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Original poster

Can you be a leftie and use private schools? Are people prejudiced against the privately educated?

633 replies

SpoonsAndForks · 21/07/2018 08:58

I've always been into equality of opportunity and on that basis, think that it's wrong that our country allows private schools.

But then my son's state primary went into special measures and I pulled him out and put him into private school. Now he's being offered a really great scholarship to stay on and I'm considering going private all the way. So I'd rather private schools didn't exist but now they do, yes I'd like my child to benefit from them.

I came across this book yesterday - www.amazon.co.uk/Posh-Boys-English-Schools-Britain/dp/1786073838/?tag=mumsnetforum-21 - the intro to the book sets out the 'public schoolboy' as the most horrible creature, misogynistic, egotistical, generally a posh hawhawhaw uncaring horror (usually a nasty MP). Yet the intro also sets out some interesting statistics about those in top jobs always being from private school (which makes me want to give my child that opportunity). But makes me sick at the thought of educating my child into a guffawing posh MP.

I'm keen to explore:

  • whether you can sit politically to the left and square it with yourself if you use a private school
  • whether children who go to private schools will experience judgement and prejudice against them
  • whether children who go to private schools are all at risk of turning into posh uncaring brash misogynistic MP types.
OP posts:
TwatSlapper · 21/07/2018 09:11

*So I'd rather private schools didn't exist but now they do....
*
Now they do? They have always existed Hmm

Look, the fact of the matter is that to express the view that it's "wrong" that the country allows public schools and then send your child to a public school - whatever the circumstances - is hypocritical.

What about all the other children at the special measures school? Surely, if you really gave a shit about "equality of opportunity" you wouldn't have whisked your little darling out so that he'd have better "opportunities" than the others who were stuck there.

Sounds like you're all in favour of equality provided your child doesn't have to be equal to children with less advantages.

Champagne socialism at it's finest.

BUT...I doubt anyone would blame you for the decisions you've made. We all want the best for our children, it's the most common human imperative there is.

BertrandRussell · 21/07/2018 09:14

I personally could not square using private education with my political principles.

If there is any prejudice against the privately educated it does not seem to be holding them back very much!

Mishappening · 21/07/2018 09:15

The real issue is that many state schools are below par. This is entirely unacceptable. Parents should be able to have confidence in their local state school.

We all want the best for our children - it is not your fault that the state system is failing in some areas.

prh47bridge · 21/07/2018 09:15

whether you can sit politically to the left and square it with yourself if you use a private school

Of course you can. Look at the number of leading Labour politicians who send their children to private schools. Diane Abbott, for example.

whether children who go to private schools will experience judgement and prejudice against them

I'm sure they will in some situations, but equally there are some situations where children who didn't go to private schools will experience judgement and prejudice.

whether children who go to private schools are all at risk of turning into posh uncaring brash misogynistic MP types

I would not class all MPs as posh, uncaring, brash and misogynistic. That sounds like judgement and prejudice to me. But no, children who go to private schools do not all turn out the same. There are two large private schools near me. The children they turn out seem to be perfectly normal. Similarly their famous ex-pupils.

BertrandRussell · 21/07/2018 09:24

I do think you have to work quite hard to justify sending your child to private school and claiming left wing views. And for the record this is a point on which I fundamentally disagree with Diane Abbot.

tillytillytilly2018 · 21/07/2018 09:27

People are always leftie socialists until it suits them not be 😂

Gwenhwyfar · 21/07/2018 09:27

"whether you can sit politically to the left and square it with yourself if you use a private school

Of course you can. Look at the number of leading Labour politicians who send their children to private schools. Diane Abbott, for example."

