To think State education is really poor?

[Boswelian]

We sent our eldest to a taster day at a private school. He was agog. His school don't allow playing on the grass when it's wet. The private school change them into waterproofs and wellies for break. PE 3x a week. Sport every day. Dedicated specialist teaching in art, DT, languages, sciences etc. 16 in a class instead of 30. The difference in the quality of life between the two school has really blown my mind. The state school is "outstanding". The private school reckon DS is 2 years behind their curriculum. We've been told in state that he's meeting expectations. How is this remotely acceptable?

I don't believe this country is crippled, by private education or anything else. The PM is a second generation Briton of Indian extraction who worked as a teenage waiter, before making his own fortune via a scholarship and university, then marrying a woman whose father was also self-made; the cabinet contains more POC than any before it. If it is crippled (your word), it's not by inequality or by private education. Private schools are hugely hungry for talented students and mould them to burnish their own reputations, because that's how they build their brands. Worry instead for white working class boys whose families don't value classroom success as equal with football prowess, and blame a system that has disfunded and dismantled C&G certification so you prefer to hire a Polish plumber.

Obviously, appalling planning of anything in the public sector that requires investment is stymied by constipated bureaucrats ensuring that the smallest piglets get a shot at the trough, but evolution selects regardless. Let me remind you of Darwin's Theory: the most able, energetic and best adapted mutations are the ones that survive to breed the next generation.

I think we have a lot to offer and other countries look to U.K. education. I’m not keen on hitting successful sectors for votes.

BUT that doesn’t mean state couldn’t improve. However I’d do it through smaller class sizes and higher funding per pupil, without the VAT.

The self serving whataboutery on this thread is mind blowing. There’s nothing quite so radical as those who fear being thwarted in buying privilege for their children. I’d put all school places in a big pot and allocate by lottery. Then we’d really see what value private schooling can add and state provision would improve very very quickly.

Stodgy Keir has made no commitment to education apart from the VAT brainwave.. I wonder why??

I no longer have DC in school, but nationwide per capita funding to level the regional discrepancies would help. I read London posters often praising their local school. While I am delighted for them, my local community college's per capita funding, in a low-wage agricultural area is only two-thirds of theirs.

Then we’d really see what value private schooling can add and state provision would improve very very quickly.

JimmyGrimble why would state provision improve very quickly?

Sunak? Self made? He went to frigging Winchester and his parents owned a chain of chemists. It’s not evolution that selects its cold, hard cash.

Because those then unable to access private would have to use state and you know how they love to lobby and complain … and I suspect they’d have better connections than us plebs

His parents were first generation immigrants. But clever, qualified and hard working. People we should value highly.

Just today he’s announced more teachers so …

Oh yes sorry he did. Again not much thought behind it. Where’s he getting them all from??

This is rather naive and stupid. The PM went to Winchester college and suella also went to expensive private schools.

Plus they are hardly good examples if we want to talk about the kind of citizens and leaders private schools produce. In fact I sit firmly on the fence about the whole vat thing but mention of Sunak, Suella (and their cabinet peers) and not to forget Boris "lockdown party" Johnson reminds me that some private schools produce abhorrent individuals

He announced more teachers before today. Where are these extra teachers coming from? The magic teacher tree? They can’t even fill existing teacher vacancies, let alone additional ones. Teachers are leaving in droves, largely because of behaviour issues. That is not an easy fix.

I suspect he’ll offer some form of incentive. Can’t be worse at hitting the recruitment targets than this bunch of utter twat badgers

He could have qualified as a pharmacist and still be dispensing your antibiotics from a Boots in Southampton. Would you like that better? Sunak's parents earned the funds to educate a clever lad to get to Winchester, and he built on it.

Suggest you change username to JimmyGrumble.

His family is a story of people who have worked hard to achieve. People Labour can’t bear.

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/discoveries/rishi-sunak-family-tree

I’m a teacher. 25 years. Taught under Labour, taught under the Tories. Guess which one was better? ‘They’ can’t fill vacancies because of the way they have treated the profession since 2010.

Gimmy Jimble?

It’s true. ‘We’ can’t bear miserable, mendacious Tory failures.

A career in stand up beckons, clearly

You only have to have read reports in the media and posts on here to realise that teachers are often leaving because of behaviour problems. Society has changed hugely since 2010. Lockdowns have added to the issues. Those issues run far deeper than funding.

What a disparaging comment. If he were as incompetent with prescriptions as he is in government, the thought of him as a pharmacist is frankly quite terrifying.

It’s all part of the same shitshow. It’s what happens when a deliberate police of ‘austerity’ attacks the weakest in society. And who did that?

Perhaps he should have stayed being a waiter in a curry house. Where he belongs eh? How dare he make a success of his life.

What a ridiculous comment. Pathetic.