School's Out

Via DK, I see our beloved government is making private schools “earn” their charitable status.

Hmmmm. It is difficult to see this government policy as anything other than an attack on private schools, which is kind of ironic as our Dear Leader attended a private school and also sends his sprogs to private schools. It does sound like an old Labour policy, and it is difficult to see what Bliar and the rest of the gaggle of wankers who make up his government hope to achieve with this latest policy.

I went to a private school (and quite a famous one at that) and can’t say I particularly enjoyed the experience. However that is not to say the experience was not beneficial to me – I learnt a great deal, and now find myself in a position where I can deal pretty much with anyone in any situation (which I attribute to the *joys* of growing up in a private school environment). And my parents did not send me to a private school because they like spending thousands of pounds a year, but rather because they thought that the educational standards of a private school far outstrip the standards in the state schools*.

And here lies the key point – people spend thousands of pounds educating their kids because they want the best for their kids**. The value private schools can add to society is best shown by the fact that people will part with thousands of their hard-earned pounds to get that sort of education. No-one makes them do it – it is all down to personal choice.

If the government wants to end private schools, then it should try and make the state schools as good as those in the private sector. If people had faith in their kids getting educated properly in the local comp, then they would spend their money on something else. Sure, it may be next to impossible to get the average state school to match the facilities and educational experiences of the most impressive private school, but for fuck’s sake, the government could at least have an aspiration to try.

Which is my biggest problem with the government’s proposal. It does seem to be anti-private school, and the upshot may be that the proposal causes private schools to close. Instead of trying to even things out in a positive way by making state schools better, they try to even things out in a negative way by restricting choice.

Why the fucking hell can’t Nu Labour do something positive, rather than butting even further into the lives of its citizens and further restricting choice in Britain?

*Something which, from the stories my friends who teach in state schools have told me, is 100% correct.

**There may be a small number of people who send their kids to private school for class/snobbish reasons but in my experience the majority of parents just wanted the best for their off-spring, and spent money accordingly.