Paying for private school a poor investment in kids' future

[womblesofwestminster]

AIBU to wonder what all the private-school-paying parents think of this? (I know MN has a disproportionate amount of them).

"The research shows that a private-school education may help you get to university, but is of no help once you are there and of no help later once you try to enter the workforce"

www.tourismportdouglas.com.au/Paying-for-private-school-a-poor-investm.11742.0.html

[LiverpoolLou]

I had a top notch private education. DH went to a London state school and spent most of his school life in the headteachers office on the brink of expulsion. Guess which of us is the one with the PhD and which one has only ever had minimum wage type jobs.

[MexicanSpringtime]

I'd say that here and in China, the seriously expensive private schools are useful for "networking", actually.

[scottishmummy]

Private school kids,and scheme weans.we have a lot in common
We can both respectively find folk from comparable background/school
Private schoolers always find each other, as do the scheme weans.like magnets

[IAMACLANGER]

LiverpoolLoo ... am hoping you are the one with the Phd... but am thinking probably your DH! It's the way it goes!

[KnittedJimmyChoos]

I really hate this fatalistic attitude of some posters.

The most successful people I know and that my measurement on wealth, but also life style, job satisfaction, etc, are actually school drop outs or poor working class Grammar school products.

The most successful person I know dropped out of school at 15 and is creative and a musician and says he never had an education to hold him back, he is from Manchester, but is well read, really clever, unusual take on things, more of an entrepreneurial attitude to things. He didn't make the majority of his money from music but from business set up round it.

[WooWooOwl]

Minifingers, education in this country isn't a two tier system between private and state school, if a two tier system exists it's simply between good and bad schools.

The existence of private schools doesn't disadvantage the majority of children. Children are far more disadvantaged by poor role models as parents and disengaged, unsupportive parents than they will ever be by schools that don't even get noticed by them.

I certainly don't feel like my state educated children are disadvantaged or being treated unfairly, they go to perfectly good schools that will do what they need to to in terms of enabling them to get good GCSE and a level results as long as they are capable and put the effort in.

[KnittedJimmyChoos]

BTW out of my peers, who are mixed friends from uni, some private background some not, our most successful person, was state educated from rural backwater. But confidence and hard work and talent and flair has got her an extremely top coveted job. She did, when a few rungs down be moan she would never get this spot due to oxbridge type candidates hogging these roles, but she did get it.

Sorry for personal anecdotes

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

Very expensive way to develop MH issues.

I'm certain DDs DF would have been better at the local comp.

[KnittedJimmyChoos]

Minifingers, education in this country isn't a two tier system between private and state school, if a two tier system exists it's simply between good and bad schools.

can it even be called a tier if only 7% as someone said earlier go to private anyway?

[LiverpoolLou]

LiverpoolLoo ... am hoping you are the one with the Phd... but am thinking probably your DH! It's the way it goes!

I wish it were me, but no, it's DH. He's a tenacious bugger who can cope with anything thrown at him and knows how to fight (figuratively) to get what he wants.

[scottishmummy]

Mh difficulties are more prevalent in lower socio-economic groups
Mh issue isnt necessarily a private school outcome

[naplanfever]

This research is about Australia, where something like 40% of children are not in government schools. The socio-economic/class associations of private education are not a good match for the situation in the UK. Basically, Catholic schools are part of the private system, but don't for the most part select.

Do the maths; with this level of buy-in, it would be amazing if all of those students did better than the government schools

There is good deal of cachet attached to private education in Australia, but this does not always translate into academic achievement, because the parental support/ attitudes to value of education is not always there. In a nutshell; lots of dosh but not much going on between the ears. It's about the look of the thing. Successive governments have done an amazing job of making private education the default position if you really care about your child.

I've met private school teachers and it's as if they're owned by the parents. The mindset is not "I've purchased the means for my child to have a better education, rather I have bought the education and teacher had better make sure my child gets it".

