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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

to get hacked off at journalists moaning about how oh so hard it is to afford school fees

353 replies

emkana · 30/01/2008 23:19

like in the Daily Telegraph for example today

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml;jsessionid=AFH51SI3AUOK5QFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/education/ 2008/01/30/faclass130.xml&page=2

OP posts:
FioFio · 31/01/2008 13:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

CatIsSleepy · 31/01/2008 13:29

Lol anchovy, calm down

Oliveoil · 31/01/2008 13:34

a holiday is what you would get if you made better career choices fio

fgs

Iota · 31/01/2008 13:37

I send my children to the local state school so that I can afford to take them out on lots of expensive term time holidays

think of the money I'd be wasting if I'd paid for their education

bozza · 31/01/2008 13:39

I can afford holidays, but that is because I don't send my DC to private schools. DS is 6 and can read just about anything but I have no idea what his reading age is. Am I negligent? I am a bit surprised that you have decided because of her reading ability at age 7 which school to send her to at age 11.

alittleone2 · 31/01/2008 13:40

Message withdrawn

bozza · 31/01/2008 13:41

Ah iota maybe that is where I am going wrong. I am trying desperately to find a holiday in August and it is doing my head in. Not that my travel woes are exactly relevent.

ahundredtimes · 31/01/2008 13:42

Oh dear. I feel sorry for her now.

You send your child to whatever school you want to, you don't have to justify it - not for reasons of giftedness, or averageness or social unrest or guilt or anything. Do what you want to do - and don't let Xenia bend your ear about ensuring she's signed up for the Bar by the time she's 17 either.

Anchovy made me LOL.

ahundredtimes · 31/01/2008 13:44

But I do have to say that G&T kids really aren't in the same category as kids with Sn or Sen.

They just aren't.

But there are LOTS of threads on this subject.

[reaches over for some of Anchovy's popcorn]

alittleone2 · 31/01/2008 13:45

Message withdrawn

Cappuccino · 31/01/2008 13:50

I like to think that I made my career choice just to give people who want to send their children to private school a chance

if we all went to work in the City or as lawyers the jobs would be devalued and no-one would be able to find work

I chose a career in the arts just to see the way clear for Xenia's ilk to make their money and send their children to private school since they care so much about it

it's okay, you don't have to thank me

alittleone2 · 31/01/2008 13:52

Message withdrawn

OrmIrian · 31/01/2008 13:52

Like your thinking cappucino

Me too! I'm such a martyr.

ahundredtimes · 31/01/2008 13:52

Thank you.

Mind you dh and I also in the arts - and our kids go to private school - so we're sort of doubly disgusting and filling up unwarranted space and doing all the wrong things.

Doubly disgusting. Sounds like a recipe out of the Roald Dahl cookery book.

bundle · 31/01/2008 13:52

capp you are such a martyr

CaptainCod · 31/01/2008 13:53

you are a ponce.

alittleone2 · 31/01/2008 13:55

Message withdrawn

ahundredtimes · 31/01/2008 13:57

I AM a ponce. It is true.

And actually I am not 'in' anything at the moment, I take it back. Except perhaps a dead end.

Swedes · 31/01/2008 14:03

G & T is relative isn't it. It depends on what school you go to. You might be G & T at Motherfucker Comp but not meet the grade at St Geradine's Girls' School for Parents who Lie Believe?

alittleone2 · 31/01/2008 14:08

Message withdrawn

Judy1234 · 31/01/2008 14:09

It doesn't matter what you think of alitteone's choices of school (or indeed mine). We all know 50% of parents would pay if they could afford it and we also know that many more children who do well in life went to independent school, just look at the top of any institution in the UK, business, civil service, the cabinet, even the church. It's the best thing you can do for your children if you have the money. For all kinds of reasons often set out in MN. Also for very clever children it is often a life saver

(and look at today's Times 2 article on the early promise of the very very very gifted not being continued in life which is a different topic entirely but they seem to conclude hard work in life makes you most successful of all rather than being the genius IQ. I suspect that is so, the harder I've worked the better I've always done)

needmorecoffee · 31/01/2008 14:11

and whats the best thing we can do if we don't have the money and live in a crappy area?

needmorecoffee · 31/01/2008 14:12

or every SN in the city had NO kids taking GCSE's cos they assume disabled children are thick?

motherinferior · 31/01/2008 14:12

'We all know 50% of parents would pay if they could afford it '

I want to see the reference, please, with a full explanation of the statistical base and question bias.

Judy1234 · 31/01/2008 14:13

The classic advice is get on your bike to an area with jobs and career potential, believe anything is possible, seize opportunities etc...

Also speak to the children, spend time with them, ensure they have well rounded CVs too because these days AAA at A level isn't all you need to get a good job. You need reasonable extracurricular activities too.