Private tutoring puts children at risk, says independent schools head

[muminlondon]

www.standard.co.uk/news/education/private-tutoring-puts-children-at-risk-8874013.html

Interesting topic. Apparently there are twice as many tutors as school teachers in England. I haven't found any statistics that reveal the most popular age at which children are tutored, but it must peak at 9-10 before entrance tests?

[Att100]

Why you are so interested in grammar vs academies in the UK when you live in HK and send your child like so many from HK to what they consider to get an "elite" education in British boarding schools is mystifying - you are not a British tax payer, you don't live here and obviously don't deem your own country's or even neighbouring country's educational systems even with their international schools as good enough for your child...but you come on this board to attack someone for sending their child to the best local state school they can easily commute to and get into fairly and squarely in their area - I feel no need to defend that at all but can't let your ridiculous arguments lie unanswered (I know I shouldn't take the bait).

I never boasted about swanky holidays but replied to someone who said generally that indies are better than grammars that that is not a general truth and not only that but you should consider how much you can use that money saved to enrich your child's education in the broader more holistic sense since education does not stop at school - really your efforts on improving education for all would be better spent figuring why so many rich people in HK and China feel the need to abandon their won education system and resort to sending their teenage children half way across the world to buy such a British brand of education which really has little to do with their own culture tbh.....I find that mystifyng too, very successful Hogwarts branding, I guess, but that's another topic for another thread and this back and forth is becoming boring now....let's kill it...now.

[Kenlee]

hmm that was a rather aggressive swathing attack. It still does not alter the fact that in some cases rich people have and will tutor their child to get into a grammar school. Which will be to them a free indie school. Therefore allowing them to have nice swanky holidays all over the world....

It seems you want to distance yourself from your original statement by changing the subject.

I am sure the truth has upset you which i apologize for but the truth is the truth. You may not see it that way but your statement blantantly puts two fingers up at people who are in a less fortunate position than you are.
Which I think is unfortunate

[Att100]

i am not upset at all Kenlee...just like to call out BS when i see it.....and some are full of it!

[Att100]

I just hope Kenlee you checked out your child's boarding school thoroughly as we did our son's local state school..before sending her 1000s of miles away ...and did not just buy the "brand" remotely or on a flying visit like some do... ....and as for effect on the British education system ....the courting or should we say pandering of some of the second tier and third tier British private/boarding schools to a rich global elite based on money not academics has changed them forever and taken them out of the reach of the middle classes here, as pointed out by the Good Schools Guide and others like here.

www.spectator.co.uk/spectator-life/spectator-life-life/9085501/five-star-schools/

"When the wheel turns and the Chinese, Russians, and Nigerians weary of their English experience, those second- and third-tier schools will be beached like a whale amid the theatres, music centres and hockey pitches, and then they will close down, having betrayed the dreams of the men and women who founded them."

Food for thought huh? Don't address if you don't want to though....but money doesn't always buy a great education no matter what the glossy prospectus and website says.

[LoveSewingBee]

Money can buy influence, sometimes even jobs, entrance to good universities but luckily enough it cannot buy a good brain (yet).

[Att100]

aah "yet" is the operative word...I keep telling my boy that is his biggest asset and he should use it well...I have no doubt in the future though, someone will come up with and patent a genetic manipulation method to significantly boost IQ in a bid to create genius at embryo stage and the rich will buy into that or a chip that can be implanted in the brain that will help you improve exam performance by vastly improving processing speed or memory (there are already so called smart drugs) or speak multiple languages...only a matter of time....but hopefully a long long time.

[Att100]

the idea is not science fiction...here you go:

www.vice.com/read/chinas-taking-over-the-world-with-a-massive-genetic-engineering-program

[Kenlee]

I do agree that money does not buy the best education but then it also depends on what you are looking for. It does help in choice but I consider a school with good pastoral care of the utmost importance. In as far as academic results go I think most indies of any standing can make sure your child hits their targets.

As for overseas it is quite ironic my daughters best friend is Russian... haha...

I do hope you have a great holiday with your children.

[Att100]

you too Kenlee....have enriching things to go do with my boy in the holidays...lots of which don't cost money at all...IMO, education in the wider sense is as much what you learn outside the classroom (and sometimes more) than in it....and targets are just an unnecessary evil which hopefully don't get in the way of education.

[LoveSewingBee]

Brain enhancing drugs ..... Yes, in the Netherlands GPs dish them out like sweets to university students. Most students I know use them .... I find it outrageous, but what can you do? It is legal here. Soon after the exam they seem to have forgotten almost everything, so I presume the effects are short lasting.

[MoreThanChristmasCrackers]

Att100, I totally agree with you there.
I am so glad that we are not letting targets, levels, and tests for the sake of it, get in the way of a good education for dd. She is H.ed and we so wish we had done the same for ds1 and 2.
When you get away from the confines of systems and classrooms there is no limit to the things you can learn.

[Att100]

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
? Albert Einstein

[MoreThanChristmasCrackers]

Att

"I never let school stand in the way of education" Mark Twain.

[Att100]

MoreThan...here's another one from the great man himself, AE:

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

Sadly for many, it does not survive...