Shouldnt equal education be available to everyone?

I never mention my school. It closed in 1985, and I now live over 200 miles away from where I went to school, so no-one will have heard of it anyway.

@Lalala205 i frequently reference what school i attended in various public forums .. as an example of being able to achieve what you dream and work for, despite having gone to a school no-one here would have heard of.

As long as you refuse to tell us about the amazing country you come from OP it's very hard to buy into your point of comparison

If it's Ireland, they have plenty of private schools ...

Who even actually goes to a book club and announces what school they attended though? Because OP expects us to believe not only did the 'bragger' announce his ex school, but so did everyone else 🙄

www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2017/12/07/honest-thoughts-on-educational-inequality-in-ireland/

banda.ie/equality-education-ireland/

www.irishtimes.com/news/education/why-is-discrimination-still-tolerated-in-our-education-system-1.3083574

Now I'm shit stirring

You’ll also see, if you read the OP, that OP is actually from the U.K.

Another Irish shit stirrer then

No just a shit stirrer. They come in all nationalities. Quite a lot of English ones here on MN.

I think OP you need to go and spend some time in your local schools.

Yes the education system is flawed, it’s flawed because people are all different and want different things from life. Some kids get the best education and still leave without GCSEs. Some attend sing schools and leave with A*’s

Kids with SEN have no chance of a decent eduction because it isn’t tailored to their needs, some get lost in the big wheel and fal through the cracks.

That’s life

There only so many ‘good’ jobs we can’t all be brain surgeons! We need road sweepers, shop workers, fruit pockets, banker and accountants.

Excuse me, @ursulapandress?

I was at a book club here in the U.K, and a man that was present bragged about what school he went to, and looked down his nose at some of the other people in the group, who went to lesser schools
I remember looking at him with incredulity, thinking "you are a man in your forties, who cares what school you went to"

I hope you told him that his boorish behaviour was really quite common.

(If this actually happened)

I was at a book club here in the U.K, and a man that was present bragged about what school he went to, and looked down his nose at some of the other people in the group, who went to lesser schools
I remember looking at him with incredulity, thinking "you are a man in your forties, who cares what school you went to"

Were you in N Ireland? People here are obsessed with what school you went to When a younger relative went to university in Scotland he reported back to his parents with horror that no one wore their school hoody or school scarf, and no one even asked what school you went to. And the parents were telling everyone about how awful and backwards it was over there and no one had any sense of identity.

@posterAutumnnightsaredrawingin that sums up the reality very well.

However, is buying a house in the right catchment area and getting your kid into the outstanding state school the end game for children's future? They still have to cope, perform and make use of the opportunities.

It's sad that many parents seem to take utmost pressure on themselves and DC to get them into outstanding state schools. It's not like that sets kids up for life. It does save parents secondary school tuition, but kids still need to cope and perform to hold their own in a competitive environment isn't it?

It is a marathon and not a sprint, conquering state school admissions in secondary by faking an address does not solve life.

So, advanced Search shows this poster is from Ireland. You know Ireland- where everybody has to pay several hundreds of Euros every year to receive education
Poor children don't suffer at all under the Irish system!

Oh, she has no children either...

We have chosen to send our children to private secondary schools. They attend state primaries. We are not mega rich, at all.

The problem is, the state system as is stands is also ‘unfair.’ You will never equalise education, because even if private schools were banned, as they do now, state schools would still wildly vary.

There are some state schools that are excellent, well above private schools in terms of academic success. I have several friends that have opted for outstanding state schools despite having places at private. But is that ‘fair’? They have the money to have bought houses in catchment areas for these outstanding schools that would be way beyond the reach of many people.

Even if you made secondary school a complete lottery, whereby every child in x area was put into a hat with x schools, it would still be completely unequal. Teachers, location, cohort, whether you have a group of motivated kids etc all matter.

I am very much of the view that private school is NOT a ‘better’ education. For some of my friends, attending a private, but not especially good, school has been a disaster.

@deep501 That’s correct too...I also have a lot of family down under...and they have a three tier system there. Fully state....semi-state (mainly church affiliated schools which have state funding and low level fees) and fully private..which is more akin to here. So yes, another modern Utopia of choice

Well if OP has lived in the US, she surely knows all about Utopian living. All my US cousins have been privately educated..and some college fees are on quite another level.
Really I’m beginning to think OP must have fallen off a fluffy white cloud passing over the UK...and has had the awful misfortune of having landed..

@EntropyRising i saw some links from OP from Aussie press so guessing OP was Down Under.

If it was the US, I do not think OP has a leg to stand on with his arguments about equal and free education to all. The disparity in state schools vs. private is pretty stark there. More so, even in between state schools in different zip codes (levels of affluence), how about fixing that first! Also in the New World, if he expressed these leftist desires he would have been laughed out of the country!

Is it's Aus, i do see statistics about 40% private school attendance there as well.

In short, I think OP is a disgruntled soul who stirred up a random discussion and has just walked away leaving us to continue to debate.

Based on a previous poster's detective work, I think the OP lives or was living in the US.

Do you think the OP realises that a higher percentage of children attend private schools in the US that in the UK? (10% v 7%).

Did you live in a communist state previously OP?

Based on a previous poster's detective work, I think the OP lives or was living in the US.

Really - go back to moaning about how the UK is more racist than Australia/Canada or how you want a man who will start your car for you because all Irish men are unchivalrous mummy's boys. You'll still be as ill-informed, but it makes it easier for other posters to identify you rather than indulging your sophomoric whims and only realising too late.

Ah, so angell84 = when valentine's day becomes about ur daughter and not u?

Did you live in a communist state previously OP?

You are a fool OP if you think that the poor are not discriminated against in every nation of the world. People of means will get a better education in every country, even those without fee-paying schools, by dint of living in nicer areas, affording more gone resources, being better educated parents themselves.
I know of 1 European country that has selective education for the most able children regardless of background... but since the collapse of communism, I am fairly sure even that can be manipulated by wealth now.
2/5 of the world do not get an education- because of poverty. Look at the UN figures on this.
In the UK all children are able to access free education up to age 18(higher for those with SEND). That is far, far superior to most of the rest of the world.

Not really sure what you are suggesting OP. A communist state? Because in any other society, you will have those with more and those with less. Bam all private schools? The wealthy will pay for tutoring? Ban tutoring? Now you are descending into the realms of a communist society.

What a bonkers OP.

They bang on about the "poor" not being able to pay for education. If 93% of people in the UK are state educated, that's an awful lot of poor people around, including me!

It's one of those OPs who keeps on posting links and refusing to engage with any dialogue. Boring.