If you can afford private education do you have a moral obligation to privately educate?

(31 Posts)
momacharlie Sat 20-Apr-13 19:41:39

Just wondering what people think. On a separate thread I was asking for advice on a particular London borough schools and whether people could help me decide whether to state educate or go privately. One view was that if you can afford to educate privately then you should do as there is no point taking a place in an outstanding state primary that could benefit a child with less choices. Thoughts?

ZZZenagain Sat 20-Apr-13 19:44:09

of course it is not a moral obligation. You simply have a choice - which most people do not have. Same with NHS and private health insurance.

You can always try a private school and if you think it isn't worth it, move into the state sector; or v.v. try a state school with the comforting knowledge that if it doesn't prove satisfactory, you do have the option of paying for a private school education.

MintyyAeroEgg Sat 20-Apr-13 19:46:05

Of COURSE not!

<ridiculous question>

Plenty of people can afford to privately educate but choose not to because they do not like the system. Of course, as tax payers, they are entitled to use their local state school if they wish to.

Moomoomie Sat 20-Apr-13 19:47:22

It is totally your choice whether you send your child to state or private.
If you can afford private, you are therefore paying your taxes to fund state schools.
Personally if I could afford private I would send my children to a private school.

IThinkOfHappyWhenIThinkOfYou Sat 20-Apr-13 19:53:22

I can (just) afford to educate privately, I was educated privately but my children are state educated. I prefer state education but I think as long as private education exists there is no incentive at the 'top' of society to do anything to provide a decent state education to all. I don't see why my children should be herded into a ghetto just because we earn enough to pay for it.

'afford' is subjective anyway. What about people who could afford it if they dropped the holiday and the car and the extra curricular activities. What about the people who could afford it if they do 10 hours of overtime every week or took an evening job in addition to their 9-5. Should we all be obliged to work ourselves into the ground and pour the money into private schools so we aren't taking a state place?

SirChenjin Sat 20-Apr-13 19:55:21

Of course not! It's just another ridiculous excuse used by some parents to justify their decision to use private schools.

MirandaWest Sat 20-Apr-13 19:57:30

Of course there is no moral obligation. That is daft.

TheChaoGoesMu Sat 20-Apr-13 20:00:46

Erm, no, how bizarre. If you've already paid in once, why should you be obliged to pay in again unless you want to hmm. My dc go to private school, but if I wanted to use the failing state school in my catchment then I would. If there was a better school I'd use it and save my cash.


Parents interested in education contribute to good state schools. If they want to make a financial contribution then a few donations to the library/PTA/building fund go a long way.

ipadquietly Sat 20-Apr-13 20:04:25

'an obligation arising out of considerations of right and wrong; "he did it out of a feeling of moral obligation".'

That would be a severe indictment of the state system, attended by 93% of children in the country!

difficultpickle Sat 20-Apr-13 21:26:51

There are very very few people who can afford to educate their dcs privately without it having some effect on their way of life. The question of affordability is subjective. There is a lot of other expenditure that I forego in order to have the money to pay school fees. Some of the things that I don't have others view as a necessity (eg I am the only person I know who doesn't have Sky or cable tv - not that not having it is any kind of loss imvho).

CruCru Sat 20-Apr-13 21:58:41

It's a funny idea. It would mean that in very affluent areas no children would go to the local state school.

exoticfruits Sat 20-Apr-13 22:09:33


Asinine Sat 20-Apr-13 22:10:25

I am exercising my moral duty not to use up private school places even though I could potentially afford it, by sending mine to state school. wink

rabbitstew Sat 20-Apr-13 22:28:33

bisjo - you must have a rather limited circle of friends if you are the only person you know who doesn't have Sky or cable TV! grin

As already pointed out, one person's moral obligation to pay private school fees is another person's moral outrage that such behaviour encourages the state and the taxpayer to think they are spending enough on state education when there aren't even enough state school places to go round.

difficultpickle Sat 20-Apr-13 22:34:45

rabbit you may be right but they cover a broad spectrum of income, jobs and social class. I just have no wish to have a satellite dish on my house and our road cannot have cable and I don't watch enough tv to justify the cost (seems expensive to me).

couldwinterstopnowplease Sat 20-Apr-13 22:58:25

Rather than it being an excuse to justify a decision to go private, I assumed the poster on the other thread was saying it in a 'well bugger off private and let the rest of us have the place' way.

