What a palaver this morning. I made the mistake of taking my 7yo dd to a school entrance exam. I have to say after standing there for an hour and a half watching the goings on, I'm not totally convinced that schools themselves have not gone to pot. Its the bloody parents.
What a shambles, the pushing, shoving, tantrums and hissy fits. Grabbing cups and snatching chairs. The children themselves were rather well behaved, skipping and trotting off to the exam room, happy, laughing and giggling amongst themselves, but, Oh! The parents, no decorum, no politely awaiting their turn.
Imagine, if you will a combination of these things.
A central line station at 6pm with long delays.
A Millwall home win at the exit turnstiles.
A UN Feeding station in Somalia.
And a free handout of chappatti flour in Uttar Pradesh.
I could not believe how people were behaving, the mawkishness of some of the mothers and fathers. The disgraceful state of attire, the malodorous nature of some of them - a wash beforehand could possibly be of help in getting your child into a fee paying school. Politely asking for attention, rather than shouting - loudly and without deference - at the admissions master. Stepping to one side and letting the Headmistress through rather than pushing her away and saying wait your your turn.
What the hell has happened?!?!?!
And do you know, this is one of the top public schools in the UK - in the top 50. I accept my snobbery, we are only putting our daughter forward for this and one other at 7. My aim is to provide my children with the absolute best education I can afford. I accept I'll be paying until they are 30 as they go through to hopefully achieving their (I have two) doctorates. But I cannot accept the vile, shallow, ignorant, rude, unsophisticated, unreasonable and down right disgraceful behaviour I saw this morning.