Would most people choose private education if they could afford it

[mids2019]

My children go to reasonable state schools but especially from my older daughter I keep hearing about a succession of cover teachers and general malaise in the school system (governments fault not the schools)

That for me asking the question would most people choose private education if affordable in their heart of hearts or are there egalitarian parents who would still choose state on ideological grounds?

I am in two minds about this but certainly the private sector locally is attracting quite a few.

@Doteycat

What's your view on private tutoring and universities?

These arguments become very polarised. Of course there are terrible state schools but the majority are not terrible. Of course no one would want to send their child to a totally failing school. But there are lots of great state schools. Equally there are some very questionable private schools. Only 6.7% of the population is actually privately educated which means 93.3% of the population attended state schools.
I have no idea what proportion of the population 'could' send their child private but don't (too many variables) but it is plainly daft if anyone thinks I failed my ds (who was happy at school, got into Oxford, got a first class degree and a job on graduation with a starting salary of 80K) yes, sorry a bit of a boast - just making a point)

We could afford private education for ours, we choose the state system as we don’t want our children to attend private school. The only thing we would consider a private school would be a private SEND school funded via the local borough. Where we’ve moved to private schooling is actually very cheap compared to the UK, around £3-£10k per year.

Sssshhhh. You mustn’t speak of private tutoring to people who proudly reject private schools out of social principle. Also avoid mentioning people buying property in well-heeled areas to cluster round good state schools. And definitely don’t speak about being able to buy a Volvo big enough to take the child and friends to theatre trips.

Up the workers!

Yes, this is me too.
I could have afforded private education for my children but they've been state educated. However, I live somewhere with very good state schools and fairly mediocre independents so it's easy for me to say that. We didn't move here because the schools are good, in fact we didn't even have children when we bought our current house and didn't even consider schools at the time, it just worked out that way. I'm pleased, both because my political leanings are leftish and because I have worked with a lot of people educated privately, many at some of the most prestigious schools in the land, and I would say that a higher proportion of them have been damaged in some way by their school experience than my state educated colleagues. However, I am lucky. Had I happened to have bought a house somewhere with terrible state provision I would have sent my children to private schools I'm sure. It's easy to support the state sector when you have access to the best of it and I wouldn't criticise anyone for making a different decision if they feel it is best for their child.
Likewise, despite having devoted my entire working life to the NHS I am currently paying for my son to have private treatment. He's been harmed by delays and very poor treatment on the NHS and I have enough money in the bank to be able to get things fixed privately so I am doing.
Principles are good of course but I think we probably all have a tipping point where we'd put the well being of our loved ones, especially our children, ahead of our ideological beliefs.
I think that too many people probably automatically assume private is better though, when that is not always the case and I would always encourage a careful consideration of the specific options rather than generalising that state is X and private is Y.

But would you have thought the same if he had been academically average and inclined to be lazy?

@aliceinanwonderland possibly not - although a lot of the boys that he attended school with did very well as the school had a culture of making sure every pupil found something to be 'good at'. Or I might have preferred that culture to the private schools locally (which I did look at btw). One of ds classmates left primary hardly able to read and ended up achieving 3 A levels and going on to do a degree at the same secondary school. I just don't like the often very sweeping judgements on threads like these. Yes, we were lucky that our state options were/are good, we didn't have to move house and could stay in our local community. And there is an argument that if more people with bright kids chose state options, schools would themselves improve.

I don’t do anything of those things. I could afford to send DS to a private school, but I won’t. He will go to the average secondary school closest to our house in a city centre, just as he went to the primary closest to our house. I won’t be paying for tutors. He will have to sink or swim. I have every confidence in him.

Great. It’s not you that applies to then. Just to the vast majority of the “I could go private but my principles won’t let me” crowd.

I don’t think it does. I think that’s a nebulous straw man argument trotted out by people uncomfortable with other people who think private education is wrong.

I do. I think it’s patently true.

(I’m not ‘uncomfortable’ with anti-private arguments at all. All mine went state. We couldn’t have afforded fees for one, let alone all of the kids. I don’t object to others’ choices though.)

So you would let your child struggle even though you could afford a tutor?! What about if it was impacting their mental health?

No I wouldn't . I don't believe in it. And you don't necessarily get the best teachers.

We live in an affluent London borough with numerous private schools, and apparently 40% of teenagers here are educated privately. But there are many high-profile wealthy families who live here who have sent their DCs to state schools, so of course some people will choose not to use private education even though they can afford it. The schools here are excellent - one of the primaries has been described as a "state prep for the middle classes" and the nearby comp is in the top 15 comp schools in the country.

