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

[SpoonsAndForks]

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.

Noticing nobody wants to engage with the uncomfortable comparison with for example apartheid. I'm not surprised. I'm not saying anyone (or most people) makes these choices from a bad place. But that is the point. My child comes first is the premise- we all get that- but until when?

Sorry I misread the stats for Rose Bridge. The 1% is for Ebac 21% is for level 5 attainment 39 % is for level 4 attainment So only 61% that would have to re take GCSEs it still isn't good !

I'll say it again - if you picked up Altrincham Grammar school for boys up and popped it down in a deprived area it would be a shit school.

The teachers wouldn't be able to cope, the SEN would be a disaster, the whole school would collapse as the teachers fled.

Education is much more than schools.

If you made no requirements of the kids, parents or behaviour . I am sure it would be a 'shit' school.

The key here is requirements to attend a school . This being whether that be by ability a Grammar, Behaviour a Michaela type school , socio economic catchment a leafy comp or by moral compass a religious school

Some employers look for candidates with private school education and weed out those who attended State schools

Didsomeonesay - do you have actual proof of this?
Can you name the employers or companies which do this?

Dapple - oh absolutely. I have worked in such places (law firms)

Didsome did you go to state school?
If so, how did you get a job in these law firms if they only employed candidates who were privately educated?

Dapple - are you meaning to be toast or am I misinterpreting your tone?I did indeed go a State school. My roles were that of a paralegal rather than a job as a solicitor for the reason I outlined above.

*goady

My question about your education seems reasonable since you said the law firms only employed privately educated people.
I've seen people on mumsnet say they wouldn't employ anyone who'd been privately educated so maybe it works both ways.

Some employers look for candidates with private school education and weed out those who attended State schools

This is a complete misapprehension that needs to be corrected straight away. To be honest in this day and age of contextual admissions to university, a private school could be said to be a positive disadvantage

All law firms and accountancy firms look at A levels and degrees and also where those degrees are from. They are competitive. They need to recruit the best talent and they aren't very particular about where that talent comes from. The days where knowing the senior partner because your Dad plays at his golf club and can get you in are long LONG gone. In fact for graduate admission the CVs are sorted electronically.

‘To be honest in this day and age of contextual admissions to university, a private school could be said to be a positive disadvantage’

Ds is doing an extremely sought after paid internship. Of 10 young people chosen, only he and one other went to state school. That is not fairly representative at all. This system is abhorrent and unfair. Anyone who sends their children to private school is actively contributing. You may be left wing in principle but you are contributing to segregation and inequality. I do understand why people do it but I think they are wrong.

“To be honest in this day and age of contextual admissions to university, a private school could be said to be a positive disadvantage’

Yeah, course it could!

It's the extra confidence at interview and in themselves generally, throughout their lives, that kids get from good schools. Plus opportunities at school to take part in things which look good on job and university applications later.

Actual - ‘good schools’? I do not equate private with good. And the ‘confidence’ may help with the interview it’s true - but it may hide the eating disorder or other numerous types of pathology linked to the pressure cooker type private schools.

It’s more nuanced than simply looking at whether someone went to private school or not on their Cv. I remember listening to a woman on the radio say she preferred to recruit people who had played rugby union (not sure why) and recently my DP said someone he worked with suggested they only recruit people who had played sport to at a high level. This upset DP because he is disabled.

People's prejudices are often just personal.

I heard a piece on the radio about BME at Oxford (it's funny - it's always Oxbridge they focus on and not Durham/Exeter/St Andrews, which possibly have far fewer BME students...).

Anyway, one girl said she got "rejected" because she was black. The Admissions person countered that this particular candidate had not got an interview as they had failed the admissions test very badly and at that point they have absolutely no idea who you are. Yet here was someone on national radio saying it was racism rather than having scored terribly in a test.

On Oxbridge threads I have seen people saying their dc was rejected because they went to a private school. And then someone else says their dc was rejected because they went to a state school.

And then all these individual experiences are stated as being the gospel truth.

Of course prejudices do exist. But not as much as people think they do, and often they are used as an excuse for under performance , or simply that not everyone who applies can get a place at Oxbridge,/magic circle law firm/RADA etc etc.

Anyone who sends their children to private school is actively contributing. You may be left wing in principle but you are contributing to segregation and inequality.

Thing is - you may not know just how many parents choose schools specifically to counterbalance the inherent segregation and inequality their children might be facing now.

Gruach- I don’t doubt people are doing what they feel is best for their children. Doesn’t change the fact that it is contributing to deep societal inequality for all children.

“Thing is - you may not know just how many parents choose schools specifically to counterbalance the inherent segregation and inequality their children might be facing now.”

Unlikely to be choosing private school for those reasons, to be honest.

My objection to private schools is entirely practical: they cost a bloody fortune!

I do have to laugh at some aspirational parents who pay through the nose for up to a decade-and-a-half’s private schooling and their kids end up with the same opportunities in life as all their peers who went to the local comp.

Plimmy - I agree that bleeding yourselves dry for private schooling is usually not an effective educational strategy. School alone does not alter children’s life paths.

FarFrom - is it better to have a society of equally badly educated people, or an unequal society where at least some people are well educated?

because state education an bad education are, of course, synonyms.

Oh, sorry, that's quite a difficult word. Any state educated posters need me to explain what a synonym is?