Alan Bennett: Ban Public Schools

[DaDaDa]

Have we done this one yet?

In an ideal world, I agree with him.

lights blue touch paper, retires to safe distance with nice cup of tea and digestive biscuit

Can't agree there then, but thats a whole different story.

it would make a major difference to the traffic round here lilymaid. my son has just come in having walked to a from school.

he'll go out later and meet his friends who all live locally.

well ok then i am paying plenty of tax and i'd like to see some improvements in the state secondary system before paying more.

Typical socialist argument - if a private capitalist thing is good abolish it so we all live in Moa suits, in falling down state housing, living on subsistence rations and have an awful life and it is better everyone fails than one succeeds.

He writes about at 17 his entrance to Oxbridge "He said: "It was the first time I ever came across boys from public school. They were so confident. We were timid grammar school boys but they were very much at ease.

"They hogged the bread and slurped the soup - things were very much still rationed in those days.

"They were just louts, but I also realised that they had been better taught than I had. I thought that was unfair when I was 17, and that view has never changed." "

So those children were educated well and were confident and his solution - stop that being possible. Weird logic.

Anyway it will never happen. Parents would just educate at home or abroad. The socialist can whinge all they like but they will never win.

"local schools to serve the local population.
that's it, really."

I think your argument is illogical frankly. You want to eliminate private schools because that is an unfairness (which it is, I acknowledge) of which you disapprove.

The unfairness of having a better school because you are wealthier and live in an affluent area (an unfairness which can also be eliminated) is something of which you do not disapprove therefore it is okay.

I'm sure you are but maybe there are some who aren't and who send their kids to private schl as well.

Plus you might see some of those improvements if they had to channel money and efforts to the state sector.

You were late turning up for this one Xenia - thought you'd have been here 200 posts ago.

niceglasses - I reckon there are very few parents who send their children to private school who are not paying a lot of tax ...

I do think we should make private schooling tax deductible ... Only fair, after all we've paid for education once ...

great so we want fair schooling for our children and we get accused of being communists.

well hold on, I don't think I have ever said I want to abolish private schools because they are "unfair" - elitist is not the same as unfair.
I think they are damaging to society. that is my opinion.
I think schools should serve their local population.
and bollocks would people "educate at home or abroad" - who would educate? mums, governesses??
and, really I think this is quite shocking - you think that state schools are so bad that people would en masse send their children to boarding school abroad or emigrate or give up their careers to teach their children at home
YET
those same schools are just fine and dandy for 93% of the population?

Well I have me Moa suit on as we speak.

Yeah, raging commi me. When thats the best you can come up with in an argument for fairness, I'm offski.

actually Xenia I reckon those public school boys were probably a bit chippy
I saw it a lot at college.
those who had been privately educated were often a bit defensive and inadequate.
it muist be hard knowing your parents have bought your way into university
especially when you are being taught alongside much brighter people who got there by merit.
(and in fact the education of privately school educated students was often a bit lacking - often they were a bit spoon fed and found original thought a bit of a stretch.)

I've never got the impression that Xenia thinks that state school are ok for everyone else - I've always read her that she wants her children to have a better standard than she perceives to be in the state sector.

Which is sort of the same thing, but the difference in emphasis matters.

That's how I feel too

And me! As I said earlier, all the state schools near me are at least very good. Nobody has yet convinced me that by abolishing private schools, I could still have the same level of 'extras' that I am currently willing to pay for.

There's a difference between expecting (quite rightly) that all state schools be brought up to a certain level

and

expecting all fee-paying schools to reduce what they offer in order to meet in the middle.

Genuinely curious here what are 'extras'??

Edam - Edam - well actually yes. Because for me it's nothing to do with number of GCSE passes or points at A level and the middle class hoards who flock to this town to mix with "their sort of people" and everything to do with the actual education on offer.

Edam didn't mean to type your name twice.

Niceglasses;

1. Small class sizes with a f/t TA in every class. 2)Music tuition froma specialist trained in each area of the subject. 3)Sporting facilities such as a pool on site, tennis courts, astroturf, cricket pitch etc. Sport taught by a specialist rather than an exhausted class teacher. 4)A fully sound-proofed stage and theatre with excellent drama staff. 5)Regular residential and day trips to support learning. 6)70acres of grounds which includes woodland, assault course, secret garden, allotment and an adventure playground. 7)Regular visits from scientific groups, authors, poets, artists etc. 8)modern, well set out classrooms with enough space to move.
2. Opportunities to do things like pottery and other fun crafty activities that your average primary cannot offer.

Much, much more

The school ages from 4-18 BTW.

"The unfairness of having a better school because you are wealthier and live in an affluent area (an unfairness which can also be eliminated) is something of which you do not disapprove therefore it is okay." actually I have never said whether I approve of this or think it is unfair.
I really think this is a complete non sequitur.
we shouldn't abolish private schools because having local schools is not a completely fair system either? I don't think that makes any logcial sense.
local schools are best placed to serve their local commuinity appropriately. if they are in a deprived area, then resources can be allcoated appropriately to deal with this.
also, bussing children around is ecological madness.

Bussing is already being done in Brighton apparently.

All that will happen is that areas near selective grammar schools will suffer from massive house price inflation and parents will pay more via a different route. This is already happening to a significant extent - your solution is just going to make it ten times worse.

It is not enough to propose the abolition of something - you have to have a concrete idea of the consequences and likely outcomes - s'like invading Iraq and then going d'oh what next. Only a complete fool would do that.

Bussing also takes away the whole community feel which, IMO, often adds greatly to the quality of a school, certainly at primary.

all the children in my road are bussed out. don't have a clue who they are.

the local private prides itself on it's ability to pick up from all over london, tons of coaches in the car park. i wonder why they just don't board.