We chose to send our DDs private as we have enough assets to cover the cost comfortably. Our local schools are excellent but I do think the prep offers a better experience, and we can pay without any lifestyle changes so we just chose the option that would be nicer for our DCs. We would get into the top 15 comp mentioned above, but the nearby private schools offer a richer school experience, with nicer facilities and strong extracurriculars in activities the DCs enjoy, so we're probably going to go private at secondary too.

We aren't in any social circles where anyone would criticise our decision to go private (it's so common in this area) and tbh I'm not sure I would be concerned about anyone who did. I think all parents just want the best for their DCs. I didn't come from a wealthy background at all and part of my motivation for building my financial position (which was achieved entirely through earnings and investments, with no family help or inheritance) was to support my DCs' education.

It depends on the child and the school. Ideally you forget where the funding comes from and look at the fit and the ethos of the school and whether it will suits your child. Whether they will flourish.

I had an academic, non-sporty ds who was miserable at state primary and was then offered a place at a state senior school that even Ofsted said wasn't safe. It was in chaos.

DS got a scholarship to a local independent and I'll still have to work for an extra five years to pay for it, so it wasn't a decision I took lightly. But ds is happy, settled, his issues with PE are sorted, he's grown hugely in confidence and he's on track for great grades. So for us, yes it was worth it.

We could just about have afforded private.

But we have fine -ok schools (not leafy, representative S London with a massive diversity from v m/c to socially non functional criminal class. But the schools do a good job on Progress 8 with all abilities so the education is there.

I went to a private school and ended up with the exact same qualifications and comparable lifestyles / job fulfilment as my siblings who went to grammar and comp, so subscribe to both ‘bright children can do well anywhere’ and ‘home is the biggest influence’ .

Had the Dc had any particular need to be rescued into a different school we could have considered private as an option. But I do think there are downsides, and it costs a lot.

I don’t criticise people who choose private, it’s a free choice if you can afford it. But there are reasons and attitudes around choosing private which I personally don’t share.

Our daughter is starting primary in September and we’ve chosen a private school. The state school is excellent but is oversubscribed and we feel it’s too large for a 4 year old. The days are also quite long and there is not a lot of flexibility. The private school was more flexible with children in reception. We just felt it was a better fit for a small child. We (her parents) did not attend private school, did not grow up wealthy and are generally quite liberal, but felt the private school was a better fit for our daughter.

We could have afforded to send all of ours private, but didn’t. However, we’re lucky enough that despite living rurally the choices we had worked well for the eldest 5. The eldest 3 are at Uni and we have one each in a primary and secondary. Until very recently private hasn’t been even a discussion as it wasn’t necessary.

However, it’s a discussion now because our youngest is being utterly failed by the SEN options locally (not their fault - they are absolutely trying their best). There is a private boarding option that has been suggested by her school and social work and we could afford it (there is a chance it could be named for her but it would be a massive fight that I’m not sure I have in me) so it’s now a discussion.

I’ve always been against private school but I’ll openly admit I’m very seriously considering it as all other options are failing her.

@NoCloudsAllowed

I think when public services are so stretched people who can easily afford to do so should pay for things like IVF, physio, contraception.

Do you think it's ok for people to claim benefits they don't need, like when millionaire David Cameron claimed DLA for his disabled son?

People who brag about having excellent state schools on their doorstep are woefully ignorant at their privilege at being able to afford a family home in a sought after school catchment.

When rich people buy these homes they are pricing out families who will never have the choice of private schools so relegating them to the sink comps.

If all the parents who could easily afford it took their DCs out of state schools class sizes would drop and the poor DCs who need it would get more teacher attention and a better education which in the long term would benefit all of society.

The question really should be...

If you can afford it, would you chose the failing state school or decent private school

But as tax payers, we do pay for state education. The 'average cost of a years state education is £1579 per year per pupil (varies across year groups, primary costs as a bit higher than secondary). Between us my dh and I pay £25,000 per year in tax so the sums don't really stack up - We could be paying for at least 10 kids education plus NHS spending per head with the amount of tax we pay.
OP's question was 'would most people pay if they could afford it' - some posters say yes, some say no but it's not comparable to claiming benefits when you are not entitled.

All of this talk about failing state schools makes me want to scream WHY DON'T WE INSIST ON GOVERNMENTS PROPERLY FUNDING EDUCATION?

I feel so sad about it.

Horseshit.
I'm not at all ignorant of any thing of the kind.

@AgnestaVipers definitely. Instead what has the government done? Handed over 1000s of Local Authority schools to be run by private Academy Trusts which has turned out to be a dreadful thing to do as some of those Trusts are awful and many places now have no LA run schools at all.