Are state schools beyond help?

[user1480880826]

I see so many threads on AIBU about state schools. There seem to be issues with teachers (specifically the lack of consistent teachers and number of supply teachers), kids behaviour not being dealt with, lack of resources, cost of having to subsidise underfunded schools etc etc.

Is the state school system really as dysfunctional as it appears on mumsnet? Should I be saving up to send my kid to private schools? You don’t see parents coming on here and complaining about their private school.

For those of you with kids in state schools, would you send your kids to private school if money wasn’t a problem?

Teachers seem to do well in spite of all that the DfE lobs at them.

^This. When I look at what is on offer at my DD's secondary school (state comprehensive, not in a leafy suburb, in a lower achieving area) it has all kinds of things that are impressive - trips to Iceland, Germany, France, Poland and the US (6th form), trips to the opera for music students/other interested ones, seeing Shakespeare at Stratford, Arkwright scholarships and all kinds of amazing engineering things going on. Why go private?

@FieldsOfWheat there are plenty on consultancies that share your view. They place graduates with any old degree into fast-track programming jobs. They can just about get by but they are nothing like the standard of those developers who come from a computer science and maths background. Software development is about problem solving. Someone with a history degree isn’t necessarily the right fit.

I'm not sure that the maths degree is what made them good at programming specifically - the sort of people who do a maths/CS degree have that natural problem solving ability and would probably have done well on that training course if it had just been offered after A-levels. I think a lot of training courses into specific jobs should be offered instead of degrees.

Yes, I agree with that @FieldsOfWheat. There are far too many people wasting tens of thousands of pounds on useless degrees.

There are far too many people wasting tens of thousands of pounds on useless degrees.

Unfortunately, whilst you may get a decent career/profession without a degree by starting straight after college/A levels, etc., it'll probably scupper any future chances you have of retraining or changing career later on. Far too many jobs are strictly graduate entry and not having a degree will mean your application/cv is filtered out and binned without them even noticing nor caring about what you've done instead.

I am a chartered accountant without a degree. Despite the accountancy qualification being widely regarded as equivalent to a masters degree, I was "filtered out" of a number of job applications which specified graduate required. I did contact a couple to discuss it and was basically told that they weren't bothered about the qualification as such, they wanted applicants who'd been to university for the experience etc!

I imagine there'll be a few people who are taking apprenticeships today for professional careers who'll be regretting that decision in 10-20 years time when they want to change direction.

I agree that there is probably degree inflation - in that most ‘graduate’ jobs don’t need a degree and the same stuff could be learned in an apprenticeship- type system with academic study on the side.

I guess uni is a bit of a training ground for would-be researchers though. Not many kids will know what it means to be an academic until they do a degree. Sure there’s lots of attrition, but better that than people jumping on the ‘academic training pathway’ at 18.

Wish me luck - i’m Switching from healthcare to software/IT in a new scheme at a big company. I have been hobby coding with my DH (who studied maths) who is a software engineer though. I’ve known a few classics grads who switch to software. Kinda makes sense as the languages can be quite logical.

What a great idea @Namenic. I wish I could do the same but I have zero interest in software engineering. It’s a shame because I would earn a lot more!

@user - thanks! I’m the A grade student that passed everything by working my socks off. Medicine is not really a good fit for my anxious personality - but only found out by doing it.

I hope there are ways for people to switch career when they find what they trained for isn’t a good fit or circumstances change. I’d encourage my kids to have a skill that is widely used and high demand for jobs (eg web dev or book-keeping) - but more as a backup plan so if they needed to earn money urgently they’d stand a good chance. They could also pursue what their passion is - I guess it’s useful to have a few different skills.

I’ve known a few classics grads who switch to software. Kinda makes sense as the languages can be quite logical.

Me too - I had a friend who was a French teacher who's switched to software development. She's quite logical and she loves it. Also because she doesn't have to work 70 hours a week lol.

I’d encourage my kids to have a skill that is widely used and high demand for jobs (eg web dev or book-keeping) - but more as a backup plan so if they needed to earn money urgently they’d stand a good chance. They could also pursue what their passion is - I guess it’s useful to have a few different skills.

Also yes