Prince George at Eton

[squashyhat]

Can anyone explain why Prince George is boarding at Eton when the family home is just minutes away across the river?

They are very much the minority though. A minority smaller than the 6% of parents who privately educate, I would suggest.

i do find it concerning how many posters give the impression they think alll “comprehensives” (ie normal secondary schools in 95% of GB) are some kind of bear pit of poverty and chaos. When in fact, they are NORMAL. Caring about your children’s education is normal.

I agree with you @CoffeeCantata
The latest from Andy Burnham is absolutely shocking. And there I was hoping for better!

How would you feel if you were the mother of a child in the Armed Forces? Thankfully I am not, but I would be absolutely raging.

A good Labour Government needs to be putting all those who labour away first and foremost. The woke vulnerable nonsense is not going to keep any of us safe long term, least of all the most vulnerable.

And in London the poorest children on FSM from motivated ethnic minorities can do really well in state schools, because they and their parents are supportive and driven. Having had 4 DC in grammar schools I can vouch for that. And no they aren’t mostly rich and posh at all, another myth propagated from the Left.

I couldn't agree with you more.
There is a part of population who just can't be helped. Modern society still can't let them sink so we have to sustain them with handouts.

I would be much more productive to invest more in a part of population which can achieve something, so through their taxes to support the former.

I find this very difficult to believe in this day and age.

• what happened in the mocks?
• did not one of the students look at the syllabus and realise way before exam time that they hadn’t covered the syllabus? (It wld have been obvious by at least Xmas of year 13 if they were that far behind)?
• did no one in that class talk to someone in another class?
• did no one look at the many many study guides/flashcards/youtubes?
• past papers? Model answers? Mark schemes?

There is so much freely available online from the exam boards, YouTube and online tutoring platforms these days.

If 1/2 the class hadn’t looked at the syllabus frankly they deserved to get D.

I’m amazed that no parents noticed the discrepancy and complained to the school. Grammar school parents are the most engaged in the planet!

I think it’s fair to say there are good and bad schools and teachers in both systems, often determined by the head and their philosophy.

Anyway let’s wait and see how the new white working class committee is going to be bashing Asian tiger parenting values into some kids. And let’s not forget - nobody cared about those kids until some of them took to the streets and fell for right wing propaganda, rather than left wing propaganda. It is all deeply sad and depressing.

There are some good schools on Slough, that he could have gone too. Like Herschel High. Perhaps he would have failed the 11 plus, though?

@Araminta1004people always bang on about motivated ethnic minority patents as though their pushiness and sharp-elbowed competitiveness, particularly in the south east, is an unquestionably good thing. We have just switched our son’s school in part because of this parent body: their tendency to push for more homework and relentless keenness to emphasise STEM often to the detriment of the creative arts and a more rounded education really made for a narrowing of education, as the prep school responded to the parents’ (consumers’) desires.

@CoffeeCantata I wasn’t suggesting bursary applications are not worth the effort. I was expressing surprise that anyone would believe Eton parents pay for or invest in anything less than dedicated round the clock care and attention and the provision of almost unlimited opportunities.

@Piglet89 - I am not talking about the prep school demographic though am I! I am talking about the kids whose parents came here with nothing hoping for a better life for their kids as a result of a society that offers free health and education and are willing to make sancrifices for it through blood, sweat and labour. So that there kids can rise and get better jobs rather than slogging away 24/7 in a corner shop or as a nurse on the NHS.

And I have witnessed those kids become doctors etc - so that is surely a good thing.

It wasn’t clear you weren’t talking about the prep school demographic - but my point remains. I was fairly pissed off to be paying fees for some parents to push the school to steer towards an education that wasn’t rounded enough and wasn’t right for my child.

If you want more homework or more academic work, pay for a tutor.

I mean, is it automatically, if it doesn’t suit the person or another career apart from DOCTOR/LAWYER/ACCOUNTANT would actually have suited them more?

Several BAME comedians have bits about their immigrant parents’ pushing then to become one of the 4 or 5 acceptable careers, which they didn’t enjoy because they were ultimately creatives and their skillset lay elsewhere.

“I mean, is it automatically, if it doesn’t suit the person or another career apart from DOCTOR/LAWYER/ACCOUNTANT would actually have suited them more?”

Well @Piglet89 - what is better for society as a whole? I mean we only need a few writers and comedians etc but we need a lot of nurses and doctors and teachers and engineers etc etc who all pay their taxes.
It isn’t all about the individual is it? It is also about the collective and service to society. So if you have a whole demographic willing to actually do what is right for society as a whole, then thanks, I will take that.

Right: because the motivation to push their kids into the narrow band of professional careers is to benefit society, rather than for the prestige of the immediate family and bragging rights, regardless of how unhappy the kids might be in that career.

Okey dokey.

It is not about “unhappy”. It is very difficult to make a living as a writer, actor, musician etc unless you have a trust fund behind you paying for your lifestyle. That is a sad fact of life and pretty elitist to pretend otherwise.

The “backlash” is already quite established in the USA where Asian students are in many ways penalised for the ethnicities work ethic. Ivy leagues are both covertly and openly reducing their Asian intake. The documentary try harder is excellent on this.

A few reasons- being “exam robots” but perceived as lacking in creativity or transferable skill, being overly focused on professional career rather than education for enrichment (in my view this is a common class recrimination, already seen in the “university isn’t worth it… for you” conversation) being seen as lacking passion, and it’s also addressing the lack of diversity in top schools by changing the parameters (very unfair for the students who played the “old” game btw)

I also think it needs to be acknowledged that these are careers that are fairly accessible and shouldn’t require the level of tiger parenting we’re talking about.

Sounds like good old racism to me, dressed up as all sorts to benefit the white man.

I know this. But being rich but unhappy and unfulfilled is no picnic. It’s pretty short sighted and emotionally dense to pretend otherwise.

It is not direct discrimination on the grounds of race: to the extent it discriminates against certain minorities more than others because those minorities are more likely to practise this hot housing, it could be seen to be indirectly discriminatory, I suppose.

But, as you yourself argued, if it’s for the greater good of society (in this case, academic society), that should be fine.

My kids all do or did music in London to a high level (NYO standard). So I know plenty of professional brilliant and just about getting by musicians. Their own kids all largely musically gifted too and nurtured as well are 50/50 as to whether following music passion/no money path vs doctor/lawyer/vet/engineer path. It is a lifestyle choice primarily a still almost child is being asked to make. Plenty choose the professional remunerated path but still pursue a passion in groups on the side. Hence the arty farty nature of much of London will persist. It is fine to be a hobby musician you know or a hobby writer etc. It needs not be one or the other if the professional path chosen is not of the most cut throat variety.

@Araminta1004your use of the disparaging term “arty farty” tells me all I need to know about your attitude to the wider arts.

If you’re going to play to game to play with the elites this is what you’re up against though isn’t it?

Alright @Piglet89 - don’t resort to the ad hominem as it pretty much signifies that you lost the argument.

You need to educate yourself about what ad hominem actually means - this isn’t it as it isn’t a comment about you personally - it is a criticism of something you said reflecting your view.

”I think I remember your poorly-drafted prose from a previous thread in which we had an almost identical argument”.

THAT is ad hominem.