said, I'm not 'against' them as such - but I absolutely believe they are luxury business and should be run, taxed and paid for in the same way all luxury businesses should.

But where does it end?
Every child should have the right to decent housing,
Every child should have the right to nutritional food,
Every child should have the right to a good education,
Every child should have the right to decent clothes,
Every child should have the right to swimming lessons,
Every child should have the right to music lessons,
Every child should have the right to a holiday abroad,
etc etc .
People are not the same, and people earn different amounts of money.

Most of all,
Every child should have the right to caring and supportive parents.

This is the argument I most struggle to agree with. Education does not begin and end at the school gate. Parental education, attitude, interest and even contacts significantly outweigh any education provided by the school. Those who care will invest in cultural experiences, reading, extra curricular activities, tutoring, sports and the list goes on. Unless the intention is to swap children into other families for parts of their lives, we will never even this out. I work with low income families and many of these kids are battling against the tide from the day they’re born - it’s horrific the government has no intention to address any of it

When people opt for private, the government just see this as an opportunity to offer less for those that are there, not use the funding in the system across less children. That is a huge part of the issue

I am not against them as such. I am all in favour of choice.

I don't think abolishing private schools will magically make state schools better.

I think there are issues within the state school system that makes them less effective.

On the flip side it is unfair that only the children of parents with a certain level of disposable income can access the best education.

I don't know what the solution is.

Why not exactly?

There is no equality in education even in the state sector. House prices in grammar school areas are much more expensive. Children with educated parents who can help with homework will do better than those whose parents don’t speak English or are uneducated. Children sharing a bedroom with no computer in the home will do less well than children with own bedroom and a desk and quiet place to work. Children in violent households or those with chaotic parents will do worse than those with calm household etc. children whose parents can afford tutors or books will do better than those who parents can’t etc. it is impossible to make education equal for all as every child’s circumstances are different. Attacking private schools where most kids are on an equal footing with each other is silly as they are probably some of the most equal classrooms in the country. The aim should be to support struggling families and make all state schools up to a minimum standard.

This
Obviously

Having worked in an industry where there are many private school alumni it sickened me to hear senior people say things like ‘oh Robert, you went to Westminster eh? Fancy a lunch to discuss our contacts’ to my junior peers. It was an old boys club where those privately educated were fast tracked to the top.

Thankfully that’s slowing now and the industry places a lot more effort on diversity - ie my company don’t ask for any specific qualifications or where they were educated.