Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Cyners,

I'm not saying that your son and daughter-in-law are wrong in wanting the best for their children but, from personal experience, the problem with relocating to what is supposedly the best school catchment area is that every chav within a 10-mile radius does exactly the same thing. You'll undoubtedly find that your grandchildren then end up mixing with a load of undesirables whose parents are ractas'. That can be far more damaging long term.

It's far better imo to position yourself for entry to a selective school which admits from a far bigger radius and where the dumbos don't get through the front gate, than to go for the 'best' school within any particular borough which admits from within the closest 1/2 mile.

hils - i don't care what the mix of children is like in the school .... you choose to miss the point .... actually, son+d-in-law didn't re-locate; they just took care when they married in choosing their house location in the first place

fred - we have never been practicing jews, though both sets of grandparents were highly regarded in the jewish community .... nevertheless, we would never (i hope) deny being jewish; d-in-law's family are catholic ..... thus, to have their children baptised to circumvent the schools' (there's more than one!) discreet quota system was pragmatic .... for that matter, my own (private!) school was originally for the sons of clergy and attending chapel mandatory

Hilary

The school near me that entry is by buying an expensive house is not full of chavs. It is full of champagne socialists who vote Labour and a few vote Lib. The parents are largely professional people with a large number of the chattering classes. There are some media personalities who often complain about private education. Their views don't seem to stop them from buying a local house in excess of £3m to get into the school. Double standards once again.


Don't forget that many Labour MPs went to private schools. Ed Balls, Tony Blair went to public schools.

One of my sons is at Uni. He has joined the cricket club. Every single member went to a private school. He has just signed the contract for renting a large detached house with 1/2 acre and 7 beds for the next 2 years. The other 6 students are all members of the cricket club.

Funny how sport at the highest level in the UK is dominated by the products of private schools.

hays - that can't possibly be true! .... professional football is the obvious; ones who have been to uni like cyril knowles are few and far between, and i'm afraid not too many make a decent fist of their lives once they retire

gf
You seem to be one of the sub species of the woking class. That particular variety is the one burdened by the massive chip on their shoulder. I came from a working class background and I recognise the chip on shoulder mentality in some of my relatives.

cynic
Plenty went to private schools though. Frank Lampard has all A* including Latin. They certainly send their kids to private schools.

Hays,

Stop chattering and mimicking your betters, it will not earn you any favours!

Looks like Oscar Pistorius is going to be granted bail.

Hays,

You must visit your optician sometime as your tinted glasses have developed cracks in the lenses.

Look and the man's game and see how many players are as you stated.

Manufacturing false statements once again comes to mind.

Pistorius - whether he is granted bail or not, it is murder. If it was pre-meditated or not, it's still murder. The gun culture in South Africa sounds almost as bad as in the USA.

Bail given at £20,00 until June

shut up fred :-) ..... btw, sure "the man's game" is rugby league!

hays - quite rightly, prof footballers have aspirations for their children, and perceive that private education will help them along the way - not necessarily true as it happens .....

for fred and his ilk to get all huffy-puffy about such things is humbug ..... the world isn't and never has been or will be "fair", which is why this present school culture that no one is allowed to fail, whether in exams or sport is nothing more than pandering to the utopians ..... that does not mean to say that "society" should not try to up-grade education systems etc to give everyone a better chance in life - should they choose to take it - whereas the current trend is dumb down ..... that is why unis are now full of the unmerited studying (perhaps a misnomer) for worthless degrees with which they haven't a hope in hell of finding a decent job

doodlebug - agreed, but it was a racing certainty that he would get bail.

Is that because he is a runner?

Take his blades away and I could beat him.




(Not really sure about that.) 8-)

But at the trial he won't have a leg to stand on.

I wonder if it had been the other way round whether his girlfriend would have been granted bail.

Now there's a good idea!!!


Mr Pistorius is next due in court on 4 June but his trial may not be for many months. Magistrate Desmond Nair also ordered him to give up all his firearms as a condition of bail.

Cyners,

I don't know if I'm missing your point or not.

All I can offer is my personal experience with my own children which is that the supposed 'best' state schools around Nelson Mandela Towers are populated with the offspring of chavs. Everyone plays the same game and, as I'm sure you know, money can't buy class. Although we positioned ourselves so that our children would get into those schools if all else failed, they fortunately both passed their respective admissions tests for selective grammars in the neighbouring borough and we were spared them having to mix with the numpties. Unfortunately, a couple of my friends' children weren't so fortunate, and my friends were permanently bitching about the bad influence of the other children.

Not knowing where your son lives, I can't say whether the same scenario applies round his neck of the bois.

I would suggest the influence of the parents is more formative, unless they are inadequate.

hils - i don't really know; he lives in a "nice" town in north yorks, but for sure there are some rougher areas there too ..... the biggest prob with the pupils of many comp schools is the lack of discipline and aspiration that has been instilled (clearly not!) by their parents ...... thus, many children of such upbringing will have a propensity towards disruption and a disinterest in learning and getting on in life

generally, children who go to selective schools of all types come from families who have aspirations for their children and are (much more) likely to have done such basic things as reading to their children at a very early age ..... this has very little or anything to do with affluence