AIBU to say private school children are much sportier & better musicians?

[Denimrevival]

Just on the back of comparing with friends & family with dc in private schools. The kids & their families are all naturally sporty & outdoorsy anyways but the school provides a vast range of sports with it's own pool & swim team.
Musically their kids all play 2 or three instruments all at least grade 4 or 5..
How do these private schools do the academics, music & sports to such a high standard? Do they also have a very good base if the kids are having sport & music reinforced outside school through their families lifestyles?

Goldenbear do you lecture their parents in the iniquities of private school ans you have on this thread - and how their appalling, privileged lives will forever deny them the opportunity to be grime and rap artists?

Snort.

What’s wrong with grime? Eski beat is as good as anything required for grade 8, say, clarinet.

@Denimrevival, my dd got an academic scholarship. Her friend had a music scholarship and both got burseries too. My DD did play the piano but only to grade 5. She had a good singing voice though and got some good parts in school plays and musicals and sang in the school choir. She was in the swimming squad too. She is very outgoing and gets very involved in things. She did Bronze and Silver DoE awards too and was in their Air Cadets too, she did lots of marching drills.

You are batshit 🤣🤣🤣

Are private school kids better at sports than state school kids? The numbers show private school kids are disproportionately successful at an elite level in the obvious “posh sports”: rowing, show jumping, polo, yachting, cricket, rugby union etc.

But, let’s face it no one gives a shit about those sports on any real scale.

Are they better at football? Nope.

And state school kids are more dominant in cycling, martial arts.

I wish opportunity was more equitable, but the poshos can keep their clay pigeon shooting and whatnot.

Everyone at my private school (secondary) who had been private since young was on the county team for sports I didn't even know existed. They were already decent hockey players before I'd even held a hockey stick.

Money. That's all it is.

My daughter could be amazing at tennis - but we simply can't afford to keep up with the kids who are doing really well. Tournaments weekly are £20, privates weekly are £40. Most decent kids are having 2 or more privates a week, tournaments every week and then travelling on top.

It's 100% due to how much money you've got. The most talented kids are probably on the council estates.

Agree with previous poster. Private school kids are only better at sports which are accessible at private school - cricket, rowing and other sports like that. In sports, which are available at both private school and state school eg football and athletics, state schools do better! Also with music, it's largely to do with funding and parents of private school children better able to fund music lessons. With access to Oxbridge, private schools more likely to be able to support children to do degrees such as classics/medieval languages/russian. That means that they will get more places in Oxbridge too through getting numbers into more obscure courses.

Whatever your opinion on private schools, that is such a sad attitude. Sports and music are truly life enhancing experiences that come with loads of benefits. Surely we shouldn't pit these against real life, whatever that means (different people have very different experiences of life on a day to day basis around the world). Shouldn't we want our children to be well equipped to interact and be productive members of society with the rounded experiences that sports, music and the arts offer?

Absolutely no one is pitting them against real life. We're just acknowledging that formal music tuition particularly is expensive. A lot of us have said that arguably many/most of the best/most interesting popular musicians attended state schools.

My child doesn't go to private school as some kind of fast pass to university. I value these experiences in their own right. Viewing them as a tick list to get somewhere seems a bit joyless and also a set up for disappointment. There are some very bitter views on this thread.

*evel in the obvious “posh sports”: rowing, show jumping, polo, yachting, cricket, rugby union etc.

But, let’s face it no one gives a shit about those sports on any real scale.

Are they better at football? Nope.

And state school kids are more dominant in cycling, martial arts*

Yeah, noone gives a shit about rowing, rugby league and cricket. Everyone is thrilled by martial arts. What are you on about?!

The comment i was responding to said that sports and music don't matter in the real world and the poster would rather their children learnt useful skills for real life. They are arguably not essential and can certainly be accessed via means other than private school but that is not what the poster said.

Don’t worry - when it comes to university applications they don’t give a shiny shit about your flute or whether you did d of e. Plus many applications for jobs now are school and university blind. Efforts are being made to dilute the privilege money can buy

Dc1 got a lower offer to her uni because she'd been top 20 in her niche posh sport and they excel in it. Sorry.

theres no real scale of regular interest in the vast majority of sports, yep, including martial arts :) Cricket and rugby noon are followed by a small percentage of the country. The sports private school kids do well in are largely sports that a) require cash b) no one really cares about

I went to a private secondary and showed zero aptitude for either.

I was desperately unsporty - always last at everything. I did manage the recorder ok but attempting to move onto the guitar betrayed my complete lack of natural talent.

Well that needs to be stopped. We don’t want to end up like US universities.

Instead of sitting on all those countless millions of pounds that state schools just refuse to spend on state of the art music and sports facilities and additional staff, you mean?

The sports private school kids do well in are largely sports that a) require cash b) no one really cares about

Godess which sports do people care about - apart from football?

I guess being good at them doesn't really matter unless you're one of the tiny number of people who are lucky enough to get a job in those fields. This from someone who learnt clarinet all through school! Music is incredibly important to me but there are lots of ways to appreciate music. Sadly no one gives a shit about my distinction in grade 5 clarinet 😄😄

They are not sportier or more musically able on entry. What these dc do have though is exposure of arts and sports from birth due to having parents who were also exposed to similar things. And then the cycle continues.

Of course there are fantastic sports people and musicians in state schools too but generally the dc in state schools are from more diverse backgrounds than in a private school so although it appears all the dc are good at private school it's actually because they're from a similar 'pool' of people who want to achieve this stuff before these dc were even born.

OP you keep saying oh but these kids do more outside of school as well. What’s stopping your kids doing more. So if it bothers you then have them doing more at the weekends/after school. My son isn’t in a private school and has access to numerous sports but he was already decent as he had wanted to do loads outside of school on top of that sports start at 7.45 5 days a week then sports every lunch time and every after school in the summer so you have to be motivated plus his school would only except kids at certain grades for the orchestra.

I am disappointed in my sons state school that has an excellent reputation. No after school sports?? V disappointing. 1 football team picked from the whole year so I reckon about 350 kids and only 1 team. They have tennis courts but have never seen anyone use them. Am very happy with the school just disappointed in the sports. I guess it comes down to money in the end. Private schools seem to definitely start earlier and end later than the state schools so can fit in more extra curricular stuff. Plus loads more after school sports and clubs

You thing that because a child goes to private school they won’t experience adversity such as physical/emotional/sexual abuse, parental loss, broken families, bullying etc.
Not sure who needs to live in the real work - you or them?
How judgmental you are.

You thing that because a child goes to private school they won’t experience adversity such as physical/emotional/sexual abuse, parental loss, broken families, bullying etc.
Not sure who needs to live in the real work - you or them?
How judgmental you are.

I agree. However, I’ve seen on mumsnet before this idea that if someone is ‘posh’ then they are wholly immune to the adversities that you mention - or that because they’re posh they deserve it.

I didn’t say doing activities is pointless 🙄My own dc do activities they enjoy. Just that they are not a golden ticket to get into university - parents with younger children I have spoken to seem to think this is the case and it’s not.