I had a range of education growing up. I'm a 'military brat' so I moved house every 2 years up until the age of 12/13 when my parents divorced. This obviously meant changing schools every 2 years. Being part of a military family means we got special bursaries for private boarding schools. So, whilst living in Germany, I was shipped off to a school called S.Anselms in Bakewell at the age of 7.
7?! You say. Yeah, I was young. Very young. Too young, maybe? I don't know. All I know is that when I went on my taster day I cried on the way home because I wanted to stay there. I spent 4 happy years there, seeing my parents every half term, maybe more frequently. I then spent 2 more years at another private school called Abbotsholme near Uttoxeter.
People who have never been to a private school have a certain perception of them. They're 'posh', 'snobby', and a range of other adjectives that have the same meaning. Some are posh, yes. But not every private school is Eton.
When I moved back to Tamworth and went to a state school I got teased for being 'posh'. I had eloquence so people assumed I was posh. (I don't mean I had elocution e. I just didn't speak with a local accent. I went to school in Derbyshire. They speak properly over there.) But I'm not posh, never have been. I'm poorer than most of my friends. It's not like we even paid the whole fee for boarding school. From several thousand a term (each - me and my sister) down to a few hundred.
And what's wrong with being posh anyway? Why would it matter if I was posh?
So I had a good education. No. A bloody good education. You get what you pay for. At my equivalent of primary school I played in competitive sports matches from the age of 8. I learnt French from the age of 7, doing GCSE level French by year 6. In year 6 when I was 10/11 I did 13+ exams. I did Latin for 2 years. The naughtiest kid there was the equivalent to your average kid in any other school. It wasn't that all the kids were super clever and super boring so didn't act out. It was just a bloody good school. We didn't sing any of those fun hymns that people talk about - I don't know any of them. Never did them. We sung from the Songs of Praises hymn book. We did 8 hours of P.E. a week.
You get what you pay for.
However, the only issue with that school is that the high level of education is difficult to be upheld after you leave at 13 (I left at 11 though) because other schools tend to stick to the national curriculum. However, at the end of the day private schools are businesses so they can do what they want in terms of what they teach you, so they can teach to reach children's potential.
But, back to my initial point, going to a private school doesn't make you posh. Just means you're fortunate to be able to afford a better education. The only logical explanation of why one would think poorly of public schools is that they are simply jealous they never had the opportunity to go to one.
And people who do talk badly of them have never been to one, never spent a day there, never realised that it's just a school. They are completely ignorant making their opinion completely irrelevant. But usually better than you're average state school.
Having said that, I have nothing against state schools. I enjoy the school I go to at the moment. There's nothing wrong with it. The education is good, people are nice etc.
Also, people assume that because people who go to private schools are posh, they're stuck up and are good, law-abiding citizens. No, no. There are more drugs at private school, more alcohol, more extravagant parties. . .there's more scandal at private school in one year than in 5 years at state school.
7?! You say. Yeah, I was young. Very young. Too young, maybe? I don't know. All I know is that when I went on my taster day I cried on the way home because I wanted to stay there. I spent 4 happy years there, seeing my parents every half term, maybe more frequently. I then spent 2 more years at another private school called Abbotsholme near Uttoxeter.
People who have never been to a private school have a certain perception of them. They're 'posh', 'snobby', and a range of other adjectives that have the same meaning. Some are posh, yes. But not every private school is Eton.
When I moved back to Tamworth and went to a state school I got teased for being 'posh'. I had eloquence so people assumed I was posh. (I don't mean I had elocution e. I just didn't speak with a local accent. I went to school in Derbyshire. They speak properly over there.) But I'm not posh, never have been. I'm poorer than most of my friends. It's not like we even paid the whole fee for boarding school. From several thousand a term (each - me and my sister) down to a few hundred.
And what's wrong with being posh anyway? Why would it matter if I was posh?
So I had a good education. No. A bloody good education. You get what you pay for. At my equivalent of primary school I played in competitive sports matches from the age of 8. I learnt French from the age of 7, doing GCSE level French by year 6. In year 6 when I was 10/11 I did 13+ exams. I did Latin for 2 years. The naughtiest kid there was the equivalent to your average kid in any other school. It wasn't that all the kids were super clever and super boring so didn't act out. It was just a bloody good school. We didn't sing any of those fun hymns that people talk about - I don't know any of them. Never did them. We sung from the Songs of Praises hymn book. We did 8 hours of P.E. a week.
You get what you pay for.
However, the only issue with that school is that the high level of education is difficult to be upheld after you leave at 13 (I left at 11 though) because other schools tend to stick to the national curriculum. However, at the end of the day private schools are businesses so they can do what they want in terms of what they teach you, so they can teach to reach children's potential.
But, back to my initial point, going to a private school doesn't make you posh. Just means you're fortunate to be able to afford a better education. The only logical explanation of why one would think poorly of public schools is that they are simply jealous they never had the opportunity to go to one.
And people who do talk badly of them have never been to one, never spent a day there, never realised that it's just a school. They are completely ignorant making their opinion completely irrelevant. But usually better than you're average state school.
Having said that, I have nothing against state schools. I enjoy the school I go to at the moment. There's nothing wrong with it. The education is good, people are nice etc.
Also, people assume that because people who go to private schools are posh, they're stuck up and are good, law-abiding citizens. No, no. There are more drugs at private school, more alcohol, more extravagant parties. . .there's more scandal at private school in one year than in 5 years at state school.
RSS Feed