To be annoyed that private schools have charity funding.

[Olympiathequeen]

They are not charities, they are businesses.

They do little or nothing for the local community.

They benefit by about £750 mil. They part fund bursaries for around half that amount.

Leaving them with a tidy little £300+ million profit at the expense of the taxpayers.

That money is desperately needed for public schools.

WTAF is the government doing?

I also think it's good for you socially. I am very well spoken and have good manners. I've been praised for my manner everywhere I've worked. I wouldn't have learnt that from state school.

There we have it; it's buying privilege pure and simple.

I've found the people who disagree with private schools have no problem paying for private tuition for their children after school.

Really? Presumably you're only speaking to those who can afford such tuition.

Many people say they are opposed to the principle of private schooling. Are they also opposed to:
Private transport (like a family car)?
Private home ownership of you can afford it?
Private kids lessons for music and sports?
Private tutoring to secure that grammar school place?
Private dentistry?
Private washing machine in your home instead of using the local launderette?
Private book ownership instead of always using a library?
Private garden - why not use the park? This is not as flippant as it sounds - in many parts of the world, people do not have private gardens.

Molly
That's such a stupid argument, I wouldn't know where to start.

Yanbu. Hate them. No idea what the solution is but I think they're vile.

molly

No I'm not opposed to a private washing machine, because having my own washing machine as a child did not give me a purchased advantage over other children which would mean I would have a significantly higher chance of earning significantly more and having significantly more opportunities in later life.

HTH.

And I'm also against grammar schools, so yes in response to that particular question.

Giving Private Schools a tax break worth £750 million is a brilliant deal for the Government. 625,000 people get educated usually to a very high standard for £750 million rather than the Government having to spend £3.4 billion educating children.

I don't see why people can't just spend their money on things they want to? If one family chooses to forgo expensive holidays, extravagant home/car etc. so that they can send their children to a fee paying school, why should that be a problem for anyone else? And why should people say they disagree with the principle? If it's because private schools are out of financial reach of others, then the same can be said for expensive holidays and extravagant homes/cars, which somehow don't get as many people disagreeing 'on principle'.

They can molly. But it's a problem for me because private schools are a huge, huge contributor of social inequality and I can't, ethically, support that.

Contributor to, even.

And as per the washing machine comment above, expensive cars and holidays are not the same. Surely you can understand why?

I disagree with them on moral grounds; my view is that it perpetuates access to success, and passes on privilege from generation to generation.
How many of our current or recent politicians in cabinet are from private schools? It helps people succeed through other means than merit alone.

I mean by all means send your kid to private school but don't pretend it's not ethically hugely problematic. It is.

People with money - and/or lots of time and ability to provide help and opportunities - have a huge advantage when it comes to their DCs' education. Paying fees is probably the most expensive, although home ed and buying a family sized house near a school isn't free.

In my part of the south east there's a huge housing premium in popular school catchments, for both mortgages and renting. As long as the school remains popular and nothing else major changes that investment can be cashed in later.

Going to private school doesn't guarantee success though. Once you've left you are on your own. It doesn't create contacts or opportunities. It gives you good exam results but the rest is down to you.

It still sets you up with those exam results though doesn't it user?

Private school absolutely does provide contacts and opportunities. It is probably the biggest factor in children being sent to public school. All those ex-public school PMs are not where they are because they got good A levels, they got there through contacts either their parents, the parents of their peers or their peer group. Without contacts they may have gone on to get decent degrees but the doors needed to leverage that degree would have been closed. Many state pupils achieve spectacularly but we do not live in a true meritocracy.

I also went to uni with tonnes of privately educated people who were frankly thick as shit but they'd been taught how to speak and express themselves in the right way so it was all fine.

Polishing a turd so to speak.

How many of our current or recent politicians in cabinet are from private schools?

Frankly I'm quite happy that most of the cabinet and shadow cabinet are well educated - private education is not just for Tories! I would be very unhappy (as would you undoubtedly) to have someone from my local average comprehensive as chancellor / foreign sec etc.

At my private school it didn't provide any contacts. Literally none. It gives you a privilege as you get great exam results, yes, but that's true for any good school, even state schools.

There are some very posh schools like Eton but there's also less posh schools. My one was
£15,000 per year and had a good mix of people including some who struggled hard to send their children there and weren't even rich.

It's not true that you leave private school with an easy life. I've struggled to find any kind of employment and have studied as a teacher and a social worker but once I left school I was very much on my own. I've never been offered any kind of opportunity that would lead to paid employment.

I would be very unhappy (as would you undoubtedly) to have someone from my local average comprehensive as chancellor / foreign sec etc.

I actually don't know where to start with how disgusting that statement is.

I went to my local comp. I have a first class degree from a RG university and an MA, also from a RG university.

Wow mrscarro so comprehensively educated aren't qualified to run the country but you are if your parents can afford to buy you an education??? I'd rather have the best brains and statistically these are likely to be in the state sector as that's where most children are educated. The fact that the government is so skewed in favour of private/public school shows that private education does buy privilege.

I actually don't know where to start with how disgusting that statement is.

Imadaft - your comment about privately educated people being thick as shit and polished turds was pretty unpleasant.

I said there were some of them who were like that, not that they were all like that . I work in university admissions now and my opinion has not changed.

And I certainly didn't say I didn't want anyone privately educated in government!