Sam Freedman wouldn't send his kids private

Tell me when I have made ridiculous blanket statements about all state schools or their pupils?

Unless you consider the opinion the state system itself is inherently unfair a ridiculous blanket statement?

Sorry-scrub "stupid" and insert "ridiculous"..

But you have no problem with stupid blanket statements about state schools and their pupils?

drifting if someone chooses to make ridiculous blanket statements about all privately educated dc then I will address that.

Re the earlier point about people only focusing on bad state schools and not bad privates, in my case it's because it's a non issue. You have full choice in private, unlike the state sector. Only exceptions to that would be private none ms or full bursary where the parents haven't had a full choice.

Bertrand I assume she thinks that children who don't go to private school can't do those things...

"I look at my kids with the confidence to go into London on their own, to fix problems themselves when they miss the last train, to avoid the drug dealers that according to my older son are hanging around street corners in various parts of London and I SO don't regret sending them to a private"

I've read this paragraph lots of times and it still doesn't make sense.......

We also have to remember that 50% of the time the children are on holiday so all this 'well they live in a bubble etc' is not true. My older DS works in an office or the local pub during university holidays. Mixing and not being segrated at all!

I think some on this thread are living in the days of Tom Brown's Schooldays!

Quite. When state school DD started university in London she was forever accidentally going home to crack dens, mistaking them for her halls.

Having been to a bog standard state school and my children just finishing private education there is a HUGE difference. I lived in London but realistically was rather sheltered and I had little confidence. My mother thought it would be useful to learn to type in order to get a job. There was no talk of a career.

I look at my kids with the confidence to go into London on their own, to fix problems themselves when they miss the last train, to avoid the drug dealers that according to my older son are hanging around street corners in various parts of London and I SO don't regret sending them to a private.

On the university point, there is now most definitely a two tier system.

With the high cost of accommodation at many universities and the loans available often not covering living expenses, many young people can no longer afford any meaningful choice and are being priced out of the top tier.

Would posters here not pay for their DC to attend those universities then?

It's all getting a bit Nah nah ne nah nah now.....
Chances are she has more experience of how deprived people live than your dc do.

mini Well you should approve of my choice to go private then if mixing is what you want. After all if dd had attended the state option she'd be segregated by deprivation. So private allows a nice social mix, because she still gets to experience the deprived side away from school.

And no I'm not 'dreaming' her experience either. Chances are she has more experience of how deprived people live than your dc do.

Qualifying for university entrance is in itself segregation, not everyone is accepted. No different than applying to a private school.
both my 2 sons spent their first uni years in quad rooms. Each only had 1 of the four that came from deprived backgrounds. Daughter on a floor of 7 young ladies, 4 of which came from higher earning backgrounds, the other 3 (daughter included) had parents who were professionals in their fields, so none from a financially deprived background.

When the children go to university they won't be segregated there - they'll attend the same lectures, play sport together, if they are in halls of residence they'll eat together - no matter where they went to school.

Well partly because they wouldn't necessarily get into it due to its lottery admission system

'Why does it bother you that other people in your neighbourhood are choosing to go elsewhere?'

Maybe because it means actively supporting and contributing to a system that actively segregates children based on wealth.

Oddly, despite the outstanding OFSTED, kids going off to Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Guildhall, into West End plays, off to medical school, a lot of local parents wouldn't touch it, and prefer to send their dc to one of the three super elite private schools within a mile of my dc's comp.

Sounds like a great school. Why does it bother you that other people in your neighbourhood are choosing to go elsewhere?

My DC's comp is outstanding, and has many m/c children.

Unlike 100% of private schools though it also has large numbers of low and middle achieving w/c dc's.

Those of you who think your privately educated dc's live in the same world that state educated dc live in - dream on. They spend most of their waking hours in a social environment entirely unrepresentative of normal society.

Oddly, despite the outstanding OFSTED, kids going off to Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Guildhall, into West End plays, off to medical school, a lot of local parents wouldn't touch it, and prefer to send their dc to one of the three super elite private schools within a mile of my dc's comp.

Posting the latest report which is reasonable
reports.ofsted.gov.uk/index.php?q=filedownloading/&id=2583564&type=1&refer=0

I should add nor do I hate their parents or teachers! I hate the system and think it is very bad for society.

Dapple, I hate the unfair education system that segregates children. I do not hate any of the children.

"Twisted - I'm surprised you agree to work with children who are privately educated since you hate it so much."

Good lord, it's not the children's fault they're at private school!

Has anyone said that all state schools are good?

I agree with Dapple Grey tbh. What about schools where there is no ambition for the children? Where it is seen as acceptable to have a child very young with no thought to the consequences. Where learning is a dirty word, where parents cannot be bothered to get their kids ready for school and breakfast is not even thought of!

I speak as a child of a former teacher who used to take in a loaf for toast every morning because some of the parents just couldn't care less.

Banning private schools (it will never happen) will not fix people's eating disorders.

Twisted - I didn't mean that sarcastically, it's just that i would find it hard to work with something or someone I really disapproved of.
I don't feel very strongly about much politically, but for example my son has been helping some refugees from Venezuela and the things they've told him would make one's hair stand on end.
Therefore I couldn't work with someone who was a supporter of the Chavez/Maduro regime.