On another note, the scale of government funding for private schools would make the UK private sector weep with envy.

Funding for government schools 2013-14 - $4,448m
Funding for non-government (private) schools 2013-14 $8,736m.

[ElephantsNeverForgive]

Sets she would have been in at our local comp. are pretty MC, but I don't think they are quite so perfectionist. It's also mixed and IME boys always lighten the mood.

Knowing how much your schooling costs and being surrouded by very very compative girls with even more competitive parents is not necessarily a good environment if your like that already.

[Applefallingfromthetree2]

It's a pity that in the UK sending one's child to the local comp is so hit and miss. Our educational system is good at failing some children especially those from poorer backgrounds.

Under these circumstances who can blame parents for buying advantage if they can afford it or are prepared to sacrifice in order to do it. Climbing over the backs of others is what it is though and as some have said so much of it is about mixing with 'the right people'

It is possible to get the same advantages in the state system by moving to the catchment of a really good school and paying for private tuition on top. Even so innate ability is a much bigger factor in the success of children who are state educated than it is for those from private schools.

[BramwellBrown]

DD goes to private school because none of the state schools in my area were good enough, I went to state school, was very happy and did well and would have been happy with DD going to a similar school but the state schools where we live and a lot of the private schools just weren't as good, there is such a difference between schools that it isn't really about state vs private, its about good schools vs bad schools.

[MexicanSpringtime]

I think this apparent feeling of superiority that private school children are supposed to have is something that is made up by people who aren't happy with their own choices, and I completely disagree that it happens as standard.

I can't speak for other countries, but unfortunately, here in Mexico, children that go to private school do feel superior to other people, even when their parents are not at all like that. I speak from first hand experience.

[Marnierose]

A lot of the privately schooled adults I know have the most arrogant attitudes I have come across (not all of them).

But I agree with others. I would choose private school for smaller class sizes, extra curricular activities and if there was a lack of a decent state school at the time.

I'm sure it depends very much on the individual child and the local schooling situation at the time.

[HumblePieMonster]

the seriously expensive private schools are useful for networking
Yes, I think so, too.

[HumblePieMonster]

The most successful person I know dropped out of school at 15 and is creative and a musician and says he never had an education to hold him back, he is from Manchester, but is well read, really clever, unusual take on things, more of an entrepreneurial attitude to things. He didn't make the majority of his money from music but from business set up round it
Goodness. From Manchester? I'm surprised he overcame a handicap like that!

[Iseesheep]

minifingers. Rather than bashing the private sector, why not direct your anger towards the state sector for not bringing their schools up to the same level?

[BravePotato]

I think dreaming about the Finnish education model is pointless.

Britain has a much bigger class divide than Northern Europe.

I still cannot believe how poor so many people are here, and I mean poor in aspirations (life on benefits as a choice), poor in terms of culture and intellectual ambitions.

No education model can change that.

If so many people don't care about education, it is all a bit hopeless for their kids, whatever the education model.

[minifingers]

Iseesheep - why on earth bash the state sector over something which is entirely not in the hands of educationalists?

Children at private schools have twice the spend on their education as children in state schools.

Private schools deliberately exclude hard to teach children.

I personally think most state schools do incredibly well given the money they have to spend and the children they have to teach.

[HumblePieMonster]

I still cannot believe how poor so many people are here, and I mean poor in aspirations (life on benefits as a choice), poor in terms of culture and intellectual ambitions.No education model can change that
We can, in our present system, and we do. But only one person at a time. The pupil with poverty of attitude can be inspired and motivated - and schools are doing all they can to achieve this. But that pupil goes home to parents who don't value what s/he has learned to love. Improving your situation is a battle against home, family, environment. There are only so many young people in any school year who are strong enough to make that stand.

[Iseesheep]

minifingers. So what upsets you is the amount of public money going into state schools rather than private schools themselves?

[MyFairyKing]

Is there a klaxon going off for a few of you when the words "private" and "school" appear together in any thread?!