to think that people are not born equal

[Barbierella]

and life is often unfair. However, pulling people down from the top is never going to make things fair and that it will actually make things worse for everyone.

Sorry thread about a thread (private school and charitable status thread)

reallytired

I have already explained what I mean by being born equal. Please see my post at 11.41

Barbiella I have and I'm unconvinced.

I don't think, as very privileged people and as part of the establishment that the people running JAG are best placed to prioritise their resources for the good of the community as a whole.
The charitable status is obviously very valuable to them and they retain it by doing those things that are most convenient to them.

Some of what's on there you could critique as not at all useful. The volunteer work in Romania for example. A lot has been written criticising the effect of schemes like this which parachute privileged youngsters into poor countries rather than support the skills and efforts of people who live there. I'm sure it was very enriching for the girls involved though

The OP in the other thread suggested the money from taxing private schools be used to help the less well achieving children. While I do understand the need for bright kids to get an appropriate education, it does raise an important question. You have to ask yourself- when private schools do charitable community stuff, why do they tend to aim it at the higher performing kids?

reallytired

But how does it help anyone for all private school to be profit making and have no requirements to the local and wider community.

I wrote this earlier "The point that non private school students would immediately lose out because the charitable school lend their equipment, time and facilities to state funded school has been completely missed."

The amount charitable schools give in terms of equipment and facilities far outstrips any tax exemptions they receive.

So the charitable status is valuable to the private school AND the state school and community.

BOTH would lose out if it was taken away.

"bigger problem which is parents who do not value education and do not support their school or children's learning"

I don't agree that this is the "bigger problem" in education. Although I can see why you would support private education if you believed this.

Why bother resourcing schools for working class kids- its not as though they appreciate it after all. Its the same as people who opposed putting baths in council houses because we d only use them to store coal!

Most parents do support their kids education OP. Its a shame that governments often don't.

a 'bigger problem' would seem to be those who are pro private view state education so negatively and parents who use it as 'less educated, less emotionally warm, less invested in education' and generally crap

YABU.

Yes, children are not born with equal opportunities. That's a problem, not something to use as justification for giving even more privileges to the already privileged.

Personally I think private schools should be abolished. Then maybe upper and middle-class parents would actually give a shit about the shameful state of public education, and maybe governments would do something meaningful about it.

But I realize my views on this are a little extreme

I don't see what difference private schools having charitable status makes to the state community. Creaming off a couple of gifted poor children does nothing to help 99% of state school kids. In most cases children in different school lead seperate lives and never mix.

In some parts of surrey or kingston state comprehensives are damaged by the signifcant creaming off of the better off kids. Having schools for the rich and schools for the poor is damaging to society. Schools for the poor have a poverty of aspiration.

To be honest I think that private education is a bit of a red herring. I am far more concerned that so many British children's families are reliant on food banks. I am more concerned that hard working British families cannot find affordable housing.