Request a state school place if you want it or not

[clarkkentsglasses]

This email is doing the rounds aimed at private school parents:

"The idea is to try to flood the Council with requests for urgent school places from September. If they get tens of thousands of emails like this we may see them under pressure."

Basically request a state school place if you want it or not.

And looking it from my perspective, I am paying more tax than ever and getting a lot less in return. And now another party wants to come along and charge me more tax when my only crime is saving the taxpayer money by not using state education for one of my DC. All the while, my local Labour candidate spouts on about how they are not going to raise taxes for working people. Well, last time I checked I am a working person. More lies….

@Pip67893

You understand how these statistics work, right? Just because you and your friends don't doesn't mean it isn't still the majority.

I would argue that people had plenty of time to observe what the Conservatives had done to the UK by 2019. And the Tories got an overwhelming victory again. People knew that the Tories had inflicted cruelty on the most vulnerable people in society and they didn’t care. Because it didn’t affect them.

‘Getting one over on the rich’. No, it’s about fairness.

You don't pay tax so that you, yourself get given things in return - that's not how it works.

@Dibblydoodahdah

We all pay tax. The poorest households actually spend more as a % of their income on tax than richest.

Also taxation is not a pay in X get X out system. No doubt there is plenty of government intervention that facilitates your earnings.

I strongly dispute that. If you expect people to pay a huge amount of their hard earned salary in tax, they need to see that they personally get a return for it. It’s called the social contract. The alternative is that you go for a low tax society and expect people to pay everything for themselves…but we don’t have low tax in this country.

Yes funnily enough my high earning job requires a degree of intelligence contrary to your insinuation. Just because you say it is true, it doesn't mean it is either.

It is a problem while things go through the administration process, if you are genuinely applying for a place then it is what it is and fair enough things have to move through the system but if someone is applying for a place they don’t need then they aren’t disadvantaging their child, their child is still an school, they are just disadvantaging other children without a school place who have moved into area, it may only be for a short time but it can have a huge impact on the familty waiting for a school place who have their child out of school

Ypu seem to have worked in a private school where you clearly hated both the parents and pupils - and so made the assumption they were all tory.

". Just because you say it is true, it doesn't mean it is either."

But if it's backed by the data? The majority of people in the top income groups vote Tory, they also have a far higher tendency to privately educate their kids. I'd reckon the vast majority of PE parents vote tory.

I work and pay higher rate tax but I was lucky enough to have a disabled child who I get dla for and in in a special school which costs fee taxpayer £40k a year , it’s a shame you haven’t been so lucky in life as me

If I am paying a significant amount of tax, I expect a decent health service to make sure that I am well enough to do my job. The alternative is I pay less tax and have comprehensive private health care. It’s one or the other…but in this country I am expected to pay for the NHS and then when it lets me down pay more money for private care to make sure that I am well enough to work…and it was the same under the last Labour government. Neither party will actually fix it because they haven’t got the guts.

Well if you reckon, that must be so.

I don't hate the kids or the parents, but distorting my points rather diminishes yours.

@Pip67893 tbh, it is rather disingenuous for anyone to suggest that many people who use fee paying schools have much of an interest in social justice or a level playing field for all where education is concerned.

Why else do you think that members of the Labour Party are so criticised when they send their own children to private schools? It is seen as contrary to Labour policies.

It's a mixture. Tax is partly for pooling resources to fund and organise things too big for one individual and partly for supporting the most vulnerable (which itself is is partly insurance against needing help ourselves and partly community.)

It's moved much more towards 'supporting the vulnerable' in the last 100 years: arguably after national service in the wars led to a greater expectation of the state having responsibility for individuals.

It is a social contract though, which works most smoothly when people buy into it. When they don't believe in it, they change their behaviour to try to change it where they can and avoid it where they can't.

If you earn so much that you also pay a lot of tax then you are fortunate and privileged. There are plenty of people who work as hard as you do for minimum wage. They don’t have the choices that you do.

@strawberrybubblegum public services benefit the majority of people in the UK though because even people on a decent income can't usually afford private healthcare at this time. So it isn't only about protecting the most vulnerable.

The cuts to the police also don't benefit the majority of people.

If by a level playing field you mean a one size fits all education system then I can tell you I am passionately AGAINST that. I believe in an education system that meets that needs of each and every child. That’s why my own DC are in two completely different schools, one state, one private. Yes, schooling to meet the needs of the child should be free for everyone. The way to do that is to improve the state system and introduce more choice. Attacking the private system is not the answer.

And your assumption that all private school parents don’t care about social justice is wrong and it’s offensive.

Depends whether they vote with only their own interests at heart or if they choose to see the bigger picture. I will most likely be worse off when Labour are in government. That doesn't bother me at all.

But we don’t have decent public services, that’s the point. And that didn’t grate as much when I wasn’t paying as much towards it. So if you want people to pay, they need to see that it’s been spent properly.
The social contract is broken and Labour are not doing anything to mend it.

No, a level playing field is the opposite of one size fits all. Equality is not everyone being treated the same. It is making adjustments for people who don't have the same opportunities. It is creating the chance for social mobility. The current government has done all it can to hinder social mobility.

Actually if you earn a lot of money, the more the state facilitates your earnings.

@Dibblydoodahdah we don't have decent public services because the current government, the Tories have cut them to the bone. They are the ones who have been in power for the last 14 years and you are blaming Labour? 🤷🏻‍♀️

ffs Give them a bloody chance they aren’t even elected yet, tories have had 14 years