As I said on the other thread to the OP, if you pay your taxes, you are entitled to a place in a state school and no way should you feel bad even if you can afford to go private!

AmandaPayneAteTooMuchChocolate Sat 20-Apr-13 23:07:38

No, of course not.

And sadly, the odds are that the place at teh outstanding school will not go to a disadvantaged four year old from a low income family, but some other middle class child marginally outside the current effective catchment. That's what property prices tend to do.

lisad123everybodydancenow Sat 20-Apr-13 23:08:29

Haven't we already had this thread??

Callthemidlife Sat 20-Apr-13 23:29:09

See, now, I see it totally differently. Round my way there are either unbelievably good grammars, or shit secondary moderns. No in between in the state sector. And I think it absolutely appalling that parents spend a fortune at the primary level on either independent schools or on tutors to grab the places at the grammar. We have a private school here where the ONLY selling point for the school is a 92-95% success rate in getting the kids to grammar. It is quite clearly morally abhorrent that some children are tutored to within an inch of their lives so that they can nick the spaces of more clever children who don't have the same advantage.

So, the moral obligation is whether or not you should be depriving a more able child of their educational opportunities by dint of being able to buy an unfair advantage. Of course not. Therefore by definition you do have a moral obligation to let the more able child take the place. The difficulty is that of dont know which child is more able. and unless your child is extraordinarily bright, you can only assume that you've bought yourself an unfair advantage and that's morally crap.

And I say all of that as a mum with kids in the private sector.

mamadoc Sat 20-Apr-13 23:54:07

I think there's a moral obligation not to!

I could possibly afford to send Dd private if I thought it was a worthwhile use of our money but I don't. I strongly believe that she should go to our local school. I have made no effort at all to live near an especially good one either. I just live where I've lived for 10 years before dc were even in prospect.

I think a school should be for everyone in the local community and then everyone will buy into making it a good place. I am a governor at our school and I hope in that way I'm giving some of my time and expertise to improve it. Other people do PTA or listen to reading or help out in other ways and there's a lovely friendly atmosphere and a very diverse school community.

I would imagine that some other folk at our school could afford to go private if they really wanted to (I don't know any millionaires but there are others with solid middle class jobs) but I would be sad if they did as it would weaken the school.

momacharlie Sun 21-Apr-13 07:49:06

Interesting debate! I do sympathise with the 'bugger off to private and let us have the place' post which is why I thought it would be interesting to see what people thought. If a system is overloaded (some kids in our borough got no offer of a state primary school place) then I can see the argument that getting rid of a few people who could afford to educate privately would help. Same with private doctors/hospitals taking the strain off NHS waiting times. Obviously you pay your taxes so have an entitlement to state education but does this mean you should? If you went elsewhere, a child with less choices would get a better education

Wishiwasanheiress Sun 21-Apr-13 07:54:27

Don't be ridiculous. That's snobbery talking not sense. Don't mix with the oiks if u don't need to. Can do wealthy kids good to see mix of people. It's a very much horses for courses decision but please, send kids because u want to and it's best for ur specific kids. No other reasons!

lljkk Sun 21-Apr-13 09:57:12

Anyone who can afford private school (or has a child bright enough to get a cheap place) has a moral obligation to try to put them thru state school to keep the general standard of state schools up which benefits everyone in society. To keep more of us, especially the relatively more privileged, more invested in the quality of the state education sector. And the better state education, the better for all of society.

So the case is strongly in opposition to OP's hypothesis.
I sent DS to private school for a while, btw, it was what he needed (higher pastoral support than state). I am not one to go around living my life as a moral example to others. But if I did...

lljkk Sun 21-Apr-13 10:01:21

Obviously you pay your taxes so have an entitlement to state education


No one should pay taxes so that they can get something back personally for them and only them. That is not the purpose of taxation.

The point of taxation is to have a general environment that benefits us all. ALL. I shudder to think what quality of life I would have if few people around me had access to a decent education & decent medical care, good policing, etc.

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