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Guillaume Regis

Brand Director, Lisa Redman

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Is private schooling a wise investment or does it create social divisions?

I ask this question because there is a debate going on in educational quarters that says ‘wealthy’ parents paying for their childs education can cause local segregation. I live in Notting Hill, London where rich and ‘poor’ can live almost ‘cheek by jowl’. Many wealthy parents choose to send their children to fee paying schools, for reasons many would say is social snobbery. Having travelled to the US, and heard the debates this is not an issue about ethnicity/race but one of class. From conversation many middle class (Upper Middle US) parents seem to be happy for their child to be educated along with hard working South East Asian/ Black/Mixed race and other children as long as they’re not ‘chavvy’. Chav in the UK indicates someone of low taste, undereducated and criminally inclined.
Is paying for the school fees for your child(ren) the best investment you could make?

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  • richard moody jr 10+

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    Oct 31 2011: In the States we tend to have missing parents. It is a systemic problem that we have an enornous number of single moms, thus the concerns you have there are different that what we face here. It is an investment in your child's future. What is the cost/benetit ratio? I went to a public rural school but was blessed with brilliant classmates that challenged me to do better. At that same school today discipline problems mean that teachers have to spend 90% of their time on 10% of the students.

    It is a whole different mind set here when we graduation rates hovering around 60% in some school. Here private schools, in general, do better than public schools.

  • richard moody jr 10+

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    Oct 31 2011: Privage schools can provide more structure. Screw up and you can be kicked out. In public schools you have more latittude for disruptive behavior. Charter schools can do spectacularly in some situations fail in others.

    Unfortunately in American schools the low graduation rate of public schools condemns millions of kids to grinding poverty, with little hope to escape a miserable future. In that sense private schools have to be better.
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      Guillaume Regis

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      Oct 31 2011: Thanks for your reply, what about the hard working and involved parent who is willing to 'holistically' invest in their childs development but lack the funds? Should parents be given vouchers to allow their children to attend private schools? BTW in Britain public schools are 'elite' schools attended by the wealty generally, private are fee paying and the rest either comprehensive, charter or grammer
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