To wonder if you are against private schools…

[Unsrr]

Why is this? As in against their existence?

I was brought up in a reasonably poor area and my education was not good. I sometimes went to the nearest private school for swimming lessons and remember being in awe of it. We have one dc now age 7 and can’t afford private but there is maybe a chance we could for secondary. I wouldn’t give it a second thought if we could make it work.

I have never felt private schools should disappear because surely that’s what we should be aspiring to? An education that is excellent (yes I know not all private schools are good and lots of state schools are better), isn’t that what we should aim for?

I feel sad that this country has now made it harder to access this education. What is the reason people are against private schools existing at all? I don’t think it can be jealousy, I think many people are genuinely opposed to it from an ideological perspective and I can’t understand it at all. Just interested really as there’s been so much talk about schools recently.

I privately educated three of my dcs.

My thoughts are that they were head and shoulders above my local state school in every way, but I feel sad that it has to be that way.

While state schools are set up to pander to badly behaved kids and have to do the job that a decent parent should be doing then there's no way they will improve.

I'm against them and I went to one!

Because the standard of education a child receives should not be predicated on how much money their parents have.

I think part of it is that they are exempt from government tinkering which makes the ideological influence much less.

I think the general feeling is that all children should be entitled to a good education, not just those with rich parents. If there weren't private schools rich parents would have reason to support the state school system.

The same with grammar schools in areas which have them, the reason people are so desperate to get kids into grammar schools is because the non grammars have a bad reputation. This is largely down to the fact that the top 20 per cent of achievers go to the grammars. Which includes large proportion of better off families who can afford tutoring for 11 plus and to support their kids with educational extra curricular activities.

In an ideal world, all schools would be good and everyone would go to their closest school.

I'm not against them, but they vary, and there are different reasons why people have their children educated privately.
State education is fine if you are parents who live in certain areas and have been educated, and are financially comfortable, and if it suits your child.

I agree it makes it harder for those less well off to get any decent eduction.

Same here, hated it and that was a very long long time ago.

I can afford private health care and private education for my children and I still believe that access to decent health and education are a fundamental right for children and shouldn’t be related to how much your parents earn.

I didn't hate it. I was quite happy there. I just think it's wrong to buy an advantage like that ..it does not help create a meritocracy imo which is what society should be striving for.

It's about a lot more than money,
If you live in a deprived area, in a low-income, cramped household, to uninterested parents, your chances are going to be low.

Yes. It’s really not that hard to fathom.

A good education delivered by great schools should be a right for all children in the UK, irrespective of parental income. A 2-tier system which only benefits the rich just entrenches inequality in education.

I object to the inequality.

No not against them at all. My DC grew up in an area with a really good choice in state and grammar schools, not that we could've afforded it anyway. DD is now at a top Uni and 4 out of 6 of her house mates last year went to private school yet they have all ended up at the same Uni. Maybe some of them had different needs and so private was the best place for them - you do you.

DH and I were both privately educated. Our children go to state school. Probably the first generation in our family to be wholly state educated actually!

I think education should be open to all.

I am against them because I believe it’s really important for children to spend time with others from all walks of life and all backgrounds. Anecdotally everyone I know who has been private schooled does believe to some extent that they are better than. I wouldn’t necessarily even say it’s confidence, more aloof and disconnected. Just my opinion.

Michaela has the best progress 8 in the country and incredible results, its in a poorer area and non selective - and yet they get a lot of hate for their behaviour policy.

I am against them as a matter of principle,even though we could have afforded to send our DC
All our DC did very well at school
I would support banning them and find all the furore on VAT laughable

I'm not understanding the logic.
Of course each child should be walking into an educational place of excellence but they are not.

Isn't that where people's ire should be, rather than agaisnt the establishments that are mostly getting it right??

It’s a very good question. I’m not against them at all, but they are a luxury, as, for the vast majority of children (I appreciate the issues with SEND provision) there will be a perfectly reasonable, state-funded, education.

And as a business (definitely not with charitable status) they should be taxed accordingly.

But I don’t think they should be abolished.

I agree....I know a lot of people from my school who are totally oblivious to anyone who lives a life different to them and their ilk

But the inequality is there regardless of whether you are paying for the education. You get parents cramming their children's way into grammar schools, or moving to the catchment area of a good school, because they have the means to do so. The state system suffers as a result.

Life opportunities and the chance of places at top universities, and the best jobs,
should not depend on the financial circumstances of your parents. It makes an uneven playing field even more uneven.

Even the brightest of state educated children will not have to the facilities, networks, alumni, and experience of a private school.

As a society we should be providing a great eduction for all young people, with an equality of opportunity….

I wouldn’t mind private schools so much, if the advantages weren’t so clear later. I used to work at the BBC, one one year ALL of our apprentices went to private schools. I’m on the Civil Service now and ALL of our top leadership went to private school. I’ve worked a lot with investment banks, and all the interns / career starters were from private school, and got thier jobs because of who their fathers were, and “old boys network”

It’s exhausting

Because the standard of education a child receives should not be predicated on how much money their parents have.

Says it better than i can