Private Education V State system (Education System)

Member Name: Vicki H

Product:	Education System
Date:	10/12/01 (1521 review reads)
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Having attended both private and state schools, I feel well equipped to discuss the merits of each. My parents originally sent me to a state primary school where I recall being very happy. Apparently I could read and write by the time I went to school, that’s what comes of having two parents that are teachers! I attended school in a socially deprived area of Barnsley where many of the children were not fortunate enough to come from such good backgrounds. My parents felt that I was not making any progress and apparently I suffered at the hands of bullies who were resentful of my reading skills. I do recall one incident where I was poked with pencils and the lead actually became embedded in my arm. Another time I was held down and spat on. Although I can remember these experiences, I do not recall being significantly troubled by them. I spent many a happy hour cleaning out the fishpond for the teacher as I finished my work quickly. I also used to assist her by testing the other children on their flashcards – no wonder they hated me!

My parents made the decision to withdraw me from the school and to put me into a private school. Before I knew it I was trussed up in my uniform with my straw boater firmly in place heading off to a preparatory school. When I arrived I got what I can only describe as a culture shock. I was six years old and could not understand a word that anyone said – they were so posh! The worse thing was that they couldn’t understand my Yorkshire accent either, not only could they not understand it – they ridiculed it too. They lived in a totally different world, jetting off on holiday, living in mansions, I was known as the poor child.

I was taken into class which was organised very formally. We each had our own desk and silence was expected at all times. There was no time for play in the classroom that was strictly for the playground, the curriculum was academic only. In the state scho
ol, I spent hours in the role-play area where I did develop many skills in a fun learning environment. I was given additional work to complete at home as my work was sub-standard. I had never had such demands made on me before and I was terribly unhappy. I am now a qualified infant teacher and fully recognise the importance of play in the development of children. To be deprived of play at this age can be very damaging, so many skills are acquired through pleasurable play. When I look back now I realise that many of my classmates at private school could recite the periodical table and Shakespeare but few had any social skills.

I suffered again from the bullies who thought that my family were too poor to send me to such a school. On my first day I was kicked in the stomach for speaking with an accent. I retaliated fiercely and got into a huge amount of trouble, apparently it is worse to respond than it is to begin a fight! There were many strange rules like that in private education. I decided to fake illness – every day! For months I cried down the phone in the secretaries office that if one of my parents didn’t come for me I would die from a mystery illness. Each day I would get picked up before lunchtime and spend the afternoon watching horse racing with my Grandma! Being a naïve six year old I thought that this was the solution but the school and my parents then denied me access to the phone! I have got tear-stained exercise books to this day, where I sat crying in class.

At 7 years old we had formal examinations in the hall. A timetable was given out and we had to endure an exam week. Therefore I had to stay in and revise while my mates back in Barnsley played outside the window – it was hell! The exams totally freaked me out but I got through them. The results were read out in class in reverse order, I managed to achieve average results. But twice a year the dreaded exam week took over my life. While I total
ly agree with preparing children for the experiences that they will encounter at secondary school, I do think that having a full week of timetabled examinations at such a tender age is inappropriate.

The school set an immense amount of homework too, at least a couple of hours per night. I had to stay at school late each evening until my parents had finished work and was collected around 5 o’clock; this was quite standard in the private school. After driving the 15 miles back to Barnsley I then had to start on my homework. I remember school holidays as a time of studying, the school set days worth of homework, all of which had to be completed to excellent standards or else the page was crossed out and it all had to be repeated.

The school believed in high standards, which is something that I back fully in my own classroom today. There are ways of achieving these though. I favour positive reinforcement where I praise the good and build up the self-esteem of the individual. At private school they believed in humiliating and slippering children. I recall one boy hitting me and hurting me quite badly so I told the teacher, he got slippered by the Head teacher. My punishment for telling tales was to go and watch him receive the punishment, something I still remember vividly.

I took piano lessons at the school and played really well. It didn’t give me any pleasure though and I just felt like it was another hoop that I had to jump through. At 7 I could speak French and was studying text my Dickens, Shakespeare and Stevenson to name but a few. My parents were amazed at my knowledge and couldn’t praise the school enough. The best day of my school life was when I left at the age of 11, the uniform went in the bin immediately and it was time to move on.

The accepted thing to do at this age was to move to the private girl’s high school. In order to gain a place you had to sit an entrance exam but I refu
sed. By this time I had spent years at the school and was adamant that I wanted to go to a Comprehensive school. My parents recognised that I had spent five unhappy years in private education and agreed to listen to my wishes. At the age of 11 I started at the local Comprehensive school where my Dad was a teacher – I didn’t know a soul!

On my first day I was horrified, I was the last in assembly as I was used to marching everywhere in a regimented line. Suddenly I was caught up in a riot where it was each for their own. Kids hurtled down the corridors, leaping over banisters – it was wonderful if not a little daunting. After such a long spell in private education I had adopted the Queen’s English. You can just imagine what the other kid’s made of that – my Barnsley accent returned in about a week flat – much to my mother’s horror!

When it came to lessons I found them easy – I’d covered all the stuff when I was about seven. So maybe in this respect private education had done me some good. Homework was such a light load that I had it done in no time while the other kids sat weeping over it. And exams were second nature to me and never stressed me out like they did some of my classmates. Given time I settled into my new school and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I saw reality and appreciated that not everyone was as fortunate as myself. I saw kid’s without money, without parents and sometimes without homes. I befriended people from a different social class and thanks to Comprehensive school I can now mix with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. Sometimes I see people I went to private school with and they don’t speak to me as I am seen as beneath them, my attitude is far healthier.

I did well through the state system gaining 9 GCSE’s and 4 A levels I went onto university. My parents insist that I may not have done so well without the
background that private school gave me. This is something that I will never know for sure. Now I have my own son I must admit that I have considered sending him to private school. Every parent wants the best education for their child and the belief that you can buy a good education is prevalent in our society. There are some fantastic state schools in our country, we tend to only hear about the bad ones. What I did was checked out every school in the area including the secondary schools too. I then bought a house in an area with a good primary and secondary school. Most of the housing around where I live is privately owned which makes a significant difference on the schools. I don’t think that my son will go to private school as I have made informed choices about the school which he will attend but I can fully appreciate why my parents sent me to one living in the area that we did I may have done the same.

As a teacher I have no interest whatsoever in working in a private school. Many schools are selective regarding the children that they educate and therefore there is little challenge in educating the cream of the crop. I prefer working in socially deprived areas with the special needs children, much more rewarding. I really do believe that choosing education for your child is a very personal choice and will vary significantly depending on the area in which you live. The best thing any parent can do is to check out all available options and then discuss their decision with the child. Once a decision has been made it can always be reversed. The most important thing is to produce a child who is well balanced and happy, this is far more important than academic success in my opinion.

Thanks for reading.

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