Education superclass?

[Amber2]

blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin1/100245274/it-is-much-worse-than-sir-john-major-says-a-new-superclass-is-being-created-in-london/

This is interesting coming from John Major ...sounds like more lobbying along the lines of the Sutton Trust but do people really think it's much worse than it ever has been..? and this is do with with the inexorable rise of London...and the global money flowing in there...and so to creating an elite superclass of private schools also ...not just any old private school but a small handful of elite ones, applications to which have reached record numbers, presumably more and more from London and from overseas with over inflation rises in fees pricing out the traditional middle classes that used to be able to afford these schools.

Yep, found out. Yet another ex City lawyer here....

The language thing is so true. My DD, who is perfectly bilingual, was desperate to add Spanish this year at school because, as she openly admitted, she was embarrassed to only speak two languages when so many of her fellow 8 and 9 year olds spoke three or four. DC at her school and similar outfits are used to having parents who speak four or five languages and emulate them happily (it's work nonetheless!). Sure, speaking so many languages makes them confident - but it is confidence rooted in skill, not entitlement. Those sorts of DC are, IME, not "entitled" as they face a lot of challenges and work very hard growing up and know that a comfortable lifestyle requires significant investment of one's energies.

Why would you not take children to the opera/theatre etc if you can? Obviously different if you can't, but surely most of those who can would?

Very well said Bonsoir!

I lasted 5 years. It was as things were beginning to boom and the attitudes were becoming more and more nauseating and the transactions more and more ludicrous. Maybe everything is more sober, now, but I could see where everything was heading many years before this latest depression!...

I agree - going to the theatre/opera/ballet is relatively easy and accessible and fun for DC. A lot more accessible than learning Chinese.

So it was a long time ago. And you were 3 years PQE when you got out.

Not exactly a spring board of current information!

What bothers you, rabbitstew, about business people constantly talking about the size of a transaction or the value of the business they generate?

I've been to the theatre/opera/ballet. But it was always a treat, perhaps 2 or 3 times a year. Not part of my "normal life". My parents go lots since they retired. But the idea of going after work or school is completely alien to me.

We often tend to go out on Fridays, as mid week is often scuppered by homework and sports etc. Plus DH rarely finishes before 7pm.

My London kids go to the theatre, museums etc. Its one of the great things about living in London. The point about these schools is that they get kids doing things themselves: whether a paper for history society, producing a play, or organising a sports team. The recent documentary about Harrow showed loads of student led activity. This is how Eton has managed to produce an astonishing crop of actors, whilst Westminster numbers Dido, Mika and Shane McGowan of the Pogues amongst its former pupils.

Perhaps I will make more of an effort to do cultural stuff with DD. Once her bedtime stops being 7.30 and she isn't 3 any more. I was thinking about taking her to the £1.50 Saturday am cinema showing of the Smurf film. I probably need to aim higher.

that depends where one lives, bonsoir!

I was going to ask SuiGeneris if you were from a Baltic state? I have several friends from a particular Baltic state that speak 5 and 6 languages to a very high level, and that was the norm.

I wanted to pick-up on breathe's point about UK schools not doing languages well- I completely agree (and this harks back to whomever upthread highlighted offspring not being able to have a lifestyle as comfortable as that of their parents, nor being able to furnish their children with an education of such a quality as theirs)- my father left school fluent in 4 languages (2 ancient, 2 modern), my children's language lessons are laughable really, and language provision was one of the things that attracted us to their school
DH and I have already realised that it may be better for DC to attend universities abroad, but we will have our work cut out improving their language skills to a decent enough level.

Needmoresleep - that is one of the advantages of London. We live in the sticks, public transport to our nearest cultural centre is awful as is the traffic. I grew up "in London" but perhaps zone 6 isn't the best location for making the most of London.

Admittedly I tend not to go to ballet/theatre/opera with DD mid-week anymore as she has lots of homework and extracurricular activities. But I did when she was little - there are plenty of special performances for DC in Paris that are cheaper than usual and we often took advantage of them. During last half-term we went on something of a cultural marathon of shows, guided tours, historic cities etc.

No, wordfactory, not a springboard of current information. It really put me off for life!

Bonsoir - what bothers me about it is that the business being transacted just seemed "wrong" - too many takeovers, too much over-excitement about the concept of making money out of money, too much of what I just thought was excessive greed without thought for the long term. So when my instincts turned out to be right, I just felt angry, because all those intelligent people who carried on working there must, surely, have seen it coming long before.

breathe I only really took my two to musicals and the science museum when they were little.

I think fresh air and exercise is a huge benefit at that age .

We're geared up through the years. Gently. Musicals. Science museum etc.

From about 12 onwards we started to take them to adult stuff.

what you mean you're not taking her to see Hamlet yet Breathe? Come on...get with the program! ;)

I should say though, as we're talking about Major's 'superclass', cultural stuf is often bloody expensive.

We recently went to see David Wallimas in A Midsummer Night's Dream and boy was it pricey!!!! Almost two hundred quid!!!!

I've taken mine to see Hamlet in Danish. It's good to practice their languages.

ranbitstew - I understand what you mean - the sort of business transaction that creates more value for professional service firms than for stakeholders. And, yes, that is all wrong and has hugely contributed to the crisis.

I might pay to see David Walliams, but I'm not so sure about David Wallimas...

Do you know, I've never actually seen Hamlet!

rabbit .

Actually he was quite good. But just beeing himself iyswim. A very knowing, slightly camp Bottom.

Now Sheridan Smith was fabulous as Titania!!!! A revelation.

now Danish is one language in my view not worth learning...1) because it's only the Danes that speak it and 2) they generally speak English much better than we do ....even more annoying, they speak it with hardly even a trace of a foreign accent...bit like the Dutch.