Why are independent schools so influential in the UK?
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:30 pm
I've just read a piece by Alice Thomson on The Times. I just copied parts of what she said, to compare Germany and Britain:
"As Germany shows, creating an aspirational, flexible and rigorous state sector can make private schools redundant.
I went to almost every type of school in England and was also educated in Germany. My mother was a headmistress in both sectors and I have been a governor in fee-paying and state schools. Far from being the problem, private schools provide the potential solution for the rest of the country. Other schools don’t need to imitate them, but they can learn from their success.
There is no reason why state schools can’t overtake private schools. A German friend of mine, whose son had been at a highly selective private school in London, discovered on returning to Munich that he was a year behind in maths and science and needed extra coaching to catch up.
Bavarian pupils start at the age of six, but lessons are rigorous, and children and parents have a choice of three types of school at 11 depending on their inclinations and interests. Their results are so successful that less than 1 per cent of children attend private schools.
The best answer for those who don’t like the idea of private education is to make state schools so admirable that they become the places everyone wants to attend. Instead of sneering at or apologising for some of our greatest schools, we should ensure the state sector becomes so impressive that it makes independent schools redundant. "
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/c ... 285431.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
We all know how powerful and wealthy Germany is on the international stage. Indeed we may say in the recent times, Germany is more powerful than Britain. So it seems incredible that their elites are the products of state schools, unlike Britain.
Essentially, is the influence of independent schools the result of the class system in Britain? The rich and the elites would send their children to independent schools, if they can get away with it (avoiding the media criticism). And as many have argued, the main point about independent schools is their Eton-like network.
What do you think?
"As Germany shows, creating an aspirational, flexible and rigorous state sector can make private schools redundant.
I went to almost every type of school in England and was also educated in Germany. My mother was a headmistress in both sectors and I have been a governor in fee-paying and state schools. Far from being the problem, private schools provide the potential solution for the rest of the country. Other schools don’t need to imitate them, but they can learn from their success.
There is no reason why state schools can’t overtake private schools. A German friend of mine, whose son had been at a highly selective private school in London, discovered on returning to Munich that he was a year behind in maths and science and needed extra coaching to catch up.
Bavarian pupils start at the age of six, but lessons are rigorous, and children and parents have a choice of three types of school at 11 depending on their inclinations and interests. Their results are so successful that less than 1 per cent of children attend private schools.
The best answer for those who don’t like the idea of private education is to make state schools so admirable that they become the places everyone wants to attend. Instead of sneering at or apologising for some of our greatest schools, we should ensure the state sector becomes so impressive that it makes independent schools redundant. "
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/c ... 285431.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
We all know how powerful and wealthy Germany is on the international stage. Indeed we may say in the recent times, Germany is more powerful than Britain. So it seems incredible that their elites are the products of state schools, unlike Britain.
Essentially, is the influence of independent schools the result of the class system in Britain? The rich and the elites would send their children to independent schools, if they can get away with it (avoiding the media criticism). And as many have argued, the main point about independent schools is their Eton-like network.
What do you think?