I have been wanting to blog for a while for what to me is a highly emotive issue. Sometimes when you sit on the fence it's not because you don't have an opinion on the matter, but because there are two massive forces, existent only within your mind, pulling you in two different directions. The charitable status of independent schools is for me one of them. Each side of the argument represents a large chunk of who I am. I both love and hate them at the same time.
It's a cruel dilemma for me, made even more harsh by the fact I was indeed at one of the UK's top private schools. At times like these I wish I was a Tory. It makes moral problems a lot less complicated; you just always pick the selfish one. Unfortunately my conscience puts things in a much deeper perspective. I have always been rather confused over who I am socially. I was never a sk8er (yeh- that's how you spell it...), goth, rugby guy or geek. But further than that, I was neither rich nor poor. While I was at a top fee- paying school, my father was a minister of the church in one of Edinburgh's poorest areas. I spent every Tuesday night of my life growing up with the kids in my dad's church's area. None of them had a lot. I always remember as a very young boy wondering why their hands were always dirty and their hair never combed. Games with them outside in the local area consisted of playing in abandoned garages and among the broken glass of the broken- into cars. The next morning I was back at school, with a £100 blazer, crisply ironed shirt, polished shoes and woolen socks pulled up to my knees. My friends and activities throughout the week were always quite different than they were on a Tuesday night, but never better or worse.
Those children were there at the Church's charity. One time several years ago one of those children broke into the Church. All they got away with was a couple of bottles of wine. The silver and valuables were either in the bank or locked in another room, but not that it matters. Whether they took a box of crayons or a silver communion set, the damage was done before they left. Using a foot print in playdough they had dropped on the floor, they found who did it. I'm not saying the actions of one of those kids reflected in any way what all of them would have done, but in some way it shaped a lot of my politics.
My father gave evidence in court; not against them, but for them, and advocated for them not to be punished. And it was that which shaped my politics more than I could ever imagine.
What does this have to do with private schools?- well, having a mother who was a musician, I'd been shown to have musical talent at a very young age, and my local state school which didn't even offer music at the time was not acceptable to my parents, and so I went to a private school with its own music department. After time the fees went up, and my parents faced the realisation that they were going to have to take me out. But my school were keen to keep me, and so I received money donated by others within the school to pay for my school fees. They didn't know who I was, and I didn't know their names, but they gave and donated without question or judgement, without expectation or condition, and I will always be eternally grateful for the burden they carried, and the person they helped me become. I was there by their charity, and I came to love my school. And yes I hated aspects of it. I didn't deserve it any more than any one else, but it was delivered in a way which didn't narrow opportunity but indeed widened it.
I guess I wrote all this today because I wanted you all to know that I am thinking about it. I haven't made up my mind yet, and I don't know if I ever will. I love my school, but I hate some of the things it represents.
Charitable status is nothing, really. The rich will always have choice and greater opportunity when it comes to education, even if you banned private schools. But the fact for me remains, that it takes more than just one ideological argument to close down a truly wonderful and loving educational institution; a place which showed me more charity than I have ever seen in any other part of society.
It's a cruel dilemma for me, made even more harsh by the fact I was indeed at one of the UK's top private schools. At times like these I wish I was a Tory. It makes moral problems a lot less complicated; you just always pick the selfish one. Unfortunately my conscience puts things in a much deeper perspective. I have always been rather confused over who I am socially. I was never a sk8er (yeh- that's how you spell it...), goth, rugby guy or geek. But further than that, I was neither rich nor poor. While I was at a top fee- paying school, my father was a minister of the church in one of Edinburgh's poorest areas. I spent every Tuesday night of my life growing up with the kids in my dad's church's area. None of them had a lot. I always remember as a very young boy wondering why their hands were always dirty and their hair never combed. Games with them outside in the local area consisted of playing in abandoned garages and among the broken glass of the broken- into cars. The next morning I was back at school, with a £100 blazer, crisply ironed shirt, polished shoes and woolen socks pulled up to my knees. My friends and activities throughout the week were always quite different than they were on a Tuesday night, but never better or worse.
Those children were there at the Church's charity. One time several years ago one of those children broke into the Church. All they got away with was a couple of bottles of wine. The silver and valuables were either in the bank or locked in another room, but not that it matters. Whether they took a box of crayons or a silver communion set, the damage was done before they left. Using a foot print in playdough they had dropped on the floor, they found who did it. I'm not saying the actions of one of those kids reflected in any way what all of them would have done, but in some way it shaped a lot of my politics.
My father gave evidence in court; not against them, but for them, and advocated for them not to be punished. And it was that which shaped my politics more than I could ever imagine.
What does this have to do with private schools?- well, having a mother who was a musician, I'd been shown to have musical talent at a very young age, and my local state school which didn't even offer music at the time was not acceptable to my parents, and so I went to a private school with its own music department. After time the fees went up, and my parents faced the realisation that they were going to have to take me out. But my school were keen to keep me, and so I received money donated by others within the school to pay for my school fees. They didn't know who I was, and I didn't know their names, but they gave and donated without question or judgement, without expectation or condition, and I will always be eternally grateful for the burden they carried, and the person they helped me become. I was there by their charity, and I came to love my school. And yes I hated aspects of it. I didn't deserve it any more than any one else, but it was delivered in a way which didn't narrow opportunity but indeed widened it.
I guess I wrote all this today because I wanted you all to know that I am thinking about it. I haven't made up my mind yet, and I don't know if I ever will. I love my school, but I hate some of the things it represents.
Charitable status is nothing, really. The rich will always have choice and greater opportunity when it comes to education, even if you banned private schools. But the fact for me remains, that it takes more than just one ideological argument to close down a truly wonderful and loving educational institution; a place which showed me more charity than I have ever seen in any other part of society.
1 comment:
A fine, fine choice of topic there Matt. It's a complicated question whether such schools should have charitable status.
I went to a state school but I would happily vote for the charitable status to remain.
In your experience it was music that made something of a difference, for me it was sport.
Arriving at Edin university I was instantly in the company of kids from Oxford, Eton, Cambridge, USA etc etc.
Upon being asked if I played rugby or skied or did rock climbing or cricket or hockey or ultimate frisbee or any number of sports I could only meekly reply that football was all I had really experienced at school sport-wise (excluding rounders and running up and down the canal bank for cross country running).
I remember in Fresher's Week at Halls of Residence one private school fresher asked if there was anywhere for him to keep his pole vault.
If public schools allow some kids the chance to have these experiences that, ideally, all kids should have, then I'm all for the Government overlooking the tax that they could potentially claw out of them.
PS I can't begin to describe how much I enjoyed this line:
"At times like these I wish I was a Tory. It makes moral problems a lot less complicated; you just always pick the selfish one. "
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