Comments on: Um, about this whole anti-Private school thing http://simoncoles.org/2010/01/um-about-this-whole-anti-private-school-thing/ Simon Coles Personal Blog Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:40:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: rob tee http://simoncoles.org/2010/01/um-about-this-whole-anti-private-school-thing/comment-page-1/#comment-1177 rob tee Sat, 19 Mar 2011 08:57:46 +0000 http://simoncoles.org/?p=172#comment-1177 During the time I spent at Oxford there was a disappointing proportion of privately educated characters harbouring a prejudiced sense of entitlement and ability instilled by private & crammer schools. Attitudes wrought in the fires of rote. Very few had the agility to question the process through which they had been transported and deemed trampling on their fellow a pre-requisite to fulfillment. Whilst on the one hand such manipulation is deplorable, on the other leads to the inefficiency and damage witnessed in the recent greed oriented banking fiasco. Acknowledging such shortfall (beyond the smokescreen of 'private=better, state=worse') surely helps provide the workplace with a more representative cohort of the true availability of human capital? During the time I spent at Oxford there was a disappointing proportion of privately educated characters harbouring a prejudiced sense of entitlement and ability instilled by private & crammer schools. Attitudes wrought in the fires of rote. Very few had the agility to question the process through which they had been transported and deemed trampling on their fellow a pre-requisite to fulfillment. Whilst on the one hand such manipulation is deplorable, on the other leads to the inefficiency and damage witnessed in the recent greed oriented banking fiasco.

Acknowledging such shortfall (beyond the smokescreen of ‘private=better, state=worse’) surely helps provide the workplace with a more representative cohort of the true availability of human capital?

]]> By: Carol http://simoncoles.org/2010/01/um-about-this-whole-anti-private-school-thing/comment-page-1/#comment-579 Carol Wed, 06 Oct 2010 09:54:29 +0000 http://simoncoles.org/?p=172#comment-579 Hmm. I don't know about the statistics in the 'professions' but in terms of education, the 7-8% of privately educated kids in the UK take up about 50% of the places at our two elite universities (which get an awful lot of state funds as well as using their own private money), and go on to get lots of the best and most highly paid jobs in the country. I suspect it may be similar in some professions (certainly politics, law etc have that skew). So I am pretty sure that privately educated people are not in fact discriminated against at all, rather the opposite, while I agree that it is ludicrous to try to change things with this sort of measure. (But this is all blather anyway, this 'telling' is more than likely just 'encouraging' them, not ordering them or imposing any sort of positive discrimination). It's often difficult to sort out exactly where people are coming from in the 'private schools' discussion - perhaps simply being 'anti-elite' is not a good thing, and I know that is where I tend to come from, but I do feel that people who can pay choosing not to attend local state schools is more negative than positive for those schools - the saving of money not making up for the fact that they are missing out on the contribution and participation of that child, who as you say, might be likely come from a home where the parents are well-motivated, care about education, want, and help, their kids to do well at school (though fair enough for individual parents to not want to send your kid to a bad school where you know that it will have most of its time wasted by the teacher having to worry about discipline instead of teaching.) I am not sure that private schools do in fact teach much better, I think that the people who come out of them do better and are more confident simply because they are, and know they are, part of an elite. Feeling like that often makes people do better... Great blog by the way, I have only just discovered it! Hmm. I don’t know about the statistics in the ‘professions’ but in terms of education, the 7-8% of privately educated kids in the UK take up about 50% of the places at our two elite universities (which get an awful lot of state funds as well as using their own private money), and go on to get lots of the best and most highly paid jobs in the country. I suspect it may be similar in some professions (certainly politics, law etc have that skew). So I am pretty sure that privately educated people are not in fact discriminated against at all, rather the opposite, while I agree that it is ludicrous to try to change things with this sort of measure. (But this is all blather anyway, this ‘telling’ is more than likely just ‘encouraging’ them, not ordering them or imposing any sort of positive discrimination). It’s often difficult to sort out exactly where people are coming from in the ‘private schools’ discussion – perhaps simply being ‘anti-elite’ is not a good thing, and I know that is where I tend to come from, but I do feel that people who can pay choosing not to attend local state schools is more negative than positive for those schools – the saving of money not making up for the fact that they are missing out on the contribution and participation of that child, who as you say, might be likely come from a home where the parents are well-motivated, care about education, want, and help, their kids to do well at school (though fair enough for individual parents to not want to send your kid to a bad school where you know that it will have most of its time wasted by the teacher having to worry about discipline instead of teaching.) I am not sure that private schools do in fact teach much better, I think that the people who come out of them do better and are more confident simply because they are, and know they are, part of an elite. Feeling like that often makes people do better…

Great blog by the way, I have only just discovered it!

]]>