Private schools are a bloody great rip-off

[fillipo]

and I should know because I used to teach in one!! I'm an English teacher, taught for 8 years in 2 different independent schools and then took the plunge and got a promotion into the state sector in September. It's like a breath of fresh air! And I've moved into the 21st century! Can't understand why I took so long to take the plunge. The teaching staff are on the whole far more professional - they don't have the complacency that some of my former colleagues had. Lessons are vibrant and interesting, the pupils are well behaved and interested. And it's free!! Well paid for through taxes but you know what i mean. Now I fully expect I'll be shouted down by lots of people telling me i'm wrong, but I don't understand why anyone pays for a private education when the alternative seems just as good.

"many women mostly who don't work not letting the children see their fathers at all,"

Why would working mothers tend to be more reasonable than SAHMs about access? (I'm a part-time worker so I have feet in both camps, and no axe to grind on this subject.)

xenia, may i ask what were the problems with your xh?

(I see I've nicely mixed my metaphors in my last message! But I did go to a private skool, honest.)

On the whole private schools are better. They're bound to be because they are better funded and as people say below they tend to take brighter children from homes where parents are prepared to make sacrifices for education. Obviously some aren't better.

I also agree withthis one too
"In independent schools some children who would, by dint of average intelligence, some laziness or 'rebellion' achieve mediocre results in the state sector are 'cushioned' from the results of their mediocrity, given a sense of confidence and boosted to results which they would not have achieved in the 'survival of the fittest' state system. "

My ex husband who taught for decades in private schools (and in the state system originally) said really if you have a very clever child and are short of money then it will get through via the state system. It's the not so bright ones or those who respond mostly to peer pressure etc who benefit from private schools, who need a small class, lots of attention, 100% of the sixth form going to good universities with mostly As in their A levels. You buy that peer pressure and attention for the not so motivated child and it gives them a better life chance.

A lot of the so called good state schools are just a joke. Good being people who get 5 GCSEs. That's not remotely good in my book. Good is where most of the 15.16 year olds are getting A* or A. You want schools where Bs are virtually a fail really if you're in this for the academics.

Xenia - Four of my first cousins were educated in Kent state grammar schools.

One has an Oxford 2.1 and an Oxford PhD and is a research chemist.

One has a Cambridge 1st (Chinese), a London MA (Chinese) and is a solicitor. She came top of her year (whole country) in her law school finals (don't know what they are called).

One has a Cambridge 2.1.

One has a Nottingham 1st and a London MSc.

I think you are a bit misinformed sometimes... or prejudiced, perhaps?

I teach in private but my kids go to the local primary school which is fantastic both in the teaching and the care they are given. The after-school care is not a rip off as in private and the resources are equally, if not more, plentiful.
Where i do feel they miss out is the sport and extra curricular stuff but I try and do my upmost to do that myself.

It's very very common. It's often the only thing women can do to get back at men after divorce - deny them seeing the children and there is no effective remedy in England. I think one mother in 50 years has been jailed for failing to allow contact. In most cases if she ignores the court orders nothing is done. Hopefully that will change as new remedies are planned.

Ah, OK Xenia, you are talking about women whose husbands divorced them.

I mostly know women who were desperate to get rid of their husbands - and content to share childcare since they wanted lots of time with their new lovers

And Anna, to be fair, though obviously I can't comment about the family you've mentioned, you can't lump state grammars into the same camp as 'state in general'. You'd have to be specific about WHEN they attended the grammar in question because- and I know this from personal experience- I went to a state grammar in '73 whereas now my DCs wouldn't stand a snow-ball's because I can't afford to Prep them to get IN to that grammar. The schools in question are in Salisbury, where there are many, many middle class parents heaving a huge sigh of relief that the 20k they spent on little Camilla (or Jeremy) for 2 years of Prep schooling has paid dividends! 7 years of (academic) excellence lie ahead, no fees!

I'm all for the newspapers whose League Tables distinguish between those state schools that select and those that don't or can't.

And, to the original OP, private schools can well be a 'B' great rip off unless you use them, for 2 years, to secure your DC a state selective school place. And sue 'em if they don't.

I taught in a state grammar, and while they may have had 95% 5A-C, it was a pretty crappy educational experience compared to the school I teach in now which has similar headline results.

95% A - C is just not good in the private sector though, is it? You want children getting virtually all A and A* with the occasional B or the school is failing if you've chosen it because it takes clever children.

Well yes if women divorce husbands to be rid of them then they probably do want some time without their children around. I think the women who cause more problems post divorce are those whose husband ran off with someone 20 years younger, where the deserted wife doesn't work and her children are her life and the only way to hurt the man is to deny his contact. There is a lot of that about the law should in the UK be much firmer in how it deals with it.

There are plenty of low ability children in the private sector. It's not possible to get them all through on 5% A-C. Even Eton doesn't manage 100%.

Also, many private schools are now entering children for IGCSE, which don't rate on the league tables.

I would be suspicious of 100% personally. You are always going to get the one kid who goes off the rails, misses school through illness or freaks out in the exam. I used to miss exams due to nerves giving me asthma attacks.

It's not that hard for a bright child to get 5 C grades, even if they have missed a lot of schooling. It's a pretty low standard, tbh. A selective school should get 100% or very close.

It would be a shame to lump all state schools together and do the same with independent schools.

Each school should be considered on its own merits as each parent/family have their own requirements for their child's schooling.

It is important to remember that all the fees aren't like Eton and Tonbridge (£8,000 a term?!) and you do get what you pay for. Small class sizes, top facilities, better choice of subjects, and more individualised tuition.

The quality of care for those children with special educational needs is an area that independent schooling consistently achieves great results in.

It is a common misconception that the independent schooling system is geared towards the naturally gifted. Ofcourse there are schools at the top of the league table who pride themselves on top results but a high percentage of independent schools support special needs-with many being non-selective.

There are good and bad in everything so to label all independent schools as a 'bloody great rip-off' seems rather too glib in my opinion.

Sorry if that sounded like a bit of a rant. lol

We visited a local (very highly rated and expensive) independent school on Saturday, and judging by the boys who showed us around, and the school photos on the walls, it is considerably more racially mixed than our local almost all-white state primary.
So I'm quite confident if the DSs go there the cultural mix will be better than they are used to now.