SR has reminded us of another advantage of private schools: they can expel disruptive students for the sake of good students. A kid would have to do something exceptionally bad to get kicked out of a government school, where classes are reported to be the most disruptive in the world. And, the public system won't, or can't, do a thing about it.

On “merit” - there are clear examples of public schools lacking merit. Are there any examples of private schools lacking merit? And let's not have the old stories about paedophiles in some church schools. Public school teachers have been standing out in that area lately, according to the nightly TV news.

Few, if any, public schools have much to commend them for in their role as educators these days. Are their any identifiable private schools that could have the same thing said about them?

Dear Indyvidual,

You said: "Only private schools allow students to think for themselves which includes thinking about others."

Are you serious. All you RWNJs ever do is whinge about woke politics which at its core is thinking about others, and now you are saying it is a virtue? Only in private schools it seems.

And you haven't answered my question about disruptive kids expelled from an independent school being foisted on the public system. When the private sector represented 5% of the students that was perhaps manageable. Now 35% of the schools get to hive off their expelled rejects on to the public system. The teacher I was taking to said 80% of his time is devoted to managing 20% of his students. Adding a couple of extra in his class from the private system has been really challenging and meant worthy public school students are missing out.

Perhaps we should insist that private school students remain in that sector and a different private school be found to educate them rather than further degrading the education of public school kids.

The problem is really that most state schools are so crap.

My wife did a stint teaching at what was considered an excellent state school. What she found was that kids were being bullied classes were highly disrupted and the teachers were given no tools to control or discipline miscreants. After teaching at a small private school there was no chance she would consider state schooling for our kids.

The schools my kids went to had zero tolerance for bullying or serious misbehaviour that disrupted others and as a result, my kids did very well at school and university both in academics and sports. Neither of us regrets the sacrifices we had to make to pay the fees to get the happy, well-adjusted and successful adults our kids are today.

I would suggest the government make the changes to improve state schools no matter the resistance from the teacher's unions and stop trying to bring down the successful private system.

I fail to see the rationale for blaming private schools for the rubbish they have expelled being taken over by public schools. The anti-social yobbos do effect the good kids trying to learn in the public system; but this is just one more reason why parents should be given the choice to put their kids into private schools via a voucher system where the money goes to them instead of the public school mess, which is simply no longer fit for purpose.

If the yobbos have nowhere to go, tough. The penal system can deal with them.

SteeleRedux,
The situations you describe are nothing more than the results caused by parents, teachers & students with the same mentality you’re restrained by.
If you want things to get better you’ll need to change your thinking.