rich kid, poor kid

[giraffescantdancethetango]

who is watching it then?

i was going to say that while i know plenty of good teachers, i also know lots who cant spell but are meant to be teaching our children to spell etc- but then given my spelling on this thread, I probably shouldn't.

i hope Natalie does well. Her little brother seemed lovely too. and her mum -if a bit defeated by life.

I don't care either way about alice and her family. snobbery and narrow mindedness are just pathetic.

Watched this with my 12 yr old DS and merely pointed out to him, this is EXACTLY the reason we do not send you to a private school. He was absolutely appalled by Alice, as was I, that mother should be ashamed of herself. But no doubt she isn't and will be braying at a dinner party about the whole thing. Depressing.

thankfully not all kids who go to private school are like this.

well I know I'm not

I think the posh girl's mother was an absolute nutter.

They had so many more 'issues' than the 'poor family'.

Alice#s mother was unbelievably horrid.
Natalie was just adorable, so resilient. I wish I could wave a magic wand and swap their lives.
Sad programme, sad, as in tears for Natalie's start in life, and tears of disbelief for Alice's ignorant horrid mother.

I tell you what - what an amazing documentary. Brilliant. I have literally been on both sides of the scale - OK a little less extreme in both cases but I went to a very posh private school until the age of 15. My family's personal circumstances took a turn for the worst and we were plunged in to really hard times. I mean penny counting at the shop rather than pound counting/ can't pay the gas bills etc. Thankfully I am now somewhere in the middle, where there is no struggle but no complacency for the fact that I am more fortunate (as most of us are) to be in the top 2% of comfort, wealth and health of the entire world.

Those girls are like most teenage girls, and look like the programme may have made a big impact on their outlook on life. What I did find utterly dispicable though was the attitude of Alice's mother - totally abhorrent, what a vile, racist, fear-mongering, snobby, nasty piece of work.

Oh, one more thing Milge, good point but if you did wave that magic wand I am afraid that it is unlikely that Natalie would be grateful and realistic about her circumstances. She too would be a spoilt rich kid, unless of course her parents were more grounded.

I hoped there would be a thread on this programme. I hope that Natalie gets opportunities in life and I'd like to think that Alice will recognise how horrendous some of her views are.

I can't imagine that Alice's mother will change, the bit in the car about not seeing "any white people around here", the younger brother even said how racist her views were and she just said "But it's true Alexander."

but maybe Natalie's insight would transcend whatever class she was put it?

she did seem to think before answering.

whereas alice didn't.

at all.

Her insight is only through her circumstance, it isn't her nature. Yes, perhaps she is a nicer person, but she would still be scared to walk through the council estate if she had been brought up in the same way as Alice.

I am watching this on 4+1 and the posh girl is obnoxious but her mother is absolutely vile.

The comments about council estates and non-whites - in their bubble non-whites are the bottom of the social ladder. I bet they were depressed about the election of Barack Obama because it means that non-whites are capable of achieving something.

Natalie is a lovely girl who has had to keep her family together under trying circumstances. Despite her lesser educational opportunities, she is far more intelligent, emphatic and tolerant than the posh idiot.

Just seen the bit about Gabriel getting his own room and bed. Wow, that is so moving.

That posh mother is a primary school teacher - I hope to goodness it is not at a state school.

That little boy was adorable, and he was so happy to finally have his own bed. It made me

'nat-nat made it for me'

bless!

I have come to this thread far too late, so can only agree with what you have all said - I was shouting it at the television.

What a profoundly depressing programme. Lovely Natalie and Gabriel deserved so much more than life had dealt them. And I also felt sorry for Alice in a funny way. If she develops any values in life (and there was a small but hopefully significant change towards the very end of the programme) she will have to look back forever to her utter vileness of view. And know that so many people have watched and despised her. Her parents were truly dreadful. I really felt that the mother needed a Christmas Carol sort of visitation from scary ghosts to induce a wholesale change in her completely disgusting attitudes.

oh my god, does alice go to James allen?/??

agree with what everone said but I hope to god the posh family have moved. She might be an obnoxious snob but Alice is 15 and a child and the film makers have openend her to national abuse.

Ditto what Bagsforlife said. I watched with my DS aged 13 and said that girl (Alice) is the main reason we wouldn't send you to a private school.

The best bit, for me, was when Alice's mother called her a Chav, then Alice called the mother a bitch and stormed off - with the mother laughing embarrassedly.

So, what would MN reaction be if a documentary featuring a single ASBO-flourishing, knife-wielding teenager from a state school was on and a mother said to her child "that is the main reason we wouldn't send you to a state school"?

Actually, come to think of it, that's pretty much Xenia...

GRRRR the Rich mother needs a reality check what a BITCH no english people live here just black people I don't live that far from them I would love to give her what for.

Well, yes, PortAndLemon, I was thinking that too. Presumably neither were particularly indicative of state school/private school.

Certainly where I live, many state school pupils are just as 'posh' as the private school one in the prog, but hopefully without her attitude.

The 'attitude' unfortunately DOES come from only mixing with a certain strata of society. It wasn't really about 'schooling' it was more about their parents I think and obviously the different opportunites available to children nowadays (ie nil to child on sink estate, everything to child in richer area). I think it did serve to actually make posh child realise that she is actually privileged, which IMO, many private schooled children don't actually realise, as they live in such a bubble of PLU (people like us).