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.

It makes more sense to me than being a governor of a school that I'd be perfectly happy to send my kids too.

In that if I am volunteering my skills and time for the greater good, I'd want it to be for the place in most need of those skills and I could have the most impact.

Thank you @noblegiraffe .
The person I took over from didn't have DC at the school either , in fact his were well past school age - I wonder if people who think I shouldn't be a Governor think thats better?

My teacher parents who were governors always far preferred the non parent governors as more objective

Well exactly, The Private school has plenty of people with my skillset, experiences and contacts already.
I hardly shoved someone out whose DC are at The State school - they were struggling to recruit.

Yes I think it's fine and a very good idea to have governors who aren't parents but I think they should display a commitment to state education that's all. Put their money where their mouth is.

I think the whole issue around private schools is quite toxic by the fact they do produce (not all the time) excellent results and very often individuals with greater self esteem which can only be an advantage in life - naturally we all aspire to that. But my problem with them is that if you truly believe in a relatively fair and equitable society - giving everyone "a fair crack of the whip" then the existence of private schools is inherently unfair. When you reflect on our society and look at the history, private/ public school pupils seem to dominate the polictical and economic landscape for multiple reasons. It is difficult not to believe that this is subtle social engineering to ensure the "right" people occupy the upper echelons of society. If you truly believe in equality of opportunity, I fail to see you can really support the idea of private schools.

School governors are unpaid volunteers which is a pretty big commitment to state education.

If by putting my money where my mouth is means I send my DC to a failing school when I am lucky enough to be able to afford to do otherwise then I am quite happy not to be doing that.
Shall I resign and see if they can find some one else with my skills, experience, contacts and time easily?
OR as my DC went to State Primary perhaps I could say that despite being a Governor for the whole through school I can only comment on Primary matters?

I know personally what a commitment it is I did it for many years including chairing. Hence I find it hard to get my head around how you could be fully committed and work in partnership with staff toiling away at the coalface for a school that you felt would never be good enough for your own kids.

But I guess other people do and it is indeed better than doing nothing at all for state education.

I believe that instead of just saying something isnt good enough and/or complaining about it you should actually try and change things.
I probably won't be able to make much of a difference but at least I have a go, I am very priviliged that I am in a position to be able to give my time and knowledge - the school has high levels of deprivation so there probably aren't loads of parents who are able to, as evidenced by the difficulty in filling the position.
Maybe I should just say "oh what a shame" and spend my time doing something else. I should probably also stop helping with The Street Kitchen and my involvement with Foodcycle since I have never experienced Homelessness or MH/Substance Abuse issues

Surely it’s more of a commitment to state education to work with a challenging school, trying to improve it for the children who do go there, when you have no skin in the game?

Lots of people happily sign up to the PTA or whatever when it is their own kids who will benefit from their commitment.

They are giving their time and expertise for free. That is a commitment to state education.

If all the governors on a board are current parents, you get lots of issues around forming panels for complaints and exclusions and pay, and a risk of group think or conflicts of interest on decision making. They can be less willing hold the head to account too as long as their chikd is OK for fear of being seen as difficult.

It's a good thing that you do
I am glad that you do volunteer
Please do carry on. I am fully aware that people are not crying out to be school governors. It is a ridiculously responsible and time consuming role for a volunteer
I just found it surprising because if it was me I would not be able to do that but genuinely I am glad that you do.

I chose not to be a governor of my children's schools until after they left.

Private schools tend to be better than state schools because rich people send their kids to the private system and don't care at all about the condition of the state system. Because of that, the state system will never get any better. The only way to improve it would be to force rich people to send their kids to state schools.

I think Britain has such an unbalanced schooling system that it's basically like Brave New World: "inferior" people are indoctrinated into their inferiority from a very early age and most of them never aspire to anything better due to their poor education. As someone who was born and schooled outside the UK, it's a very glaring issue. I was shocked to hear, for example, that some children lose the chance to study certain subjects at an early age because their school simply doesn't teach it. Where I grew up, everyone studied the same thing across the country until at least age 15.

Your view is very warped, you need to do more research. “Shocked to hear?” Go and see, ask questions & learn what going on across UK.

So what would you have done if it WERE you then?
Refuse to be a Governor when asked or remove your DC from their school?

Winelondon, why pick just on education however? There are lots of ways some of us try to help our children (I call it love and other think it is unfairness) from breastfeeding them to reading them stories etc. Why just pick on school chosen particularly when vast numbers of excellent state grammars and leading comps in leafy boroughs also confer advantage? Why pick on this tiny bit of education where most of the children are in day private schools - not boarding - and target that for opprobrium?

If the issue is some homes have better parents should we be removing children at birth and putting them in some kind of collective system so they are all identically treated? Is it right Starmer's children when at primary school lived in London in an area where house prices were £2m or that Blair could choose the Oratory?

Is it right Starmer's children when at primary school lived in London in an area where house prices were £2m

I just looked up the school Starmer sent his kids to, and despite the claimed house prices, 1 in 5 kids there were on free school meals which isn’t that far off the national average.

Lots of EAL kids too, and higher than average SEN. So not quite the gotcha you think it is.

@JustAVeryWeirdWoman that's such a backwards view. What is it that you think the "rich" parents will do that the 93% who also include some very rich people, can't? Do you really think you'd get the PS kids scattered across the wide demographic of state? Of course not..you'd get enclaves around the leafy million pound plus houses.

Look up the houses in the catchment area. Hardly a middle class neighbourhood https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?includeSSTC=false&keywords=&sortType=2&viewType=LIST&channel=BUY&index=0&radius=0.25&locationIdentifier=POSTCODE%5E621489

@Hoppinggreen

I will never be in that position because I would not send my DC to private school so the dilemma did not arise for me and it could not do. Therefore I am unable to say what I would do in a hypothetical situation that I will never be in.

It's a 'well I wouldn't start from here scenario' for me.

Not one “affordable” property makes you wonder where the 20% free meals kids come from ….

But you did
You said you wouldn't do what I did so I think asking what you would have done/thought I should have done is a fair question
However, you are well within your rights to refuse to answer.

@Blaggoshpereish
"Not one “affordable” property makes you wonder where the 20% free meals kids come from …."

House prices have gone up. People may have lived in their houses for a long time. There's two possibilities.