Why state schools are better

Becca Atkinson, you’re pretty funny. But, if this wasn’t a poor attempt at satire, we’ve got more of a problem on our hands than the lack of stables at state schools.

Reinforcing the stereotype

It’s quite easy to list the perks of private schooling. And why wouldn’t it be when you’re paying £12,000 a year? As Becca states, private school kids often have to pass rigorous entrance exams. Added to that, they are already from privileged backgrounds so of course private schools perform better than state schools, that’s just common sense. However, I wouldn’t swap my experience in a state school to one in an independent school for the sake of one or two more A*’s because I achieved more than some qualifications; I gained a real education, one that can’t be equalled by private schools.

None of my classmates were a direct descendant of the Duchess of Devonshire, neither did their parents have a monopoly on the tweed mills in the Hebridean Islands. I went to school with children who were entitled to free meals, whose parents couldn’t afford their school uniform and had to juggle 3 or 4 jobs just to pay the rent. I went to school with kids of all races and classes. I have friends of all races and classes. State-educated students gain an understanding of how society works in a way that many who are educated at a private institution can’t since most of society is excluded from their bubble.

Education and Community

You may have learnt about Islam from a textbook but it’s very different going to school with lots of Muslim students. You may be excelling at your GCSE in Mandarin but it’s very different when more than 60% of kids in your school speak English as a second language. You can take an A-Level in Sociology but it’s quite a different story when your friends can’t come on the school trip because their parents can’t afford the £25 deposit.

You may also have an average class size of 5 but being one of 31 students in any given class means you learn that you can’t just snap your finger and expect something to happen. I’ve learnt that sometimes you have to wait your turn and so, unlike Becca, I wouldn’t sit in a restaurant and click my fingers at the waiter. I know that if you want something to happen, you have to make it happen.

Teamwork skills found outside the “stables” and “squash courts”

Becca Atkinson may have learnt about teamwork by playing squash, I learnt about teamwork by getting a job at the age of 16 to take the financial burden off my parents. She may have learnt about leadership by playing polo, I learnt about leadership by taking on a string of internships like many state educated students, because, as she’s quite clearly contended, we don’t have a little black book of contacts. We earn them. We have a hunger and desire for success that she wouldn’t understand as she hasn’t come home from school and wondered whether she’d have a hot meal that night, like my dad. She hasn’t been told that she can’t go to school because she can’t afford the school bus, like my mum.

We don’t play polo and don’t have stables. Shockingly, we still find jobs.

Parents who place their children in state schools have faith in their children and, rightly so, in the state-school system which is often done a disservice. These parents also put their time and energy into their children’s education. They drag them around museums and spend hours explaining basic algebra before dinner. Perhaps my parents spent that £12,000 a year on paying the gas, electricity and water bills rather than sending me to St Paul’s but I’m incredibly lucky to understand that although there are some things only money can buy, the best things in life are free. I have friends from all walks of life whose values don’t revolve around the pretentious drivel that we all thought was a private school student stereotype. Until you.