this must be the parpiest of parpiest article

[cod]

int h paper its acconmpanies byt two girls in boaters ffs

THIS is why i want to kill most peopel hwo go to private shcools

\link{http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,171-2149872,00.html\nobs of nobsley in nob land}

Flum, yes, it was absolutely awful seeing my daughter so unhappy (good diet for me, though - a stone in 6 weeks!) and I admit that the only reason we originally withdrew them from their private school was financial (OH's redundancy). However, we have absolutely no regrets and wish we'd started them in the state system from the beginning. In fact, the only reason they were in the private system was because this particular school ran after-school and holiday care and I have to work as my OH’s job has not always been secure. I can now see there are plenty of other ways round the childcare, though. I hold my hands up and admit we are Mr & Mrs Middle Class, public school education, the lot and don’t get me wrong, we loved the private school – very cosy indeed – but it just isn’t real life and we have all benefited and have made friends with all sorts of different people, not just other middle class twits like us!

Going private at secondary was certainly not our first choice, having had such a good experience in the state sector, but DD1 is very clever, but also lazy and lacking in assertiveness, and we’re concerned that in an environment such as that at our local comp, she will be completely overlooked. In my opinion, both the state and private sectors have loads to offer, and at the end of the day it is all down to what suits each individual. After all, we’re all different – wouldn’t life be boring if we were all the same??!! Mind you, my latest “worry” is that I shall have to carry on working full time in order to fund the private education and I can’t help feeling that the older the children get, the more they need someone readily available at home, so would I be better off giving up work and sending her to the local comp? But I guess that’s a whole new issue … And of course, the money situation isn’t quite as simple as that.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't I guess.

don;t you worry that finances might get sticky again and you might have to change their schools. i think it is such a commitment unless you are super rich and can easily afford it.

at 'needs a bit of rough'
v good fio.

Too right I worry about the finances ... our situation is quite different to the one we were in 3 years ago, but who knows what will happen in the future. It is a risk, I agree. I guess if it were to happen again we would have to consider moving out of London. I can't help feeling that, in a large school, there must be plenty of people with "middle class" values who can't afford private education, so hopefully my daughter would meet/befriend other kids similar to herself. And having lurked on this board for so long, I believe there are zillions of other people who want the best for their children and their education without wanting/being able to pay for it. I do have a slightly clouded judgment because there's no doubt that at our current state school, the parents of at least 50% of the kids absolutely do not care one way or another, but then they probably never had any decent opportunities as kids themselves.

who rules the roost?

my guess would be florence - as she's so good at mental arithmetic maybe mummy could give her the figures and ask her whether she thinks going back Nobenden is viable?

When I first read the article I thought she was going out at 5am to clean other people's floors. However, now I see that it is her own floor ,the problem becomes clear. She is suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder and the children moving schools is just a red herring.

Am absolutely in shock. I just read this and knew there would be a thread on it. I can only assume that they published this in the spirit of irony? Or because it would provoke such a massive reaction? No-one would actually read it and think "god, that poor woman", would they? My children would kill to go to a school that didn't do mental maths, as it happens- they've had it rammed down their throats since the word go. And reading to the teacher.

And since when has it only been possible to have piano lessons if you go to a private school by the way?? Eh?

May I just commend CarolinaMoon for the term "boo effing hoo", by the way? Excellent :o

I suspect it's written by a fan of state schools in an attempt (successful i think) to reassure parents of state school children that they're doing the right thing.

It has to be some kind of double bluff like that, doesn't it?

Poor woman. I expect it was all set off by her DH being unjustly sent to prison. Nevermind, if Florence hangs around the local railway station for long enough she might be able to befriend one of the ticket collectors and meet a nice old gentleman.

Yes, and meanwhile her mother could make some money from writing.... Hmm...

Can't help but feel sorry for Florence! She may have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but what morals is she being brought up with. What sort of childhood does she have? What sort of stuck up snoot will she be when she is older. she sounds bad enough as a child, but is that really her fault? Personally I don't think so.

Wow, I only made it through the first half of this thread before giving up in horror. You accuse the writer of this article of snobbery and up her own arse-ism but my god, it's been a while since I've seen such seething resentment, inverse snobbery and vitriol.

Good lord, Satine, at what point are we resentful? Are you suggesting that we're just jealous? I have no idea what choices everyone else on this thread has made; I know one has opted for private education herself and another has considered it.

I will freely admit to my personal resentment that someone else got paid to write this drivel. I am, as I frequently say, widely available to write drivel at really quite reasonable rates.

I often read articles with which I disagree but generally I think to myself, hmm, don't agree with that. But who cares where this woman sends her kids to school? As far as I can make out, she's not Supreme Ruler of the World, so she doesn't make the rules for the rest of us, so why the incredible hatred and personal abuse? I think she does sound wet and her kids are clearly going to be very precious but so what? I don't think this is jealousy, just raging inverse snobbery. I might start a 'Down with unwashed comprehensive types' just for a laugh.

I freely admit to vitriol, but not resentment. I do think she must have passed very dodgy messages to the child for her to have been wetting the bed before she even started, but basically most of us simply don't recognise the picture she paints from our own experience.

So what she says is wrong simply because it doesn't match your personal experiences?

Not wrong, no, just unpleasant.

MI! But your drivel would be infinitely superior to Shona Sibary's piece of ill-thought-out nothingness, surely? Feeling resentment at the fat fee she doubtless received for randomly airing her prejudices is, however, quite reasonable.

Wonder who commissioned it, and where they left their brain at the time. The journalist's name isn't one I recognise, so she isn't perhaps a Times regular. For which we can only be grateful.

Well, she's generalising widely on the basis of, as frogs says, six weeks in a new school.

and she commits the cardinal sin of beliveing her kid

I certainly agree that the parents absolutely failed to prepare the kids for the change of school in any positive way and I think they were almost quite pleased to find that the 'experiment' didn't work so that they could run back to the private school, and this all could have been avoided had the parents actually engaged their brains but still, the depth of reaction here suggests more than disagreement with this woman's choices or horror at her writing style.

oh yes cos we love to s lag
oh fgs why so we have to be reasonable
tis MY thread and is wanted to slag