To think that there would be less anti private school

[Poopoolittlekitten]

sentiment or threads on MN if people using private school were a tiny bit more self aware and didn’t ask for sympathy for rising fees or possible rising fees if Labour take away their false ‘charity’ status?

send your kid private if you want, just don’t come moaning about the costs or claim than anyone can go private if they ‘prioritise’ their child’s education they way you do. Particularly at a time when state school teachers are striking over pay and conditions.
And many, many people are working their socks off just to keep a roof over their family’s head.

YANBU - stop whining and looking for sympathy about your fees!

YABU - my milkman sends his 4 kids private by ‘prioritising’ their education so it’s not just for whiny poshos….

@Poopoolittlekitten YABU to think that the views on independent school fees of a tiny little minority of the even tinier minority of the population who use MN are of any wider relevance or interest.

There are people on here who start threads about holidays or botox or television programmes or "celebrities" or the Royal Family or other stuff I don't give a shit about. I just don't look at those threads. I suggest you don't look at school fees threads if they bother you.

Private school parents get so defensive, why? Your family, your money and your choice. Just have a little awareness about the privilege you're buying.
We chose state school, I don't care what anyone else thinks about that. I think it's a better. more well-rounded experience. My kids my choice.

I think that on the whole, parents choose the schools which they consider to be the best for their children. It isn't a case of private or state being 'better'. You sound remarkably defensive yourself!

Agreed. OP also still hasn't told us where her kids' school features in the league tables and Ofsted rating. Just keeps repeating that private schools should be treated as businesses like a broken record.

@ichundich "Agreed. OP also still hasn't told us where her kids' school features in the league tables and Ofsted rating. Just keeps repeating that private schools should be treated as businesses like a broken record."

What's the connection between the OP's kids schooling and her belief that private schools shouldn't get tax breaks intended for charities?

I chose state over private because i don't agree with private education and because I don't think my kids are better than everyone else and need special treatment

Because it's easy to condemn private schools if you benefit from a good state school option yourself.

@ichundich "Because it's easy to condemn private schools if you benefit from a good state school option yourself."

Ah. Well, to start with, I don't think she was condemning private school-just saying they shouldn't benefit from tax breaks intended for charities. To carry on with- 88% of schools are rated good or outstanding, so, like most people, she probably does have a good state option available. And finally, many people are, in fact, motivated by principles, not personal advantage. I have no idea whether the OP is such a person-but it's important to remember in discussions like this that they exist.

Then why are you getting so worked up if you're happy with your decision?
You sound like privileged to me if previous posts are right and you live in Dulwich. Privileged enough to judge other people and their choices without knowing their reasons for making them - while your child attends Charter which is a very good state school.
What's your son keen on pursuing in university? Hopefully not banking or a high paying job? You're such a social justice warrior hopefully you're influencing him to be a social worker or something noble.

I think if anyone lives in a nice house in North Dulwich, sends their DC to one of the nice state primary schools there (e.g. Judith Kerr or Dulwich Village Infant and then the Hamlet) and then to Charter, then many people in this country paying for private schools would probably swap with them in a heartbeat to have those state schools and that great house. So I do think it is relevant.

@Intergalacticcatharsis "So I do think it is relevant"
Pretty bloody insulting though-the suggestion that people are not motivated by principle.

Incidentally, 88% of schools in England and Wales are rated good or outstanding.

Incidentally 12% are RI or Inadequate, and in my town 100% of secondary schools are RI. Also a lot of so called 'Good' or 'Outstanding' schools have not been reviewed for 10+ years.

”Motivated by principle?” - my point is that if you buy a house or rent a house in the catchment of a sought after state school, that is not principled. Because you are using your money and privilege to get a place at a free school that may have benefitted another child, whose parents cannot do so using their money.

Moreover, anyone in the catchment of the sought after state schools I am talking about is going to directly financially benefit if Labour gets this policy through. Because your house price will go up, if you own. So do not talk to me about “principles”.

When Tony and Cherie Blair sent their son to the London Oratory people not in the know were like, “ oh wow” they are leading by principle. Never mind that it is the type of school with excellent results BECAUSE DC need to be baptised by the time they are 3 months old and committed church goers, so it is selection by the back door, for free. In fact, after the event they were criticised for the 3 year church going policy and had to change it.
And Diane Abbott got stick for sending her DS to City of London because you have to pay. Never Mind that City of London has bursaries and a very mixed intake, far more mixed than many leafy comps or the London Oratory, at the time.

I don’t like the hypocrisy of it. I bet a lot of Labour MPs are under pressure to send their DC to the state school and are happily moving into the right catchments, thereby depriving other children who may need those schools more.

As regards Rachel Reeves MP, I am more interested to know if she was happy in her state secondary school in Bromley or if she was unhappy, bullied and had to endure it. I do not understand why her parents did not send her to one of the nearby grammars. I am far more interested to hear about that. If she was happy, great, we could all learn from why. If she was unhappy, then again, I would like to understand why.

Schools in this country are a lottery and the privileged know how to play the system. It isn’t about state vs private, at all.

😆😆😆😆

I think we've established by now that poopookitten, or whatever she calls herself is right pain in the backside. She starts a goady thread then says 'why do you all get so defensive'. So childish.

I do think that the assumption that children will automatically be happier or not bullied in private school is magical thinking. They may be-but there is plenty of evidence from Prince Charles "downward" that it isn't a given.

Also, you will find that many people opposed to private education are also opposed to faith based state education-so that isn't quite the "gotcha" posters may think it is!

I think schools state and private have changed quite a bit since the 1950's!

@Dobby123456 "I think schools state and private have changed quite a bit since the 1950's!"

Of course they have. Almost entirely for the better in both sectors. But my point remains.

I don’t know anyone who sends their children to private school assuming there will be no bullying whatsoever. Also, Prince Charles attended school over 60 years ago so I’m not sure that demonstrates “plenty of evidence” to back up your point. That was during a time when corporal punishment was legal and accepted across all schools - things have changed somewhat since then.

I think this helpfully demonstrates how desperate some posters are to show that private schools aren’t nice places - they’re now referring to private education 60 years ago. A lot of the anti private school people have absolutely no working knowledge of private schools today and are basing their views on the royal family’s education 60 years ago. Obviously the OP, poopookitten or whatever they call themselves, has an in depth knowledge of all schools across the board (apparently).

Do some people have a genuinely principled stance against private education? Of course. Are there are those who dress envy in the costume of principle? Yes.

It’s easy to have principles when you know your kids are at a good state school, rather than a terrible one.

Plenty of people have the principles they can afford, principles that suspiciously change when financial fortunes do.

@whumpthereitis I don't think that people use private education because they want to raise their children to grind the faces of the poor. I wish people would do me the same courtesy and accept that I hold a principled stance on private education and am not remotely envious. God, I'm fed up of hearing about the politics of envy.