I went to a boy's grammar in the Yorkshire Dales in the Nineties. I was also in an Anglican choir. Two rehearsals a week and two Sunday services. Choir holidays in the summer. I sang at Guildford Cathedral and in St. Helier. We even got paid.
Being in the choir also exposed me to older choirboys applying to Oxbridge. Nobody in my family had ever been to university. I went to Cambridge in 2002.
I went on to teach at a boarding school and a grammar school, after work experience at some nice comps. One key client of many independent schools is the Premier League. I taught quite a few sons of ex-Premier League players. Lots of Chinese/Hong Kongers/Russians. Youth footballers from Manchester United and Liverpool. And some very lazy children of ultra-rich, new-money Britons.
I pity the white lads of today. Second-choice all ways in the pandering femocracy. Drubbed by Yookay aesthetics and "urban" music. The girlification and comprehensivisation of everything, ignoring the fact that softer, gentler chaps had a place in things like church choirs, orchestras, scout groups. (Good) extracurricular activities are virtually non-existent in the state sector (and there's always a fee attached for anything else).
The state education system remains subservient to the lowest decile of students. Parents will sacrifice money to prevent their kids from having lessons curtailed because a disruptive child cannot be disciplined by the teacher.
A very interesting but niche topic. I was literally talking to a school master of a “prestige boarding school” on the weekend articulating exactly this - in his house he’s lost a few boys because of VAT, but the beds are still full they’re just replaced the English boys with international students.
When you say “they lack friends”, it reminds me of 2010-2019 Conservative Party, who thought they could bumble election-to-election without trying to win any arguments or improve their reputation outside a 6-8 week election campaign. Now they’re at risk of electoral wipeout, because no one can be bothered to defend them. Because they couldn’t be bothered to defend themselves.
One fifth of the country would actively cheer their decline but another half of the population is completely apathetic at their decline. There’s a lesson for both in there somewhere.
Spending on education whilst obviously having personal benefits also has societal benefits, therefore if you don't want parents of children to aim for private schools you should seek to improve state schools so they become the default choice of your upper middle class professionals. (I imagine what we're about to see is a lot of displacement spending towards top up tutoring/after school clubs by parents now priced out of private education)
Some tweeks I would have made which would have kept the whole thing fiscally positive,
1) Charge VAT only on the accommodation/boarding elements
2) Charge VAT to non UK Citizens
3) Linked with 2) you could charge VAT/Business Rates if non UK Citizen enrollment exceeds 5-15% , thus requiring schools to be focused at British citizens.
As an addendum if your UMC professional is no longer able to shell out £40k+ of post tax income, they may seek to drop their hours/increase pension contributions etc, there's a bunch of second order impacts as well on public finances.
Well written articles like these are the reason I am a subscriber, this topic has not been discussed in detail by any other major news publication. I was at Eton few months ago for an event, 90% of students I met there were of international background .
Someone should do a little bit of digging into why the Grammar schools actually got the axe.
I think it was P Hitchens so it might be guff but a non-trivial part of it was becuase the of baby boom, a lot of middle class kids began to not get accepted into the Grammar schools because their capacity had t changed. And that laid the groundwork for a building of resentment among the middle classes which then led to the dissolution.
Perhaps there’s an equivalent trend here wheee a critical mass of Upper Middle class native parents have no affinity with these institutions anymore it paves the way for a more radical solution in education more broadly.
The extra time scam should be stopped by marking all grades with an (E) to show that the person did not sit in normal conditions
State schools should be allowed to remove disruptive pupils (one of the biggest wins from private schools)
Parents should be allowed to deduct from their taxes whatever the state spends per pupil (plus vat) [capped at 50% of your tax bill].So the 20k school costs 24k to someone from overseas. The 20k school costs 15k to the local tax payer (20k + 20% VAT - 8k x 120%)
Race based policies are racism and should be banned in the state and any organization with charitable status. No more bursaries marked "no whites allowed".
Rewriting this comment for added detail:
I went to a boy's grammar in the Yorkshire Dales in the Nineties. I was also in an Anglican choir. Two rehearsals a week and two Sunday services. Choir holidays in the summer. I sang at Guildford Cathedral and in St. Helier. We even got paid.
