Going to private school makes you twice as likely to vote Tory, study finds
Research reveals a private education is directly linked to holding rightwing views and voting Conservative in midlife
So, private education really is better than state then. QED.
Does going to a decaying inner city school make you more likely to vote Labour? Just as pernicious perhaps.
Are those privately educated less likely to opt for basket-weaving and grievance studies degrees?
Sadly, asiaseen, I suspect the answer is actually ‘No’…
Getting a decent education and exposure to a different mentality to that found in the state education system run by the ‘blob’, tends to lead people to reject socialism – shock, horror.
Although why do we see so many middle class, public school educated, spoiled brats and adults chucking soup at paintings and glueing themselves to the road?
Wiggins said that despite their findings there were still very large differences in patterns of voting behaviour in the groups. “I was quite surprised to see there were not that many diehard Conservative voters even in people in their 40s,” he said. “We’re only seeing a fifth of these private school attendees voting solidly Conservative over the four elections. It’s not a landslide.”
What do I know, eh? Given it remains bad form to discuss politics or religion over the dinner table, while at work or in a public bar, I have no conclusive proof about the past or future voting intentions of most people I know. Recall having lunch with several FT staff years ago and being shocked at their far left sympathies. Current young neighbours include a number of ultra-woke evangelicals that hope to save the world (while making pots of money) … have learnt to smile politely as I pass by and keep my head down.
“directly linked to holding rightwing views and voting Conservative in midlife”
Have they found a link between right-wing views and the current lot of tories? Inquiring minds etc.
Recall having lunch with several FT staff years ago and being shocked at their far left sympathies
I think the FT merged with The European six years ago and didn’t tell anyone.
Anyway, no, you’re not going to get any sense out of the Sky People. They would literally rather be stabbed by the Diversity they’ve imported than admit you were right.
They would literally rather their son were stabbed to death on London Bridge by the Diversity than admit you were right.
In my case, it was perfectly simple. In its 1982 election manifesto, the Labour Party made the same vindictive pledge that it did recently to remove charitable tax relief on education, which would have led to the closure of my school. That any political creed would lead someone to drive a century-old institution out of business, separate me from my friends, and force me into an unfamiliar school out of sheer spite turned me off socialism for life.
I still have to suppress a hollow laugh whenever they try to make out that it’s about caring for people.
(To be fair, I’d probably have felt the same if I’d gone to a state indoctrination centre closed under Torycuts™. Or consolidated into a larger one by a Labour council.)
“Although why do we see so many middle class, public school educated, spoiled brats and adults chucking soup at paintings and glueing themselves to the road?”
Thats just social one-upmanship. The modern social hierarchy is that everyone wants to be a victim, that way lies the power and prestige. So if you are born into a privileged position – wealth, social position and ability to make money from that, then you need to somehow burnish your victimhood credentials, and being a victim of Big Oil et al is the easiest way to do that. Your moral position in life (being seen as a bit iffy due to the accident of your birth into a privileged position) is thus suitably strengthened. And of course you don’t have to give up any of the other advantages in life you have. Win/Win!
“makes you”: in Guardianworld a correlation is always a cause.
Is it possible that very few genuine Socialists want to send their children to private schools?
(Rhetorical question)
In which cause the correlation is correct but the causation runs in the opposite direction.
What Jim said.
But it’s worth pointing out that the number of private-school-educated twats who glue themselves to paintings etc is qwuite small. As a proportion of those who have attended fee-paying schools it can only be measured in ppm (parts per million).
I doubt it’s the teaching at private schools that makes the pupils right wing. More likely it’s the acquaintance of children of oligarchs from “socialist” hell holes.
Educating the children of said tycoons would be classed as an export, I suppose, so VAT would not be chargeable. (?)
While in the past this may have been the case, it seems all schools, private and state, are falling over themselves to indoctrinate the next generations in progressive values.
Have two daughters. Both privately schooled. One is pretty far left. The other is right of centre.
“very few genuine Socialists want to send their children to private schools?”
Friends of ours did. I asked why. “Because we wanted them to get a schooling as good as the ones we got free in rural Scotland years ago.” Which was our motivation too.
My family’s experiment with free state education lasted precisely one generation – mine. Thank God for the Tories in the wartime government, eh?
A couple of years ago, I went to a reunion at my fee paying school -40 years after we left. It was interesting that some guys (3)were purely sciency types ;the 5 guys who were convinced Liberals back in the day were Lib Dem remoaning maniacs and I was still complaining about the lack of a Conservative government. Just going to a good school doesn’t mean that you have any sense
They’ve got the causation back to front.
What actually happens is that people who vote Tory are more likely to be the kind of people who send their children to the best school they can find, and regard doing so as their top financial priority.