I’m a partial product of private schooling, attended a boarding school for just three years where I completed my GCSEs and A Levels. I loved it, small classes, teachers who actually gave a shit, lots of sports and outdoor pursuits etc. Left the place with a sense of direction and a bit of focus as to what I wanted do with my life. My parents pulled me out of the local comp that had already massively let down my older sister and they did not want the same to happen to me and at considerable sacrifice sent me to boarding school. My father was a builder from Limerick and ran a small successful company, hardly 'old money' material
What people frequently forget is that there are private schools and there are private schools.
Even within the independent sector there is rampant snobbery at play. Just because you want to public school does not mean you are a member of 'the club'. The vast majority of private schools are unheard of institutions that offer a well behaved teaching environment with small classes with some nice to have bolt ons in terms of extra curricular activities that your average comp does not offer (Duke of Endinburgh etc). I can say with some confidence that my old school 'tie' opened zero doors for me or gave me fast track preferential access to plum job roles. It did gave me decent grades though and a bit of ambition
Most of the parents of pupils at these schools are middle class professional types who don't have money to burn and have made sacrifices to see their kids get a good academic start. For the most part the kids are 'normal' for want of another expression.
Then you get the likes of Charterhouse, Eton College, Harrow, Rugby, Shrewsbury, Westminster and Winchester, now these are elite and pupils here are just as likely to lump the afore mentioned lesser independent school in with the comps as scum to be mocked. They cost well over £30 grand a year and thats before all the additional costs are thrown in. Yes the facilities and quality of teaching are excellent, but that is only part of what you are paying for, the real 'value' in these schools comes from the connections pupils form that serve them throughout life, the stupendous sense of entitlement that is instilled in the pupils from day one and generally membership of club that is not grounded in reality.
At the end of the day even if public schools were abolished do you really think Lord and lady snot are going to just send their kids to the local comp? They will look after their own and find ways to make sure their kids don't mix with the oiks.