Ultimately, does any of this matter? Life staggers on in austerity Britain mark two. The private schools’ reach is very much broader than their minority share of school pupils implies. These days, thanks to scholarships and bursaries, private schools admit many children from all kinds of backgrounds.’. The Wire’s Jimmy McNulty (Eton) sorts out Baltimore. Consider the extras.It’s not just about private school tuition. HandicapsContextual admissions to universities Where universities, especially the high-status ones, make substantial allowances for candidates’ school background; alternatively, as another method of positive discrimination, some form of a quota system. The underlying reality of our private-school problem is stark. The unavoidable truth is that, by and large, the increasingly privileged and entitled products of an elite private education have – almost inevitably – only a limited and partial understanding of, and empathy with, the realities of everyday life as lived by most people. For me, the fee paying school was of a lower standard that the free schools, so I went to a free school, and achieved respectable grades. One of our fathers was a solicitor in Brighton, the other was an army officer rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel; we were both privately educated; we both went to Oxford University; our children have all been educated at state grammar schools; in neither case did we move to the areas (Kent and south-west London) because of the existence of those schools; and in recent years we have become increasingly preoccupied with the private-school issue, partly as citizens concerned with Britain’s social and democratic wellbeing, partly as an aspect of our professional work (one as an economist, the other as a historian). You’ll only know if the money was worth it at retirement age. Is it possible in Britain over the next 10 or 20 years to build a sufficiently widespread consensus for reform?Or, at the very least, to begin to have a serious, sustained, non-name-calling, non-guilt-ridden national conversation on the subject of private education? Whether a private school education is worth the fees and other costs has no simple answer. This reveals the fruits of exploring well over a century of biographical data in Who’s Who, that indispensable annual guide to the composition of the British elite. Upping the cost Where the fees are substantially raised, making some parents switch away from the private-school sector and opt for state schools. School days, after all, are supposed to be the best of your life – and the most important consideration is finding a school where your child will be happiest. But being reminded of quite how expensive is a shock. Even rail commuters with season tickets have been guaranteed a … Even the behaviour of the children is no worse at the state and is probably tolerated even less than at the private school tbh. So far, she's been to Residential trips to Paris, one at a PGL, to the Black Country for several days and skiing for a week in the French alps. “The dogged persistence of the British ‘old boy”’ is how a 2017 study describes the traditional dominance of private-school alumni in British society. A brief but expensive history, 1997–2018, offers some guide. And fourth, to achieve the best possible exam results and the highest rate of admission to the top universities, “working the system” comes into play. Whether one has been privately educated, or has sent or is sending one’s children to private schools, or even if one teaches at a private school, there should be no barriers to taking part in that conversation. Relevance. Everyone has to live – and make their choices – in the world as it is, not as one might wish it to be. Not all private schools get better grades because not all teachers in them are outstanding. Indeed, the small number of income-poor families going private can only do so through other sources: typically, grandparents’ assets and/or endowment-supported bursaries from some of the richest schools. This argument – the resources point aside – is not an altogether easy one for the left to accept, against a background of it having historically been undecided whether (in the words of one Labour education minister’s senior civil servant in the 1960s) “these schools are so bloody they ought to be abolished, or so marvellous they ought to be made available to everyone”. Second, the range of extracurricular activities and the intensive cultivation of “character” and “confidence” are important. Ultimately, the issue is at least as much about what kind of society one might hope the Britain of the 2020s and 2030s to be. Of course, things to a degree have changed since Thompson’s time. The Cameron-Osborne (Eton-St Paul’s) axis takes over the country; Nick Clegg (Westminster) runs errands. The chronicles of Hogwarts school begin. Private Grade School Is Worth It If You Can Afford It. Opportunities outside the classroom are an attractive aspect of a private education and pupils are able to experience diverse activities that might not otherwise be available to them. Ed Balls (Nottingham High) takes to the dance floor. Even though tax subsidies are not huge, the government could reduce them, for example by taking away charitable status (from those schools that are charities) or by requiring that all schools pay business rates in full (as in Scotland from 2020). Others are more ambitious: the Sutton Trust’s Open Access Scheme proposes that all places at about 80 top private secondary day schools would be competed for on academic merit. I would personally say it depends on the quality of the free schools in the area. during a sermon at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, December 2017 all sitting members resigned in frustration. The term “the establishment” can be a tiresome one, too often loosely and inaccurately used, but in the sense of complementary networks of people at or close to the centres of power and wealth, it actually does mean something. Unless some radical reform is set in train, an unreconstructed private-school system, with its enormous resource superiority and exclusiveness hanging over the state system as a beacon for unequal treatment and privilege, would make it hard to sustain a fully comprehensive and fair state education system. Only about 6% of the UK’s school population attend such schools, and the families accessing private education are highly concentrated among the affluent. Private schools belonging to the Independent Schools Council provide some £780 million worth of fee deduction, benefiting 