Well said Nagy.
I do find it annoying when those who pay cannot seem to get past either 'you're just jealous' or 'you're an inverted snob' as arguments.
The idea that I'm jealous assumes I think private school is better, and I just don't. I admit in my eldest's first few weeks in year 7, when she was bored with a dull English teacher, I though god, she'd be getting on quicker in a more pressured environment. That's the only time I've ever framed my thinking about state/private in that way - but truly the more my kids progress in the state system (now years 5 and 9) the more passionately pro-state I am. I cannot believe the amounts of opportunities there are now that weren't there at my state comp under the last Tory government. So many staff dedicated to pushing them to be the best they can, rewarding effort and punishing bad behavious, who really do care about their profession - yeah, some dross too, but they're generally about to retire! I certainly wouldn't want her going to school with the people who, if they're being serious on this thread, would currently regard her as 'rif-raf'. (can't remember the poster's name, but it was said).
I passionately believe that the world would be a better place if the children of the wealthy and the poor were educated in the same place - and then the sorts of prejudice on both sides would surely have to lessen? Since the anti-state-ers have been plenty anecdotal, I'll be anecdotal as well, and remember when a girl I knew on the school bus who went to a private school farther along the route asked 'so is everyone at your school like, really common?'. Or the story of when my daughter met a bunch of first-years from a v expensive girls' boarding school and was asked 'do you like horses? have you got one?'. Or when a girl from the same school asked what a council house was, and when it was explained, exclaimed in horror 'but isn't that - like - COMMUNISM?'.
Another thing that gets my goat is the catchment area issue - there are two schools in my city which aren't very well regarded, because they draw a significant part of their intake from large local council estates. However there are, in each case, some rather well-to-do roads and streets in those areas too, but those people tend to issue a horrified 'she's not going to C! I'd rather teach her myself!!!!' and then scramble for the cheque book. Surely if those people got a grip and had faith in their own kids and in the staff at the schools, their kids and the other local kids would all benefit? And not to bloody mention 'free schools' - there are consultations round here for one because 'M is just . Well sorry if I'm being dim, but wouldn't it be a Holgate sort of school if Holgate people sent their children there?
If you send your child to private school, you're telling them 'that school is good enough for everyone else, but not for you'. And I cannot honestly see how that isn't telling them also that they are 'better' than those other kids.
My hero at the moment is John O'Farrell, who very rightly said on the radio recently that people tend not to mind you saying 'get out of Iraq', or even 'Tory Scum!', but when you say 'actually, I think you should send your child to the local state school', they get very angry and defensive.