Do you think it's worth it? Private schooling at what cost?

[indiechick]

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I'm intrigued by this woman, I think it's a bit contrived and apparently she has four children. But do parents really bankrupt themselves in this manner for private schooling?

That's not the element I read as judgey, SWC. Like McNamey, I read 'personally when I come across parents who pay for holidays, new cars etc rather than education I boggle at their priorities' as having a very strong implication, a sub-text, of 'their priorities are wrong'.

Maybe it's the way I read it, of course. Having gone to state school. And from there to read English at Oxford.

Ah, see, it's OK to run out of petrol the middle of the road, thereby running the risk of causing a traffic accident.

It's OK to skive off paying an Orthodontist by giving them a bad cheque.

Hey, it's even OK to cut off your own electricity because

MY KIDS GO TO PRIVATE SCHOOL AND THE PRESIDENT IS PRINCESS ANNE!!!!!!

(What's Latin for "Mummy, are you quite the ticket?")

I wonder whether the daughters will grow up feeling pressurised that they, in turn , should put their own children into private schools, because they're being raised to believe they their achievements are down to having a lot of money spent on their schooling. And I wonder if they too will get in massive debt in order to manage it? Seems to me that one of the biggest downsides of a private education is that it sometimes leaves the individual with no confidence whatsoever that they, or their children, could pass exams, go to good universities etc without being pulled out of the state system which 93% of the population use!

"doing French and holding doors open for adults to pass through"

Because state school pupils do neither, of course

This woman is stupid in so very many ways.

Admitting to committing fraud - isn't she just making the best decisions ever!!

I think the choice between state and private is a very personal one - but just paying because it is private and not checking the alternatives is just madness !!

I don't really agree with treating children differently either, but I wouldn't write an article in a national newspaper justifying my spending.

I think the element too that is missed is also the fact that whether or not you can afford the fees, there is also the lifestyle choice - children who go to those sort of schools don't just have a small house and a quiet holiday at granny's house on the 'Broads ....and it is a case of keeping up with the Jones' and having an aspirational lifestyle that is unaffordable.

What's Latin for "Mummy, are you quite the ticket?" My googling only brings "matris vos es dementis". Someone more learned may help us out? I did do Latin at school, but it was a long time ago and it was mainly about "aquila non captat muscam".

Have just read the au pair article

She's a real charmer, isn't she

My whole family are state educated and then oxbridge educated. I am the only one that didn't go and I have a Phd. I hold doors open for other people. I always say please and thankyou

Mind you i don't know how to say please and thankyou in Latin, I could probably manage French.

SWC - I think that's a good line, I'll use it in the future I think such and such is wrong blah, blah, blah. But it's not my business." Then act surprised when people think I'm irritating.

loving the au pair article, it must be humiliate your family in the press week.

You see, I do worry about the possibility of my children becoming friends with the offspring of women as awful as this at private school. I'd much rather they rubbed along with the plebs.

Why does she think she's had so many au pairs? WHY? She seems to have no self awareness whatsoever .

I read this article and I was so annoyed. I went to an average sort of comprehensive and I got a good degree in English from London University. I felt a bit sorry for all my contemporaries there whose parents had paid for their education. What a waste when they could get the same for free. Mind you, this was in the days when most people were interviewed for university, so rich dimbos less able candidates who might get better results through more thorough coaching tended to be weeded out. I'm not sure you can make that much of a silk purse out of a pig's ear though, anyway.

As to her saying that they have nice manners and that the school "takes up the slack" when it comes to reading and times tables, and complaining that their son "only reads to an adult once a week", what on earth are the parents doing?! It's not primarily the school's job to read with their child or encourage nice manners.

By the way, if you Google this woman she is described as a commissioning editor and feature writer for major women's magazines. I'm surprised she refers to earning "a writer's pittance"; I wonder what her junior staff think of that. The way she bleats on about her career throughout the article, you would think she was liberating Burma or researching a cure for cancer. Oh, and I speak as somebody who has worked in marketing and advertising (for magazines!)for most of her life, so I'm not trying to be holier than thou. It's not as if I've been a doctor, or a lawyer helping assylum seekers, or a teacher or anything worthwhile like that.

Agree namey.

Imagine your kids getting invited over for tea. Ghastly woman with bloody awful values

RebeccaRuby

"Ghastly woman with bloody awful values" ...but probably perfectly Naice Manners.

Quite right violet Ghastly

SWC - well, it is irritating when you spout your own prejudices against state education then blame other for being prejudiced against private schooling just because state doesn't suit your son. You lost me with the politeness bit, you were obviously incapable of keeping your thoughts to yourself.

" I'm not sure you can make that much of a silk purse out of a pig's ear though, anyway." Dunno. Boris Johnson is a good example of what money can do in that regard.

How is Boris Johnson a silk purse ?

BJ is a buffoon who'd have had even less respect and credibility without good education. He'd have been left at pig's ears stage. He's polished enough now to have been taken seriously by some. (Although I agree with his bicycles.)