Private education - should it be banned? Discuss.

A lot of kids do well at private schools, but surely a lot of that is because they have parents who are more demanding, like they have to do homework on time and they have to get very good results in exams, if not, punishment will ensue.
Parents have a massive influence on whether a child is working hard.

It's about far more than having demanding parents; in fact, I don't think that is a major factor but supportive parents is. However, the schools are often very demanding so hard work is usually a requirement.
 
I am happy to keep them, but to treat them like the businesses they are which includes them paying a fair amount of tax...

All the parents sending their kids to private school are paying tax but not using their full share of state education budget that their kids are entitled to so are effectively subsidising that.

Private schools also give out bursaries and scholarships so their charitable status is fair enough.
 
I don't think there's anything unprincipled in that. His principle is that he wants a fair race but without Government intervention, there isn't gonna be one so if 7% of kids are gonna get a huge headstart then rightly he wants his child to be one of them.
If he wanted a fair race he'd join in with the majority and send his kids to the local comprehensive, it's
no good espousing a political philosophy that abhors private education, then joining in with those who oppose
that. It's effectively do as I say not as I do, whichever way it's viewed.
 
My brother's two boys went to private school to afford which he and his wife made significant sacrifices. His boys are both in full time employment in cracking jobs, probably paying lots of tax and generally a credit to society.

On the other hand, my wife and I couldn't afford to send ours to grammar school so they went to the local high. Both lads are in full time employment, one abroad and the other in the army, both paying tax and both are a credit to society.

Banning excellence is the politics of envy. Drags everyone down to the lowest level.

As a direct grant recipient myself, I think we need more direct grant schools so that more kids whose families can't afford it can go to the top schools, not less top schools.
 
Corporation tax is payable on company profits. Are they profit-making businesses?

Is charitable status conditional on reserving a number of places (or giving bursaries) for kids from low-income homes?

If they had no tax breaks, would they simply move up market, only accept those with deep pockets and thereby become even less inclusive?

Just asking like. And I’d ask the same of the OP too: @allblackcitizen . While I share some of the reservations about independent schools myself, there appear to be a lot of knee-jerk posts.

Corporation tax and profits you may well be right, it probably wouldn't affect them much as they are likely to be Non profit making.

Charitable status is based on a number of factors, which at the moment in my opinion, are woefully inadequate for the trade off in terms of benefit to society vs benefit to them. It does include an element of bursaries to those who cant afford the fee's, however there is evidence that these cheaper / free places often go to the children of ex pupils who have fallen on "hard times" (a relative term) who can no longer afford the fees - again not a great example of a benefit to the wider society that you would expect from a genuine Charity.

Overall of course you are right, it will make it all a lot more expensive, but that is pure simple market forces. As others have pointed out, if you cant afford it fuck you. And if you moan about it, the well that's just the politics of envy isn't it, better roll up your sleeves and get working harder.
 
No, I don't agree with any of that.

And btw, since I don't have any kids and having gone to a comprehensive myself, it's hardly about *me*.

Likewise i don't have kids either (and not planning to either) so no skin in the game, i'm not sure why it winds me up so much.

Sorry can you clarify, do you think they should have charitable status or not?
 
All the parents sending their kids to private school are paying tax but not using their full share of state education budget that their kids are entitled to so are effectively subsidising that.

Private schools also give out bursaries and scholarships so their charitable status is fair enough.

Not if many of those bursaries go to their mates who happen to have a household income of less £120,000 - its not exactly helping the common man is it.
 
My brother's two boys went to private school to afford which he and his wife made significant sacrifices. His boys are both in full time employment in cracking jobs, probably paying lots of tax and generally a credit to society.

On the other hand, my wife and I couldn't afford to send ours to grammar school so they went to the local high. Both lads are in full time employment, one abroad and the other in the army, both paying tax and both are a credit to society.

Banning excellence is the politics of envy. Drags everyone down to the lowest level.

As a direct grant recipient myself, I think we need more direct grant schools so that more kids whose families can't afford it can go to the top schools, not less top schools.

I don't have a problem with this per se, but the way in which these grants are handed out needs to be monitored to create a benefit for the widest possible range of people in society.
 
Corporation tax and profits you may well be right, it probably wouldn't affect them much as they are likely to be Non profit making.

Charitable status is based on a number of factors, which at the moment in my opinion, are woefully inadequate for the trade off in terms of benefit to society vs benefit to them. It does include an element of bursaries to those who cant afford the fee's, however there is evidence that these cheaper / free places often go to the children of ex pupils who have fallen on "hard times" (a relative term) who can no longer afford the fees - again not a great example of a benefit to the wider society that you would expect from a genuine Charity.

Overall of course you are right, it will make it all a lot more expensive, but that is pure simple market forces. As others have pointed out, if you cant afford it fuck you. And if you moan about it, the well that's just the politics of envy isn't it, better roll up your sleeves and get working harder.

Fair answer :)

To some extent there might be unintended consequences. On balance, though, it doesn’t feel right to give privileged tax status.
 
If he wanted a fair race he'd join in with the majority and send his kids to the local comprehensive, it's
no good espousing a political philosophy that abhors private education, then joining in with those who oppose
that. It's effectively do as I say not as I do, whichever way it's viewed.

I get your point but realistically, one person not sending his son to private school isn't going to bring about a fair race (or a significantly fairer race). A state wide problem needs to be addressed at state level otherwise there will always be people who have huge headstarts in life, and if that's the case, then I think it's hard to blame him for wanting his son to be one of them. As GDM says, we are all hypocrites at some level. I directly and indirectly support carbon-dioxide emitting industries but worry about their effects on climate change. I don't think anyone would hold it against me if I put my fire on occasionally or cooked something using power from CO2 emitting power stations.
 

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