State vs Private Education

Pacifico

I did and I didnt

officerdibble11

I grew up on a rough old council estate in Bristol, I send my children to private school, status ? means sweet fa to me, its a lovely school with great facilities and 20 to a class, they thrive there, we can just about afford it, we forgo new cars and big holidays, for me its money well spent, what else am i going to waste it on ?

EarthRod

That is the crux of the issue - if you have children you do the best you can for them.

Its a financial sacrifice, but that is what being a parent is all about.

rustybin

Perhaps your parents should have invested in a private education?

Philly112

Shock, horror. You pay more for something, and find out it's often better than something cheaper.
A bit like flying 1st class. Tends to be a better experience than economy, although you usually end up at the same destination at the same time.

Pisto_Grih

A bit like two graduates flying to a job interview - both interviewees got to the same place at the same time, but the one that flew 1st Class (paid for with inherited wealth) just seems to be "a better fit for the company"...

officerdibble11

Well you see one size does not fit all. I left school with a handfull of crap cse's, six years later after being sick to death of labouring on brickies and plasterers I put myself through night school, i got two gcse's in maths and english (both B's that im very proud of) got accepted to an access to higher education course, completed an HND in Computing in 96, the first member of my entire family to graduate from a uni, within three years I was IT contracting specialising in unix systems. So no not inherited, worked bloody hard for.

Pacifico

Oh well done - wondered how long it would take..

Pisto_Grih

I fear you have missed my point - if you send your children to private school using the money you have earned they will have inherited that leg up. That is of course, your right as a parent, to give your children the best opportunities that you can - but you have to know that alongside the decision to give your children what you see as a "better" education is the fact you are paying for them to be alongside peers who also benefit from a (relative to the general populace) privileged background.

Studies have shown that it is actually parental wealth that determines attainment (Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Show) not just the schooling itself, for a multitude of societal and political reasons. We have had two educators on this thread give their own anecdotal evidence about the relative quality of state-schooled versus privately/independently schooled students.

The problem isn't confined to schooling but to the problem of inherited wealth, class and social structure. Using the analogy of the airplane passengers - the recruiter choosing between two identical-on-paper candidates is more likely to choose the candidate they see as "successful" especially if their own background is similar.

By itself, the private school with its better paid teachers and better resources, should provide a better quality of education - but then it is no surprise that they achieve better results when they don't have to kowtow to a politicised Ofsted system, they get to off-roll "problematic" students, grammar schools (which I know are different but there are still problems with accessibility for the less privileged) expel students who get poor grades, and parents can afford to pay for extra tuition for their children (and have the implicit blackmail of taking their business elsewhere if their children don't get the grades they deserve...)

I'm going to generalise and suggest that those same high-earning parents probably vote politically in a way that protects their income from the taxman, further perpetuating the divide between those that have money and connections, and those that don't.

But hey, the private school lets the local primary kids use their swimming pool once a week, charitable status please!

Disclaimer: I work in a fee-paying independent school in a non-teaching, but faculty related role.

Bl4ckGryph0n

I don't think there is a blanket answer as to why one is better than the other or vice versa. It is no different than the Nikon/Canon or Xbox/Playstation type arguments. That is why I like the comments made that the destination of the journey is the same.

To us it really is a personal choice. And there can be all sorts of reasons for it which may or may not be valid for others.

I don't see the value for money in it. We've tried it three times....

First at the beginning of her education;
* Small classrooms and too much attention really didn't work for her; 12 children 3 teachers
* Their social philosophy didn't work for me; and not for the school either. I found out that 4 who put our children there were actually paying for the other 8 children in the class. The money wasn't going to the teachers/methods/child, it was going to sponsor others. The school went under when some of us pulled our children out; although my first point was the main motivation.

Then it was the youngest child;
* We couldn't get a place in the same school as the oldest.
* It came as a total shock to the system at the time, especially as my eldest was going there and my wife was a foundation governor and wasn't even told by the head of the governing body.
* Local private school carpark was filled with RR Sports...But unfortunately the profanities in the car parks by the parents was just appalling. My daughter hated it it, and didn't like the other children. We found another state school in the area which had a bad ofsted report, and on paper in a bad area of town, but it was a lovely school. A head and teaching staff and parents who really wanted to make it better. Probably the best school experience we've had.

And then with the eldest again in secondary education;
* We've had some very unfortunate incidents with other children in a year.
* Police involvement and all sorts, school was really not great in dealing with it.
* Arranged transfer to another school (Private again), great introduction and start...But first day of school as the new girl she was assigned some other girls and the first spot they showed her is where they do drugs....Mum and dad paying lots fo their education and the kids are just stoned.

Yup seriously. So I'm originally form a country that is known as being liberal. I've not been exposed to it in school. Discussion with the school clearly proven them to be clueless and useless, only interested in fees.

Back to state education again...And staying with it