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)?

The idea that a teacher would be overawed by a child did tickle me (and a few teachers I shared that quote with). There is an astonishing lack of awareness, I agree.

I wonder who this poster thinks is teaching all the super bright kids at non-selective state schools? (Who far outnumber private school students at Oxford, for example.)

I read these threads with a mixture of incredulity and pity. I went to boarding school and the local comp and have first hand experience of how private schools engender a feeling of superiority and at best, pity and worst, contempt for the peasants that have to attend state. The higher the fees paid, the more this culture prevails.

I was so shocked when I started at the local comp halfway through my secondary schooling that I wasn’t beaten up and the place wasn’t full of knuckle draggers. And hugely surprised not to be top of the class any more…..

There is also a suspiciously large number of terrible state schools reported on threads like these as justification for going private, given that even Ofsted rate 88% of schools as good or outstanding.

I agree @SoTedious , does that poster think that comprehensive schools are full of neanderthals.?

The worrying thing is the lack of appreciation for a range of talents and qualities in students. The focus is very much on a limited range of purely academic abilities.

And most MNetters who can afford to send multiple DC to private schools are likely to live in the areas with the failing state schools!

err that likely should read unlikely. Sorry.

I am still thinking about the idea that private school is necessary because state school teachers would be so overawed by a child's brilliance, the like of which they would never have seen before 😂😂

At our local comp on results days last year, to get a mention on the website kids needed 4 or 5 A stars at A level or 15 A/A* at GCSE. I guess there would be too many to include all the 3 x A star A level students. So it's safe to say the teachers can handle very bright DC. (They can also handle students struggling to get maths and English GCSE, or those doing qualifications in eg work skills of course.) This is a pretty good school but not unusual - it's not in the top 10 for academic results in our part of the UK, for instance.

The idea that someone is too clever for state education because the teachers would not be used to clever people is just ridiculous and unbelievably stupid. Offensive too, but I am still laughing too much to be offended.

Doesn't that just show how blinkered some people's view of state school education truly is?

FWIW someone at DS's state school was voted one of 50 young people to watch, not just in the UK but across the world, in Vogue or some similar publication. Go figure. You don't make a list like that without being truly exceptional.

I guess it's no surprise that supporters of private education would vote Tory because the health and education cuts by the current Tory government don't affect them.

The "I'm alright Jack" attitude still prevails.

It really bothers you, eh?

Go back and read your posts. How do you come across? Do you think you sound mature and measured?

Or do you sound jealous and sneery?

Your attitude confirms to me that I made a sound choice for DD. That as a child she needed protection, so that she could emotionally develop without psychological projection or subtle bullying.

Assuming you are talking to me...

• I'm afraid to say that your DD won't be protected from "people like me" at private school (I was privately educated)

• not jealous of private education, as we could have chosen it if we had thought it best

• the idea that state school teachers would be so in awe of a bright child doesn't bother me, but it does make me laugh

• it is stupid though - there are more Oxbridge graduates teaching in state schools than in independent schools and obviously many many more high achieving students in the state system than in private schools (roughly 3:1)

• it is also offensive, especially to state school teachers on here who do a much more difficult job than private school teachers, but also to state school parents, the abilities of whose children you are dismissing in your ignorance

I have a couple of friends who sent their DC to private school. They don't live in a privileged bubble in ivory towers, nor do they judge people who can't afford to or choose not to have their DC privately educated. One of them votes labour, and all DC have had boyfriends/girlfriends while still at school.

My state educated DD has academically outperformed all of the privately educated DC

I have long thought this. I take the "our local state school is terrible" statements on here with a very large pinch of salt.

Not long ago on one of those "where shall I move to?" threads, a poster declared that there were no decent schools in my very large town unless you got into the super selective grammar or went private. Completely untrue! The poster didn't even live in my town, but in a nearby market town. As far as I can tell, their statement was based on perception with no actual knowledge of local state schools.

I think a lot of it is just fear.

I think a lot of it is just fear.

Of mixing with the rabble.

At DD's primary school just one child in her year went to private school for secondary education. We do live in an area with good schools though.

This notion that everyone who doesn't send their DCs to private schools is jealous of those who do is complete and utter bollocks.

All 3 of my best friends sent one or more of their DCs to private schools for a variety of reasons. I'm not jealous of them, and I am perfectly able to remain friends with them and even have interesting conversations about school issues (which don't seem terribly different to me, personally).

Like @SoTedious I was privately educated, as was DH, we've made different decisions for our DCs. My Secondary Modern-educated DD2 looked round a few private schools for sixth form before deciding not to move. She now has a decent first degree and a truly spectacular Masters, by dint of working very hard and being totally focused on what she wanted to do.

Well said @thing47. I have just remembered that I have a third friend who sent her DC to private school. I agree that the DC still have the same issues in terms of bullying, friendship issues, relationships, exam stress etc.

In fact the third friend's DC went to the same school all the way through, from nursery to 6th form. After he left and went to university he really struggled because he had been with the same cohort since the age of three. He had never moved to a different primary school or a different secondary school, and ended up haveing to retake either one or two years at university. He's fine now.