Abolishing private schools - how would it work in practice?

[Dongdingdong]

Labour has voted to abolish private schools:

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-public-private-school-abolish-eton-vote-conference-corbyn-education-policy-a9115766.html

Whether you agree with this or not, I don’t understand how the logistics would work. Would private schools suddenly cease to exist from say, summer 2023, with all pupils forced to find a place at the local state school for the autumn term onwards? What would happen to the buildings and facilities - would they remain as state schools or be sold off to developers for example?

What do you think the point of money is? What sort of barriers to me using my money to advantage my children do you propose?

None at all, but fundamentally, I'd like to move towards a society where your money would have less of an effect, especially when it came to socially important outcomes such as education.

@Trewser Yes, you are right; I searched up James Abbott-Thompson's profile on LinkedIn and, following his stint at the prestigious City of London School, he attended a (private) international college in Ghana, before taking a Law degree at Trinity College, the University of Cambridge.

He then spent nearly five years in various diplomatic roles working for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (was that at the same time his mother was shadow foreign secretary, I wonder?)

Ha. I think his worried-sick mum mentioned that he was very close to falling into the clutches of a neighbourhood gang, so she made the difficult decision to send him privately. Sounds like a narrow escape.

I haven't the the time to RTFT but has anyone raised the issue of the amount of foreign exchange brought in by DC from abroad educated at private schools in the UK?

I think you will be allowed to go to a private school on a student exchange but you will have to attend compulsory re education classes as soon as you come back.

The simplest way would be to remove charitable status - this would raise their costs over time and make them unaffordable. You could also tax their assets.

But let's face it. It ain't gonna happen. It's just another throwback to the 70s policy. And anyone who remembers the 70s knows that comes with crappy public services, industrial disputes, electricity cuts and bins not emptied for weeks.

I think the subtle stigma that is being attached to private education along with soft quotas at oxbridge for privately educated children is more effective than abolishing private education overnight.

This latest plan fits right in with Labour’s idea of appropriating 10% of the FTSE. It’s an authoritarian communism. No thanks.

My theory on Diane Abbot's son is that he was never going to go to state school - as the product of an elite education herself, she wanted the same for her son, the local comprehensive was never going to cut it.

I do not begrudge her this, I feel exactly the same about my own children. It's just aspiration, innit.

Lots of scaremongering and lies on this topic.

This is not Labour policy. It was a conference motion saying that it should be included in the manifesto. Essentially Labour party members telling the leadership 'we would like this to be policy'.

It is nothing more than that.

Won’t happen. Impossible to legislate for and far too much collateral damage ( impact on economic confidence of seizure of private assets).

Anyway, Jeremy, could you clarify if you’re for or against Brexit because 3 years later and we still don’t know.

Why spend all that effort coming up with ways to dramatically improve state education when you can make headlines (and hopefully net yourself some votes) just by playing on the inter-class resentment already brewing in this country? Bloody brilliant!

This is a bit off-topic, but I never get why people often tell untruths about Diane Abbott

as that at the same time his mother was shadow foreign secretary, I wonder? Diane Abbott has never been shadow foreign secretary.

My theory on Diane Abbot's son is that he was never going to go to state school - as the product of an elite education herself - Diane Abbott was state educated

I love it when people fall for this stuff.

Diane Abbott was state educated

Grammar school (which she now opposes) and then Cambridge.

Yes, as I said, Diane Abbott was state-educated.

Where is the scaremongering? Where are the lies?

Is it an un-truth that Diane Abbot is the product of an elite education?

Whatever your views on this you cannot deny that Diane Abbott is a massive hypocrite.

Is it an un-truth that Diane Abbot is the product of an elite education?

This thread is about pre-university education. As a graduate of Cambridge, yes she is the product of an elite education. I wouldn't say that at the age of 18, she was the product of an elite education.

You disagree that a grammar school, which selects based on academic ability, produces an elite cohort?

elite: a select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society.

She may hide it well, but she's the product of an elite education (as is now her son). Which she wants to systematically dismantle for the masses.

I don't think anybody would object to selection and the creation of an elite based on ability.

Right now, we have one based on money.

I don't think that a grammar school education would be described as an elite education by most people.

I do not begrudge her this, I feel exactly the same about my own children. It's just aspiration, innit.

But do you not see the hypocrisy in allowing her own child to benefit from private education while actively wanting to deny other people that privilege?

The school I'm currently planning on sending him to is highly unlikely to simply cease to exist. It will become free.

I've been looking at private secondary schools in London for DD, they all seem to have very similar fees, in the region of 20K a year. I think the government spends about 5K per year on secondary pupils. Do you think these schools having their budgets cut by 75% will have no effect on how good they are?

There have been private schools that went into the state sector in the pretty recent past, quite a few did in Manchester in the last 20 years. So the model is presumably there in some form. I doubt it'll force all the pupils into the state sector though. The super rich will go abroad and others will make private arrangements with tutors, skills swaps etc. You can already potentially HE for less than private.

Might see more switching over in 6th form, saying that. Independents are 20% of the sector there and what many private parents view as the worst downsides of state education have mainly gone by then.

You disagree that a grammar school, which selects based on academic ability, produces an elite cohort?

Depends on how we define elite. I just did a quick google and found this.

[https://www.harrow.gov.uk/www2/Data/Council/19590718/Minutes/009_Education%20Committee_1%20July%201959.pdf]

Ok, these are stats from 1960, but in 1960, the Borough of Harrow had 19 schools, of which 7 were grammar schools. (Assuming each school had the same number of pupils), her school placed her in the top 37% of school pupils in Harrow

I think most people would define the elite as a little more selective than the top 37% or so.

She may hide it well

She doesn't hide the fact she went to Cambridge.

but she's the product of an elite education

Only after Cambridge