British-Conservatism

Compressive schools don’t need more money then need discipline and a pursuit of excellence as well as much more emphasis on competitive sport.
The instilling of National and Cultural Pride is also a must.
By 14 all pupils who should also be allowed to switch to technical colleges to learn a trade.

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SilverFalcon

I did all three, government, private, and "distance". My most successful and enjoyable were the latter two. The quality of education differed and so did the atmosphere. I found government school ambiance truly deathly. But it did largely depend on which school one went to. Other people found theirs great, but then that also depends on what kind of person one is and what social class one comes from. Kids from working class backgrounds were happier in government schools because the whole private school thing was anathema to their lifestyle and backgrounds. I think London Orbital has made some very sane remarks and they obviously come from experience. I salute them. They make a lot of sense.

I think personally education should be free, or basically free (books, activities, etc with a small basic term fee) and of good quality for a general solid knowledge base for everyone and that private, or perhaps even more specialised government education should be free to go for the higher standards of excellence and achievement that a much smaller percentage of any population needs. It's a question of tailoring educational needs to skills and capability more than to political correctness or snob value.

Ultimately, ignorance isn't bliss and right now young people in government schools are losing out big time as some of them seem hardly able to string a sentence together. This is plain tragic and will spell disaster for the future.

Leo

Then who are the 'unmentionables'? You have me really curious now.

British-Conservatism

Im sure with your private school education you can make a good guess.

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British-Conservatism

Yes Working Class people I would say have different needs.

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London Orbital

Er, come again? It seemed a reasonable question to me - not a joke.

London Orbital

Because sources of funding for private education are so much more generous. State education relies on the grudging goodwill of the taxpayer.



I'm sure they won't now. The only time this appeared even faintly possible was when the comprehensive experiment was still reasonably new in the 1970s. It seemed relatively successful then.

And Labour - an old Labour government committed to social egalitarianism (instead of PC) - was still in charge.

And even then, probably, there was no realistic chance that private schools would be abolished.


The reason this won't happen is that no-one who already makes large sacrifices in many cases to educate their children privately will wish to pay even more just to raise the standard of comprehensives, which depend upon the taxpayer.

The fact that your mother would not approve of your writing this should be enough to tell you why what you are proposing will not happen.

Why should she be compelled to devote part of her hard-earned income assisting some 'poor boy' when she already spends a king's ransom on your education.

(I am not sneering, by the way - I think the investment is well worth it... At a dinner party last night I met yet another girl who had been educated at a boarding school.

Just what is it that makes these women so charming and attractive and - marriageable?

Well, whatever it is you can understand why parents often make incredible sacrifices to send their children to these schools.)

If the government doesn't take education seriously enough we could all vote for a government that does. And so we would be voting to pay more tax.

Will we do this - pay more tax just to pour more money into failing sink schools, or would we prefer to keep our own money and educate our children privately if we possibly can?

I would be prepared to pay tax to re-build decent grammar schools.

These schools used to give bright working class children an opportunity to improve their position in society.

I feel strongly about this. We should aim to create a functioning meritocracy - not a socially immobile client state supervised by a New Labour government.

The waste of many young people's lives now is a matter of great concern.


They haven't taken you to Auschwicz, have they?

I think you're probably right about the level of funding for vocational subjects like woodwork and metalwork. Academic teaching is not necessarily more expensive.


Every September is Black History Month.

This pointless bullsh*t is inflicted on working class whites in comprehensives who should be learning about their own history instead - not being forced to suffer these pointless liberal initiatives.

In private education this would never happen because parents would never pay good money to have their kids taught such rubbish.

david H

I wouldn't mind if there was some history in it. The last time I looked it was all singers, DJs and athletes.

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SilverFalcon

There is history in Africa as there is history and heritage on every continent, but is this necessarily of vital educational significance to children over and above the history of their own people and the people with whom their history is directly connected? These exotic history lessons would be better as optional extras or cultural information lectures for general knowledge purposes. Because history is so complex and detailed one cannot teach it all to young people without most of it losing significance and detail. So the ethnic history first and the specialization later, perhaps at university level where a student may indulge him or herself in in-depth examination of a favourite aspect. (Same with literary studies. You just can't do them all, and especially at school level. You must do the ones most pertinent to your own cultural significance first and maybe add in others as extra reading, but not necessarily for examination purposes. That, too can be left to university courses of specialization.)

Immigrants will find this native cultural education boring and may complain, which is possibly why the left has introduced all the baggage to make up for the fact that people can't be expected to be vitally interested in a culture they cannot be expected to care about like natives do.

Leo

I know what you are saying is true, (and I think you are quite wise,) but if everyone agrees that education is one of the most important things in life, why can't we agree to spend more on it? Like we spend loads on things like wars, and the Olympics, so why can't we all agree to spend more on education?

If as you so reasonably say, private boarding schools give the best education, then it would be just crazy to abolish them. But they shouldn't be subsidised like they are in Australia.

And, LOL, not everyone agrees with you on boarding schools. Like my friend in Yorkshire. His mum and dad think my parents don't deserve to have children cos I'm an only child and they sent me away to boarding school when I was like six. They think it is the same thing as abandonment. They didn't say so to me but they told him and he told me.

Actually my dad left a trust which is to be spent on my school and university education. Like my mum has never worked for pay (but she does do unpaid work for charities every day) in her life, so it isn't 'hard-earned'.

But I was really referring to the school making less profit and subsidising less well funded comprehensives. I know the fees are already very high.

Funny you should mention that. Cos only last week the mum of a chick I know asked the same question. She said she thinks that Public School gives us a self-confidence that some other kids lack. I dunno, cos I can't speak about myself, but I certainly don't think I'm anything special.

No, but we have distant relatives in Bavaria (I used to spend my Chrissie hols there) and I went with a German school party to Dachau.

Well, not at my school, but I don't think it would hurt to learn of the history of another ethnic group. But if it is just about Black music and athletes (like david H says), it is a waste of time and is not history. I hate Gansta Rap and all that ****, and I don't care who can run the fastest, or prance about on a basketball court like a big girl's blouse.