Shouldnt equal education be available to everyone?

@deep501 I had a bold failure... the first paragraph was a quote from OP. The bold often annoyingly disappears when you press post

And for what it’s worth here too...we are not top bracket income by a long shot, but do choose to pay for private education, as well as healthcare. On top of taxes we already pay towards the state alternatives.
Reason? Because living in a highly populated SE affluent area, our schools are seriously underfunded, and our hospitals and GP surgeries are overcrowded. Our choice.

@happycamper11 that's exactly right. Scotland is not communist as evidenced by the fact that people seem to have a choice. It did not get to equal state schools by abolishing private schools either. State schools are equal, yet 40% in your city go to private schools as you say. What does that tell you?

This post is like an argument with Diane Abbot. Completely nonsensical.
If I really loathed a country this much, I don’t think I’d be wanting to stay for very long...
I’m sure there are plenty other less ‘rigid’ countries you could choose to live....

It is frustrating that you won’t answer what superior country you are from. We can’t really have a proper debate when we don’t know what we are comparing it to. And calling people racist whilst saying how superior your country is is rather hypocritical.

For what it’s worth my household is high earning, certainly in the top 5% and we don’t send our children to private school. We want them to grow up in a community and not be shipped out away for their education. I am perfectly happy with their state education. My high earning dh is state educated. I am largely state educated apart from a spell at international private schools in my primary school years. So yes not the only country with private education.

@deep501 some one right above you has just said that state schools are very equal in Scotland, and last time I checked, Scotland wasn't a communist country.

I live in a Scottish city and 40% of children here go to private schools. As opposed to less than 10% of the UK as an average.

Op, the class system is not rigid. You are making some incorrect assumptions. I am a single mum, my ds is at a private school. I come from a free school meals family where there was certainly no privilege.
I have been lucky in some ways and I have worked very hard but there is no class advantage and no privilege involved.

Sorry but your sweeping generalisations are incorrect.

DH and I have an income in the top 10% of households in the UK (I was at state school, he was private although both Scotland rather than England so different system). Our DC go to state school because the private alternatives are not worth the money, the local state secondary school and 6th form college send several children to Oxbridge every year. DN is at Oxford, along with several of her classmates from a state school. Going to state school is not just for 'poor' people and does not prevent access to the top jobs. Concentrate on getting church schools abolished rather than worrying about private schools.

If you want to adress inequality please tell us about the healthcare system in the country you've come from?

First para needs the word unacceptable added. Apols

I agree Langspartacus.

I would also assert that whilst state schools are not rising to the highest common denominator there must be options. Not all schools are right for all children and in my experience, with my DC, the comprehensives available were in the context of education (science and language provision) and behaviour.

I do think the UK system is shocking but not for the same reasons as the op.

I would be very happy to pay a little more tax for education nd the NHS but I would expect the ethos and standards in both to improve. SEND would be a priority; it's the NHS's CAMHS and there is something disturbing about a society that does not sufficiently suppirt its most vulnerable children and young people.

Why won’t you tell us which country you’ve lived in in the EU?

@LangSpartacusCleg totally agree with this.

There is a difference between need to uplift through various support methods and the desire to receive everything for "free" and consider that as a basic right/right to economic freedom.

It's a lost cause trying to explain that to OP who is clearly focused on blaming the UK system for everything that is possibly wrong.

@angell84 any complaints about the UK weather while you are at it? Returning from your long stint abroad, you must have a view on the sunshine being brighter elsewhere too?

There is a right to an education. Not to an equal education.

We should not penalize people by catering to the lowest common denominator. We should be looking at how best to help the intelligent but disadvantaged pupils through interventions, greater challenges, scholarships etc.

League tables are not elitist. You said the country you have come from has equal education across the board. How can you actually know that if you do not compare the schools?

In your view, OP, what should people be able to spend their money on? You've made it clear they shouldn't be able to spend it on better school facilities or smaller class sizes. How about personal tuition? Sport or drama clubs? Better food than average? Books at home? Subscriptions to educational magazines? Online educational resources? Larger houses with separate bedrooms for their children?

All these things cost money. All these things raise educational attainment. Should we make them all illegal?

@angell84 - please read the article fully to understand their definition of "economic freedom" as well ...

you started your post saying you spent long time abroad where education was perfect, care sharing which country that is? To provide a frame of reference for the rest of us?

@angell84 perhaps you can start by answering which country you just came from and are citing to be the panacea of education? That question has been asked a few times, somehow you evade answering.

Once you provide that context, then you can try to understand what free society means. Refer to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_society as a start.

It seems that your definition of free society is that everything is literally handed out to you for "free" .. education, food, money, jobs. Anything short of that you classify as corrupt, elitist.
Seems to me you desire communism (refer to my earlier post), considered moving to China?

We live in a very disadvantaged area with no grammar schools, I teach but we will be applying for private schools in our closest city and hoping for a bursary. The option to go to private school is there, and they will take poorer students to maintain their charity status.

The teachers in my school are exhausted, all of my classes have 32 students. In some GCSE classes I have a range of reading ages from 5 to 17 which makes it very difficult to tailor the lesson for anyone. Just like other local schools we have big issues with county lines, some of our children have experienced terrible trauma or just struggle with school work so act out and have awful behaviour. I was out of the classroom 1 day last week and text books and stationery were thrown out the window.

I want Dd to have the educations she deserves, where its OK to be clever, where draconian rules don't have to be put in place just to keep the peace. I don't want her lessons disturbed by awful, disrespectful behaviour. If you got rid of private schools these issues would still exist but you would have even more students to squeeze into overcrowded schools.

There are some countries where state schools (free) are the only options for citizens, they are not allowed to go to private schools. A totalitarian government can decide and implement such things.

UK is a free society where education is a basic right and everyone is guaranteed a right to free education. If some choose to pay for private schools that is their choice to make. There is no evidence that the presence of private schools in the system diminishes the quality of learning at state schools. Hence it's hard to argue that all private schools should be closed.

Besides it's a socialist/communist viewpoint that education, healthcare, jobs etc should be standardized and provided for by the state i.e one size fits all and that is the only choice available to all. That model of society has been proven to be broken.

A by-product of capitalism is wealth inequality. I don't think that can be erased. A by-product of this is the fact that some people can afford and choose to pay for more expensive private schools. In a way, one probably wants them doing so and hence keep state school spots available for everyone else.