Quote:
Originally Posted by RockAustin
School education is always going to be important.
It is definitely ingrained into some sections of society that sponging off the state is the only option for them.
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Not convinced - I worked in schools for quite some time & the amount of kids failing to thrive/falling through the cracks worried me a lot. As for socialisation, I saw much better examples in kids educated out of mainstream education - had over 1200 of them shoved on to our books at one point, the council seriously disliked any parent pursuing alternatives.
Schools play their part in that as well - Certainly where I went, it was either leave at 16 for a dead-end job, the dole or for the lucky few a trade apprenticeship. Going into further education was right-up there with the much vaunted jackpot-job for the other kids - being picked-up by a team as a professional footballer. The turn-out when the team scouts were about was amazing, although the chance of even getting a trial was miniscule. I later ended-up working with that school for a while & it was depressing how little had changed.
I do agree however that sending a token number to private schools is a joke. With only a few notable exceptions (Eton being one certainly) private schools consistantly underperform the state sector by a considerable margin.