166,000 out of the total 500,000 pupils. The proportion of prominent people in every area who have been educated privately is striking, in some cases grotesque. Charlie Falconer (Glenalmond) masterminds the Millennium Dome. But, more significantly, he has not been duped – as many middle-class parents are – into believing it is worth paying an arm and a leg for a private education. The Bank of England under Eddie George (Dulwich) gets independence. A poll we commissioned from Populus shows a virtually landslide majority for a perception of unfairness about private education, indicating that public opinion is potentially receptive to grappling with the issue and what to do about it. In recent years they have increased at an average rate of 5-6% per year. Is paying for private schools really worth it? While as for the many hundreds of individual links between “top people” and private schools, often in the form of sitting on governing bodies, it only needs a glance at Who’s Who to get the gist. I think going to private school can help if you aren't that clever as teachers can get you to maximise the marks you can achieve. The way the privately educated have sustained semi-monopolistic positions of prominence and influence in the modern era has created a serious democratic deficit. Overwhelmingly, pupils at private schools are rubbing shoulders with those from similarly well-off backgrounds. Jeremy Clarkson (Repton) can’t stop revving up; Jeremy Paxman (Malvern) still has an attitude problem; Alexandra Shulman (St Paul’s Girls) dictates fashion; Paul Dacre (University College School) makes middle England ever more Mail-centric; Alan Rusbridger (Cranleigh) makes non-middle England ever more Guardian-centric; judge Brian Leveson (Liverpool College) fails to nail the press barons; Justin Welby (Eton) becomes top mitre man; Frank Lampard (Brentwood) becomes a Chelsea legend; Joe Root (Worksop) takes guard; Henry Blofeld (Eton) spots a passing bus. But smart people will do well anywhere. ‘One of the most common reservations people have about private schools is that they won’t ‘fit in’,’ says Beth Noakes, editor of The Good Schools Guide. A society in which there is a just relationship between the competing demands of liberty and equity, and in which we are, to coin a phrase, all in it together? It would be an almost immeasurable benefit if this were no longer the case. It makes a big difference what any teacher can both see and accomplish with 12 kids vs 24 kids. It would be manifestly absurd to pin the blame entirely on the existence over the past few centuries of a flourishing private-school sector. They deploy very substantial resources; respect the need for a disciplined environment for learning; and give copious attention to generating a positive and therefore motivating experience. But being reminded of quite how expensive is a shock. The Social Mobility Commission, with cross-party representation, reported regularly on what government should do, but in December 2017 all sitting members resigned in frustration at the lack of policy action in response to their recommendations. W ell, not all parents who send their children to private schools think only of grades. Consider these three fundamental facts: one in every 16 pupils goes to a private school; one in every seven teachers works at a private school; one pound in every six of all school expenditure in England is for the benefit of private-school pupils. In the US there is a very small sector of non-sectarian private schools with high fees, but most private schools are, again, religious, with much lower fees than here. For if not now, when? The words of Alan Bennett reverberate still. On social mobility, there has been in recent years an abundance of apparently sincere, well-meaning rhetoric, not least from our leading politicians. Multiple theatres, large swimming pools and beautiful surroundings with expensive upkeep are, of course, nice to have and look suitably seductive on sales brochures – but add relatively little educational value. London’s main clubs (dominated by privately educated men) would be one example; the Church of England (closely connected with many private schools, from Westminster downwards) would be another. To send a link to this page you must be logged in. What particularly defines British private education is its extreme social exclusivity. In Germany, for instance, it is also low, but unlike in Britain is generously state-funded, more strongly regulated and comes with modest fees. The reform of private schools will not alone be sufficient to achieve a good education system for all, let alone the good society; but it surely is a necessary condition. For many families, knowing whether private schools are better for your family is … Almost 170,000 children (one in three) are currently receiving help with their fees, according to Julie Robinson, general secretary of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), with both the amount available and the number of children benefitting rising. There are, of course, some very real contextual factors to these bald and striking figures. Private school fees are always going to be expensive, that’s a given. Given the thorniness – and often invidiousness – of the issue, it is a tempting proposition. The only realistic starting point for an analysis lies with the assertion that, in the modern era, most of these schools are of high quality, offering a good educational environment. Among the new entrants to Who’s Who in the 21st century, the proportion of the privately educated has remained constant at around 45%. I know of 2 parents who are very bitter that they 'wasted over £150k' on their child's education. But as a result of these fees independent schools have the advantage of investing profits back into improving their often already impressive facilities. Private school fees are always going to be expensive, that’s a given. For those born between the 1830s and 1920s, roughly 50-60% went to private schools; for those born between the 1930s and 1960s, the proportion was roughly 45-50%. Going to a top university, it hardly needs adding, signals a material difference, especially in Britain where universities are quite severely ranked in a hierarchy. First, especially small class sizes are a major boon for pupils and teachers alike. The answer: It depends. Available for everyone, funded by readers. The private education world and the financial advice Sending your child to a private school is a bit like paying for financial advice. 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