State school outperforming Independent school students at Uni

[LippyPongStocking]

So this is old news- research from Cambridge in 2015:

https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/news/state-school-pupils-do-better-at-university-cambridge-assessment-research-confirms/

Has this trend continued? And now are recruiters finding that state school students make better employees, as the workplace is more reflective of of a state school environment (as the independent school child is used to far more support and handholding)?

We invested what we would have spent on prep plus senior boarding school fees in London flats for them. They can have those instead. Much better return on investment

Generally, investing in someone's education is an excellent investment, assuming you choose the right school for them. This is especially the case when the state school options are inadequate.

London property has become overvalued and may well turn out to be not such a good investment, depending when you purchased all these flats for your children.

I personally would always prefer a great education over a property. A great education gives me options and the chance to fulfil my potential.

Sometimes you don't have to make that choice. It all depends on your criteria for a great education. I personally don't believe it always has to have a price tag.

It all depends on your criteria for a great education. I personally don't believe it always has to have a price tag.

Absolutely!

You need to compare the cost (price tag) to the benefits of ANY education.

Sometimes a free education at an underperforming school will be a worse 'investment' than paying school fees for an excellent education! It all depends on the quality of education and how much it costs.

As I had a good private education I could afford to pay for my children's and help each of the five buy a first property. It is not one or the other for those in relatively higher paid careers.
The one thing war, disaster, or whatever else life mey throw at you that can never be taken from you later is a good education (which of course you can get at home, in a school and in a fee or state school).

I love it that we live in a UK where people can have different priorities and choices whetehr that be to move to an area with grammar schools or better comprehensives or pay school fees for those earning enough.

I agree with the post above that the generalisations about both sectors can be a bit too much really - some state schools are very good and some private schools are not very good depending on what you are after from a school.

"We invested what we would have spent on prep plus senior boarding school fees in London flats for them. They can have those instead. Much better return on investment"

This. Absolutely!

Because you had a private education doesn’t necessarily mean that you can afford one for your children. Equally those who have a a state education can afford a private education for their children.

Yes, that is true, although sometimes people pick a career in part to ensure they can pay school fees. Those of my grandchildren who are old enough are in fee paying school.

Thinking about it almost all our friends are privately educated very few of their kids go . Sign of the times I think used to be affordable for professional parents (GPS/non City solicitors etc) to put a few kids through it’s tougher now. Plus where we live states are decent as aforementioned GPS and solicitors now send their kids there so less of a “push” factor

It's not just about having careers that can fund it. We do. We could have paid for private, and would have done so had we thought it was better, as well as funding university and helping with property when required. The London property comment was just to illustrate that, given our circumstances (academic, self-motivated, socially adept DC and a good local state provision), the same investment could have a significantly more tangible return elsewhere. We knew that our DC would do very well in their school and that it being a state school would not limit their opportunities. That has played out and they have achieved in line with our friends' and colleagues DC in the top London independents and boarding schools.

I agree with the post above that the generalisations about both sectors can be a bit too much really - some state schools are very good and some private schools are not very good depending on what you are after from a school.

Yes but with the private sector, if a school isn't good, you are free to take your money elsewhere, geography permitting. Some people are stuck with a woeful state option and no choice other than to take it. Having choice is a significant privilege in itself.

We knew that our DC would do very well in their school and that it being a state school would not limit their opportunities. That has played out and they have achieved in line with our friends' and colleagues DC in the top London independents and boarding schools.

You were fortunate to have a great state school that your children thrived in.

Unfortunately many parents don't have that option for their children. In that case, paying for a great school may well be one of the best investments they can make!

Did you not read 'given our circumstances'? I would had paid had the local provision been awful. I recognise that I was privileged to have the choice. Many don't.

Given where we live (NW London) there are loads of good state and private schools commutable from home so we certainly could have chosen state schools had we wanted. I listed a lot of reasons we chose private schools above and other parents may not have the same things on their list or if the parent could afford to pay instead feels they can get what they like in a state school and thus choose in effect to steal the cost of the state place from the mouths of the poor as it were....... (on one point of view).

"The number of pupils who are privately educated has risen to a record high, according to new figures.
A census by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) for January 2022 found there are now a record 544,316 pupils at 1,388 ISC member schools, a 2% rise on the 2020 figures.
Every UK region has seen a boost in pupil numbers at independent schools, with the largest growth in the South West – a 3.6% rise.

The next highest rise was seen in the North West and Wales, where numbers had risen by 3% in both regions, and then the North East where there was a 2.5% increase.
The regions with the lowest rises were London (0.8%), Scotland (0.9%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (1.7%)."

@Xenia I understand that you personally just favour educational segregation on the basis of wealth but what kind of bubble would one have to live in to hold the view 'if the parent could afford to pay instead feels they can get what they like in a state school and thus choose in effect to steal the cost of the state place from the mouths of the poor as it were?'! It is not the 'poor' who use state education. It is most people in the country - 80% of DC at sixth form level and over 90% before then are in state schools. State education is the norm for children in this country!

In some families it’s cultural. You go to private schools and that’s it - they have zero experience of state schools and assume they are like Grange Hill circa 1980 or full of hoodie wearing knife wielding ferals. I met a few of this type when I worked in the City they almost fainted if it ever emerged I had been to stat school myself some flatly refused to believe it! It’s quite funny really.

@TheaBrandt I know. It is funny. One old Etonian colleague looked aghast when I said our DC went to our local comp. It was like I had said that we were feeding them to scorpions.

Like my friends very grand mother when we were in the park with toddlers years ago a trip from the local nursery in matching mini florescent jackets walked by “oh how sad an orphanage” she exclaims I explained it was the local nursery “same difference” apparently 😀

There are some good state schools and some less good private schools.

But all private school students have vastly more spent on their schooling than state educated children.

And all private school students are shielded at school from contact with the social fallout of severe economic and social deprivation. (Because no private school offers places to children from severely dysfunctional, chaotic, impoverished homes). On my child's second week at his (outstanding) comprehensive there was a double stabbing inside the main atrium of the school - most of the year 7's saw it. There are children at their school who are involved in gangs and many children with learning difficulties and mental health problems who are completely unable to access proper assessment and mental health support. State schools are overwhelmed with the social fall out of years of austerity, and struggling with serious staff shortages - this includes 'good' and 'outstanding' state schools.

Actually, faith schools are schools where state school students are shielded at school from contact with the social fallout of severe economic and social deprivation. (Because no faithschool offers places to children from severely dysfunctional, chaotic, impoverished homes).

I'm sorry @izimbra. That is really awful. I can't imagine how upsetting that must have been to witness that violence, especially at such a young age.

More of a chance the teachers might vote Tory.

Bloody hell!
That is the weirdest reason to send your children to private school.

I wanted teachers used to dealing with kids like her. Not over-awed.

😂😂😂

I think this even beats the comment about paying private school fees because the teachers are more likely to vote Tory.

@SoTedious

There are some posters on here who live in very small and extremely privileged bubbles, and who have zero awareness of the real world.

I wonder how many of their DC went off the rails when they went to university?

@RampantIvythat's the thing that so discomforts me about children educated in the private sector. Most won't ever mix with 'ordinary people', and have no idea about their lives/money struggles.

It's not a good look in the 21st century to be that removed from most people's reality.

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