Being in the choir also exposed me to older choirboys applying to Oxbridge. Nobody in my family had ever been to university. I went to Cambridge in 2002.
I went on to teach at a boarding school and a grammar school, after work experience at some nice comps. One key client of many independent schools is the Premier League. I taught quite a few sons of ex-Premier League players. Lots of Chinese/Hong Kongers/Russians. Youth footballers from Manchester United and Liverpool. And some very lazy children of ultra-rich, new-money Britons.
I pity the white lads of today. Second-choice all ways in the pandering femocracy. Drubbed by Yookay aesthetics and "urban" music. The girlification and comprehensivisation of everything, ignoring the fact that softer, gentler chaps had a place in things like church choirs, orchestras, scout groups. (Good) extracurricular activities are virtually non-existent in the state sector (and there's always a fee attached for anything else).
The state education system remains subservient to the lowest decile of students. Parents will sacrifice money to prevent their kids from having lessons curtailed because a disruptive child cannot be disciplined by the teacher.
A very interesting but niche topic. I was literally talking to a school master of a “prestige boarding school” on the weekend articulating exactly this - in his house he’s lost a few boys because of VAT, but the beds are still full they’re just replaced the English boys with international students.
When you say “they lack friends”, it reminds me of 2010-2019 Conservative Party, who thought they could bumble election-to-election without trying to win any arguments or improve their reputation outside a 6-8 week election campaign. Now they’re at risk of electoral wipeout, because no one can be bothered to defend them. Because they couldn’t be bothered to defend themselves.
One fifth of the country would actively cheer their decline but another half of the population is completely apathetic at their decline. There’s a lesson for both in there somewhere.
Spending on education whilst obviously having personal benefits also has societal benefits, therefore if you don't want parents of children to aim for private schools you should seek to improve state schools so they become the default choice of your upper middle class professionals. (I imagine what we're about to see is a lot of displacement spending towards top up tutoring/after school clubs by parents now priced out of private education)
Some tweeks I would have made which would have kept the whole thing fiscally positive,
1) Charge VAT only on the accommodation/boarding elements
2) Charge VAT to non UK Citizens
3) Linked with 2) you could charge VAT/Business Rates if non UK Citizen enrollment exceeds 5-15% , thus requiring schools to be focused at British citizens.
As an addendum if your UMC professional is no longer able to shell out £40k+ of post tax income, they may seek to drop their hours/increase pension contributions etc, there's a bunch of second order impacts as well on public finances.
Well written articles like these are the reason I am a subscriber, this topic has not been discussed in detail by any other major news publication. I was at Eton few months ago for an event, 90% of students I met there were of international background .
Someone should do a little bit of digging into why the Grammar schools actually got the axe.
I think it was P Hitchens so it might be guff but a non-trivial part of it was becuase the of baby boom, a lot of middle class kids began to not get accepted into the Grammar schools because their capacity had t changed. And that laid the groundwork for a building of resentment among the middle classes which then led to the dissolution.
Perhaps there’s an equivalent trend here wheee a critical mass of Upper Middle class native parents have no affinity with these institutions anymore it paves the way for a more radical solution in education more broadly.
You may be interested in this article:
https://www.pimlicojournal.co.uk/p/mass-education-and-britains-long
The extra time scam should be stopped by marking all grades with an (E) to show that the person did not sit in normal conditions
State schools should be allowed to remove disruptive pupils (one of the biggest wins from private schools)
Parents should be allowed to deduct from their taxes whatever the state spends per pupil (plus vat) [capped at 50% of your tax bill].So the 20k school costs 24k to someone from overseas. The 20k school costs 15k to the local tax payer (20k + 20% VAT - 8k x 120%)
Race based policies are racism and should be banned in the state and any organization with charitable status. No more bursaries marked "no whites allowed".
About 35% of UK-born private school students receive bursaries or scholarships. This rises to 40% at boarding schools.
https://www.isc.co.uk/media/9316/isc_census_2023_final.pdf
Tax more what you want less of…