is private REALLY better?

[ChuppaChups]

just out of interest, i would appreciate some OPINIONS on this area as i am seriously considering the move to private from state. The main reason being is we are now financially able to do so.

So, is it better and why?

Thanks

I'll try seeker - it's not just about the results. The name speaks for the educational experience - it's breadth and depth.

Seeker is that really the case ? I feel like i have really let my dd down now. Will she really not do well despite all her hard work because she did not go to the private school that most of her friends went to at 11.

I have personal experience of both schools. I honestly don't think that the public school offers a broader and deeper education than dd's. Unless the ability to carry off a seriously bonkers uniform in public is broadening and deepening. And the standard of behaviour insisted on in public is significantly better at dd's school. And generally, the grammar school girls are less obnoxious under age drinkers!

but does it provide a broader and deeper education than a comp with a low GCSE pass rate.

I always end up making the same points on these threads and they are never adequately refuted.

If private school education is "better" (and that requires a lot of term-defining and further debate, really), why should it be a luxury item only available to a few? (Do its users, in fact, want it to remain a luxury item to preserve its exclusivity? Not such a far-fetched idea.)

If there is to be any alternative to "standard" state education, why are we not ensuring that it goes to the children who would most benefit from it, rather than the parents who are most able to pay for it?

I do feel that, even if state education were all broadly "great", some people would still want private for themselves. Just because they wouldn't to have what everyone else has.

Completely unfair to suggest that a comp with a low GCSE pass rate doesn't offer education with breadth and depth. I used to teach in one that did.

Yes!

My yes was to UQ dad but is now to Kemble as well.

UnquietDad

Private schooling is a luxury item available only to a few because it costs a lot of money! The state cannot afford (and never will be able to afford) to cover the costs of the kind of education and infrastructure available at the best private schools. That's just basic economics!

I am sure you are right and that some people prefer to purchase inferior private education rather than attend a state school. But I think that that only applies to a very small percentage of private school users. People make daft decisions with their money every day of the week! Why shouldn't they be free to do so?

thanks kemble dd goes to one and is happy but I worry when faced with the fact that all the other girls in her primary year either went to the church secondary or private. Their parents were horrified that we let her go there.

And, yes, I completely agree that some people like to signal their social status through their purchase of private education. And so what? People signal their social status by purchasing certain sorts of clothes, cars, housing, holidays etc. Why not? It may be a little shallow, but that isn't a crime.

I don't think I said anywhere that some people prefer to purchase "inferior" private education. That could perhaps be inferred from what I said, but I didn't mean to imply it.

I'm glad we agree it is a luxury item. I just wish it would stop being presented as a viable "choice" within the wider education system as if it were a 50-50 thing. The amount of discussion it gets on here, and the weight of voices on either side, always seem to give this impression.

But very few people would admit to that, BA. And really, very few would answer the "why go private..." question with "because I have enough money to do so". More likely they would insist that it's because private IS better, and that the local state schools are awful/can't meet the needs of their child/they had no choice and so on.

I think that part of the discussion is going round in circles - we have already established above why education is different from durable consumer items.

in answer to the OP. yes private is better ...

if only to avoid all the annoying state school parents who get completely wound up, uptight and agressive about those who have the ability to choose and have excercised that choice and sent their children to private school.

life is not fair. and people will always try to improve their lot, and unfortunately this is sometimes at the expense of others. actually i am only posting because i want to see if i can be the last person to post (how many pages is it? 18 or 24 till they close it..)

kemble - yes, as indeed they do on here.

Education is no different to anything at all, including consumer durables, when signalling social status.

People signal their social status through their health, the names they give their children, the newspapers they read, their accent etc etc etc. Everything can be (ab)used as an indicator of social status if you so wish.

"Life's not fair" is a very silly answer which people give to their children when they can't be bothered to explain properly. Nobody ever bothers to stop and think why life is "unfair", and indeed whether this unfairness is desirable, or if and how they should be contributing to making it worse.

KembleTwins - most parents who choose private schooling for their children do so because they think it is good value for money!

life is not fair is a fairly accurate distillation of numerous philosophical and scientific texts actually UQD. but perhaps you havent read them?

The unfairness is inevitable in human societies. Communism failed! We know it doesn't function!

In Western Europe much is done to alleviate the unfairness and the rich contribute a huge proportion of taxation in order to subsidise the poor.

BA - done a survey have you?

The term better is subjective and only the OP can know whether the private schools she is looking at are 'better' than the state alternatives.

From my point of view I can say without any doubt that of my two nearest schools the independent choice is 'better'.
My Dcs attend the indie and I volunteer in the state school so I have experience of both.
The later is a souless place, with overcrowding, no playing fields, not enough staff ( and those present are demotivated), no parental support and the adherence to the NC like a talisman. The lovely children who attend deserve far, far better.

Of course I can't say whether a different state school would be 'better' than my DCs indie...it would be much further away for a start which from my pov wouldn't be 'better'. So I have made my choice and paid for it. I'm ridiculously lucky to be able to do it, of course.

You don't need to. Most of what people purchase they do because they believe that it is worth more than holding onto the cash. That gets truer and truer the more educated people are (because they can make more informed opinions).

Careful, BA, that's very nearly suggesting that I'm not educated.