In Defence of Independent Schools
06 Aug 2007
A version of this letter appeared in The Scotsman on 4th August
Sir,
The idea that the poor subsidise private schools as George Foulkes suggests (Platform 1st August) is wrong-headed. The opposite is of course the case – those who use private schools subsidise state schools because they pay taxes to fund them without using them. Besides, to claim that by not paying certain taxes you are imposing costs on others is perverse. We may as well accuse him of robbing the poor because he is not taxed more. Instead of bullying private schools to do more ‘for the community’ - a tax by another name - Foulkes should ask himself seriously why hard working parents are prepared to pay twice for their childrens’ education. He calls it snobbery. In that case most Scots (who surveys show would use private schools if they could afford them) are both snobs and profligates. Here’s an alternative explanation - could it be that Scottish state schools are not as good as he might think? In European countries there is no distinction between private and state – because all schools are independent, with parents’ choices backed up by state money. The result is a universally high standard of schooling. Here would be a more fruitful line of enquiry for Foulkes and his colleagues.
Tom Miers
Policy Institute