Those people are hypocrites.

user1457017537 · 21/07/2018 09:30

Unless you can get your child into the Brompton Oratory like the Blair’s.

neighneigh · 21/07/2018 09:32

Yes, I sit to the left and yes, where we live, I would like ds1 to try for the much more academic private school. He's bright, he deserves to do well, and the two local high schools seem to produce kids with no ambition, very few go to university and most stay living local. For context, I went to a private school and my dad was pretty against it - had very little to do with our schooling but that was probably also due to his work. My husband went to one of the very well known private boarding schools in the North and he is the antethesis of what you see as a guffawing MP. He's very aware of the advantages of a decent education and where its led him to in life, is a very humble and kind man and works incredibly hard. Also a brilliant dad.

I think there's a significant number of people who ideally would stay state but when it's your child's education, and you want them to have some ambition in life, you make the choices to do best by them.

BertrandRussell · 21/07/2018 09:35

“People are always leftie socialists until it suits them not be”

We’re not, you know!

THEsonofaBITCH · 21/07/2018 09:46

I don't care about anyone's politics - you weigh all the options and do what's best for your child - end of discussion.

BertrandRussell · 21/07/2018 09:48

Don’t agree- you have to think about what’s good for other children too.

BertrandRussell · 21/07/2018 09:50

“I think there's a significant number of people who ideally would stay state but when it's your child's education, and you want them to have some ambition in life, you make the choices to do best by them.”

Surprised that people have so little faith in their children, frankly.....

THEsonofaBITCH · 21/07/2018 09:58

I don't agree. I don't have to make my child suffer for what someone else thinks is the greater good. My child will be the best possible person they can be and improve the world we all live on by their contributions to society.

bookmum08 · 21/07/2018 09:59

'Private School' is a vague phrase though because not all private schools are the same.
I would love my daughter to go to an alternative hippy forest school type place - but they don't exist in the state system.

LARLARLAND · 21/07/2018 10:00

I wonder who all these people are who would make choices regarding their children in order to benefit my dc? If those people actually exist I have yet to meet any of them.

mostdays · 21/07/2018 10:01

I'm against private education. I get why peple choose it- humans are often selfish- but I don't support it, and I don't have to pretend I think it's fine to save the feelings of people who use it.

BertrandRussell · 21/07/2018 10:08

“I don't have to make my child suffer for what someone else thinks is the greater good”

I suppose it depends if you think that going to state school can be described as “suffering”........

C8H10N4O2 · 21/07/2018 10:10

I wonder who all these people are who would make choices regarding their children in order to benefit my dc? If those people actually exist I have yet to meet any of them.

If you mean parents who use state education despite having the resources to go private or game a neighbouring borough's grammar system, then there are several on this thread.

I'm one of them. How d'you do.

Herculesupatree · 21/07/2018 10:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

C8H10N4O2 · 21/07/2018 10:12

My child will be the best possible person they can be and improve the world we all live on by their contributions to society.

And this can't happen if they have a state education? Do you think state education is some kind of millstone holding children back?

FourFriedChickensDryWhiteToast · 21/07/2018 10:14

I would have thought that far left/anarchist types would rather use a private school though.
In fact there was an anarchist's daughter in my class at private school now I think of it. It makes more sense really, for rich anarchists..:)

Enidblyton1 · 21/07/2018 10:15

It’s human nature to want the best for your child OP. You’re not alone in having all sorts of ideals until it actually affects you.
In terms of education, I don’t see much equality in the state sector either. Plenty of people who can afford to, buy a more expensive house in a better area in order to get their child into a brilliant state school. This is another form of selection and no different to paying for private school.
At the local state secondary in my town, a large proportion of the parents pay for their children to have extra tuition.
I wonder if anyone who denounces ‘private education’ has ever paid for a private tutor or specifically moved to a particular area for a good state school?

THEsonofaBITCH · 21/07/2018 10:15

Obviously twisting the statements like Bertrand.
I didn't say it couldn't occur in a state school nor did I say a state school constituted suffering. I said make the best possible choice for your child. If that choice/opportunity is state school then great. For us the opportunities and advantages (which were covered on other threads) were why we went to Private Schooling.

BertrandRussell · 21/07/2018 10:15

Love the conflation of far left and anarchist. How does that work?

Swipe left for the next trending thread