Who are the masters now?

Maybe these statistics indicate that there are problems with state education in UK? If there were good state schools, a lot of people who currently make sacrifices to educate their children privately, would instead choose their local maintained school?

Just saying......

Possibly, Dresden, but I am inclined to think that it is the contacts they make, as much as the education they get, which makes parents choose public schools for their children.

I think you are right to some extent Greatnan, but I should declare an interest because our youngest DD was privately educated. Most of her school friends were from ordinary families, like ours. Their parents were plumbers, builders, teachers, small business owners etc. No really wealthy families, just parents who wanted a good education for their daughters and were happy to give up their luxuries for the duration.

We were driven towards private education by the experience of DS2 who had a difficult time at state school because he was interested and intelligent. He was bullied for asking/answering questions in class and certainly didn't reach his potential at school, though he has done very well since and now has 3 degrees and shown that he is a natural born academic.

I am betting the fees were not £30,000 a year,Dresden!

You're right, they weren't! Couldn't have afforded it if they had been, though DD did get a 25% scholarship in the sixth form which was a great help.

I had a private education , along with my brothers . [

Although there have been some poor state schools, there have also always been a lot of good ones, before and after comprehensive system.
This is not just 20 privately educated members of the cabinet - 20 old Etonians. (all chaps I presume)
Both shocking and ridiculous. An effective team needs a mixture of people to operate effectively. No wonder they are so clueless.

Nonu - as far as I now, you are not in the cabinet, so your schooling is not an issue! We are talking about a group of people who are supposed to represent all shades of society but who are a tightly knit group of the rich. How can they talk glibly about people on benefits when they themselves probably earn more in a week than somebody on benefits gets in a year. I am always surprised at how often turkeys vote for Christmas.

But all the others are as bad!

But we are all in it together , are we not, chaps?

Of course my darlings!

I am not sure what is wrong with 90% having been to university, greatnan.
Surely we want our MPs to be intelligent and articulate and broadly educated?
I am not saying that someone who has not got a degree cannot be intelligent and articulate, just that a university education teaches people to think critically and have the aspirations that might lead them into politics, so it is perhaps more likely that graduates will be successful in being selected as candidates.

I was privately educated, but I have spent all my working life in, and am a passionate advocate for, state education. I think the thing that upsets me most is the way the press and the politicians trash the state sector, when huge improvements have been made and there are some excellent schools out there. My GDs state primaries are exemplary and I was hugely impressed when I did a tour of state secondaries this year. I am very glad that Ed Miliband went to a comprehensive and hope this will be the last over-privileged, out of touch Etonian government.

Want to borrow a shovel jane?

The only thing wrong with state education is that people can send their children to private schools and opt out.
Finland was supposed to have the best education in the world. That was after they got rid of their private schools.
I went to a private school myself. Got a scholarship there. My dad was a bus driver and my mother a nurse. They applied for a grant to buy my uniform and were given enough money to buy half a dozen pairs of school knickers.
I was the only girl in the class who didn't have diction lessons,as they were paid for, and probably the only one who needed them, on their terms.

Anyone else read School Wars by Melissa Benn? It's a brilliant book, and needless to say made me very angry.
Didn't Dave say he wanted everyone to benefit from an exclusive education?
Reducing class sizes to less than 20 might put state school pupils on a par with public schools, or at least even up the odds.

Nothing wrong with a university education, Jane, I got one myself, albeit rather later than most students. What is wrong is that the levers of power are in the hands of a privileged group, many of whom have no experience outside politics and some of whom will only have had contact with 'other ranks' as employees. Does anybody seriously believe that Cameron et al can understand the difficulty of trying to bring up a family on the minimum wage?

I've got one as well.

But much more important was the education I got from being in GP with my father. He taught me to treat the person not the biochemistry or disease.
He also taught me compassion and patience and that we are no better than the receptionists or our patients.

I think it is very hard for any politician, left or right wing, to really relate to ordinary folk. Most politicians inhabit a completely different world, with different values and moral codes. Look at the continuing scandals over expenses which involve MPs of all parties.

The only politician I ever had anything to do with personally, was left wing and had a working class upbringing. However he had gone on to join the ranks of the privileged, lived in a large and attractive house in a beautiful village and mixed almost exclusively with the rich, as far as I could see.

I think George Orwell hit the nail on the head with "Animal Farm", but maybe I'm too cynical?

Well, that makes at least two cynics, Dresden. I suppose Prescott is a perfect example of somebody who climbs the greasy pole and revels in life at the top.
I think ruefully of the MPs I knew of in my childhood - Nye Bevan, Dr Edith Summerskill, Bessie Braddock - not necessarily from a deprived background themselves, but certainly able to empathise with the constituents they served.
Did the rot set in with Blair, or had the Labour Party already sold out? Kinnock certainly jumped on the gravy train and Glenys Kinnock landed a very cushy job in Brussels.
Sometimes I feel that millions of voters are just sleepwalking, kidding themselves that Britain is not just as corrupt as most other nations. Perhaps I should stop reading Private Eye - it only enrages me.

I'm with you Dresden re. George Orwell's observations in Animal Farm!

to jeni's dad who made jeni a good doctor. to you too jeni or maybe a vodka and tonic.

I agree with you, Greatnan, many voters are sleepwalking. Why don't we all become much more vocal about the shortcomings of our representatives, especially those with their snouts in the trough?

I suppose most of us are a bit lazy and although we know that it is our money that is being used to fund various politicians' shenanigans, there is a disconnect there. Or maybe we just feel that whatever we do, we won't be able to change the way things are done by our masters.

Now I've talked myself into feeling even more cynical