to think that Pvt School parents are very defensive?

[StrawberryTrifle]

yes a thread about a thread?

they all seem to want to justify their 'decision' or 'sacrfice' to anyone who will listen!

No, it's because we get grief on here from those who don't like our decisions.

That's because it is frowned upon on MN. You will find a similar phenomenon around SAHM/WOHM and ff/bf

And with that bombshell, I depart ....

One becomes defensive in response to attack.

My personal take on it:

Of course you'd be defensive about making the decision to fork out enormous amounts of money for an elitist education. Because if you don't defend that position fiercely on a "superior education" position it just makes you look like a) a mug or b) a snob (for whom private education has the happy benefit of avoiding the unwashed).

I don't think that parents who educate their children privately can win really. They're asked to justify their reasoning. They do so. Their arguments are torn apart by the majority who have, for whatever reason (ideological/financial/social) gone the state route.

Ad nauseam.

If I had made the decision to privately educate my children then I think I'd feel defensive too. I couldn't though - am vehemently opposed.

I think no matter what choices you make you want to believe they are the right ones and defend as part of the self convincing process. But this is n't only private vs state education - natural birth vs c-section, breast feeding vs formula, sahm vs wohm, Clarks vs supermarket shoes, branded jeans vs M and S, Waitrose vs Asda and so on

I don't think it's to anyone who will listen OP. If the subject is on a thread then obviously they are free to comment or yes defend their position if they are being attacked.

Bit like fox hunting really, a very easy target.

And this thread is in itself another attack.

Should it also look at the parallel question of why some MNers are so aggressive?

Er, are saying that people were defensive because they explained their choices on a thread where they were asked to explain their choices.....

In order for someone to be defensive someone must be attacking.

YAWN

AIBU to think that all state school parents have huge chips on their shoulders and are very defensive about their choice?

Personally, i couldn't give a fuck about how others educate their children and I don't need them to explain themselves.

I know why I made my choices, I know I am fortunate to be able to afford it (or rather their father can afford it) and I don't actually need or have to justify them to anyone.

What Pooka said. Every word.

Am slightly freaked by the number of threads about private schools on Mumsnet.

Especially ones like the random thread asking for comparisons between JAGS and other private girls' schools today. I can't help there would be better forums for people to look on?

Lol @ Soupy!!!

But I have to say that there are some 'state' schools which are pretty much private anyway due to small catchment + high house prices.

Indeed Normantebbit, private by stealth . Now where is that miners thread - private or state owned ....

YABU, it's not for MN to judge others choices, which they then attack and wonder why people then get upset. As others have said it's the same for womh/sahm & bf / ff.

I'll tell you this though - if you want to see a real bunfight and shockingly frank comparisons of private schools, then get thee to urbanbaby.com. Is a New York based mumsnet (but nowhere near as user friendly) where everyone is obsessed by top tier kindergartens, tests, legacy applications, whether children are 'connected' (which always makes me think of the mafia) and whether being interviewed by a particular person mens your 3 year old is condemned to adulthood in the penitentiary.

It is INSANE.

God it sounds grim

It has made me count my blessings, I can tell you. Is jaw-droppingly hellish. But probably completely unrepresentative of most New Yorkers and their approach to education

pooka.. the "gifted and talented" board on this forum is pretty much the same as that! lol!!!

Ask me why I do somehting and I'll tell you.

Tell me why you think I do something, I'll put you right, if you've got it wrong.

Not remotely defensive.