Private vs public schools

Just for my own sanity; Over in the UK, a public school is a private school, and a freebie school is a state school.

I went to a comprehensive/state school in one of the most deprived parts in London, yet our GCSE pass rate was amongst one of the best, competing with some of best public schools. Our Sixth Form also has a very high turnout of students going to Oxbridge, so I guess sometimes, you can't beat free.

In the UK Public schools are (private) schools which have a head teacher on the headmasters and mistresses conference. John Cleese made a film 'Clockwise' in which he became the first headmaster of a state school to be invited into the conference. Considering sometimes in state schools you can end up with one or two in a class anyway I wouldnt say that private schools are that much better. However they do *tend* build a lot more character in a person, and of course build ones contact list...

Personally I see private schools as a failing of the state system. Education is the building blocks for the future and every child deserves the best chance in life. Although conspiracy theorists would argue that an intelligent populs is bad for government.

Every parent wishes the best for their child(ren) so if they wish to pay additionally for their child(ren)s education then it's their wish.

One of the reasons we're moving is the benefit it gives my kids - better schools - less (no) gang culture.

Well my and pakenhams school has been rated the worst in the state! we have a "Cristian" collage down the road with all the latest, equipmentetc, it is making us look bad!. They even have a pool. Bloody people with money can do naything. We arn't allowed to fill our pool up , but they can. All in all money is everything, but is paying $1500 a term a better education?

No surprises there..

I go to a Catholic school, which is not state, but not quite private either. We're the first Year 12 class going through so we're hoping for good things...

To the North East of London/South West Essex there are 3 well known large so-called public schools; 2 on or near to the Central Line & the other where I live now - I was fortunate enough to attend one of them. My parents were not rich (my father was only a PC in the Metropolitan Police & my mother a housewife) and the only reason I ended up in the private education sector was because of the 'ITA' method of English teaching - if I had attended a local state school in Havering I would have had to unlearn everything I had learned at the age of 4 in order to relearn words and spelling a few years later - my parents decided that this would confuse me and chose to sacrifice a lot (holidays/luxuries) for my education.

There are a lot of generalisations made about both public & state education:

• That public schools are always good and are filled with posh 'hooray henry's' with a silver spoons inserted into an orifice, are spoiled by rich parents and become part of/use the 'old-boys' network to get on in life
  
• Every state school is bad, the children become thick yobs, are often from poor council estates and who will never amount to anything

Both are extremes and while yes there are some posh twits with rich parents using the 'old-boys network' for their own ends, in my experience these are the minority (probably just as common as the thick yobs are at poor state schools). When I attended university any thoughts about all state education being poor was dispelled when I discovered that having come from the private sector, I was in the vast minority. Quite often teachers who work in the private sector have experience of the state sector. In some cases it was evident that the reason they had moved was because they couldn't control a class & thought that the private sector classes wouldn't be as difficult to teach - they found out otherwise & made this inaccurate generalisation at their peril. At the same time many teachers were/are outstanding and I can only count on one hand the number of teachers that I found either dismissive or demotivating in their teaching methods.

There were/are advantages of private education in that the facilities are often better than state schools (sports/music/drama/academic) and you were encouraged to take every opportunity that came along. That's not to say that you didn't have to work hard to develop and to quote King Lear "nothing will come of nothing, speak again". At the end of the day if you're not willing to listen, learn and put the effort in, there is no difference between a private or state school... you'll go nowhere - you just waste your parents money, so in many ways the implication is that its worse if you achieve nothings when you've been to a private/public school!

Personally I agree with Chris A in that there should be no need for such fee paying schools to exist (in a perfect world). Unfortunately we don't live in that perfect world and through successive Governments' of both the left & right political persuasions (IMO criminal) underfunding of education occurred. Instead of the so-called secondary modern system of schooling being as it was originally conceived to allow those children who were not academically minded to pursue practical careers (as depicted in the Channel 4 series 'That'll teach em'), the reality was a little different in that many (but not all) became a dumping ground for low achievers. When coupled with little/low investment in the school and little/no interest from parents, the likely result is all too clear. The truth is there are some very good state funded schools out there (certainly on par with many a well recognised private/public school) & some very poor private schools. Just because its private doesn't mean that its good or any better, however the tread is that you often have a better chance of succeeding in life.

Parents who send their children to public school pay a high price, having to sacrifice a lot if they are on middle/average incomes. I met up with a school friend I hadn't seen for nearly 17 years a could of weeks ago and I discovered that the cost of being a boarder (as we both had been) had risen from approx £2000 per term back when we left in 1990/91 up to approx £5-6000 today or rather almost £15-18,000 a year per child (some families had 2 or even 3 children attending at the same time).

So financially was it worth it? From a selfish angle yes, as in I would not be the person I am today if I had not attended the school I had. But that's not to say that I could not do the same job I do today if I had attended a state school - who can tell as it depends on the calibre of the local state education/private school, the ability/dedication of the child and willingness of the parents to encourage the child to learn. You pays yer money, you takes yer choice.

I go to a private school and to be honest when you come out of it you come out much better than a state school. The local schools round here aren't great and going to private school is a great privilege (though some at school are never happy and still complain (usually the incredibly rich ones ))

It isn't a great hardship for my family to send all of us to private school but it runs in a cycle that the parents who went to private schools tend to send their offspring there and then the original parents grandchildren go to them... and so it continues!

Regarding 'That'll teach them', my chemistry teacher at school was a teacher on that program... and believe me most of that show was all put on according to him.

we worked it out at school that every 5 seconds each pupil give 1p to the school... £10 an hour!

it's true, that's why there are so many scholarships offered! as well as bursaries.

id much prefer public schools, the problem with private schools is like 90% of them are one sex schools, never mixed i could never handle being with all girls that would drive me crazy talking about make up and boys all the time, guys are muchmore fun to hang out with!

Single sex teaching? i have never heard of that! I'd hate that!

For me it's very simple. My son starts school this September and after extensive research we found only one school in the borough that was anywhere near suitable. By suitable I mean it had a good ofsted report.
So, we have applied and will wait for the result which is due next month. If succesful then great, but as the odds are stacked against us (120 applications last year for 30 places) it looks like we will have no choice but to put him into private school regardless of the financial implications.
Whilst I think it is morally wrong to use a private system (public schools!) when we are paying through the nose for a public one (state schools!!), morals (rightly or wrongly) can go swing when it comes to my son!