A lot of people's views in regards to private vs public schooling tends to be envy-based or mainly built around ignorance.

From what I can see, we probably had slightly better teachers, some better facilities but in the end we take the same exams, we get the same access to universities and people succeed off their own back in my types of school.

I think I have worked with more people at management level from public schools than private - and its key in the fact that a lot of the time you can't remotely tell the difference.

I've never gone in for the old school tie and that sort of palava but that's more down to my grounded working class upbringing (and I have pointed out previously).

I wish people wouldn't get so caught up in the envy-driven "why should they get that?" red mist.

Please delete wrote on Jan 25^th, 2011 at 8:47am:


We're not going down that path again.
Your class is nothing to do with what you currently earn.

It's your family background and where they are from.
My father's background is a poor, manual labour family background - hence the working class roots.

Irrespective of the here and now.

We studied 'class and wealth' at school and this is a classic of misunderstanding of the two.

Please delete wrote on Jan 25^th, 2011 at 8:55am:



You reckon????
A lot of people's views on areas such as this is built upon class ignorance and the whole "them and us" thing.

It is ridiculous.

There is a burning envy in some quarters that private school, middle to higher incomes get a whole heap of advantages they are denied.

From my experience, that isn't the case.

Please delete wrote on Jan 25^th, 2011 at 9:13am:


Not at all, it's the fact that I am able to see the whole picture and not some burning envy side of things looking up.

I went to a private school, my parents are working class, I can appreciate that the whole argument that people have based on envy is nonsense.

Class to me is irrelevant, but it does play a part in how many people see things.

What I am saying is that people need to forget their hang-ups of 'rich kids get this and that' and get on with succeeding themselves - because their beliefs are often wrong.

Working class (or Lower class, Labouring class) is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs (as measured by skill, education and lower incomes), often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes. Working classes are mainly found in industrialized economies and in urban areas of non-industrialized economies.
Workers on Volkswagen assembly line in Wolfsburg, Western Germany, 1973

As with many terms describing social class, working class is defined and used in many different ways. When used non-academically, it typically refers to a section of society dependent on physical labor, especially when compensated with an hourly wage. Its use in academic discourse is contentious, especially following the decline of manual labor in postindustrial societies. Some academics question the usefulness of the concept of a working class.

The term is usually contrasted with the Upper class and Middle class, in general terms of access to economic resources, education and cultural interests. The cut-off between Working class and Middle class is more specifically where a population spends money primarily as a lifestyle rather than for sustenance (for example, on fashion versus merely nutrition and shelter).

Its usage can alternately be derogatory, or can express a sense of pride in those who self-identify as Working class.

Please delete wrote on Jan 25^th, 2011 at 9:21am:


So my father brought up on a council estate by a father who worked per hour on building sites fails this category how exactly?

That's my family background.

Point proved, let's move on.....

Please delete wrote on Jan 25^th, 2011 at 9:25am:


A person is brought up by their parents.
That is their class.

You don't change class mid-race.