In praise of going private

To The Observer

I am from Germany, having been educated here until the age of 16 at state schools, but was fortunate enough to complete my A levels at a boarding school in Cambridge, going on to study at the LSE.

You mention Germany as a positive example of how to do it differently. The German state system groups children at the age of ten into a threetier system, hugely dependent on your social background. Generally, only the top-tier allows you to go on to university – and even this top tier has many shortcomings. The school I attended was in an affluent area and a third of my year group moved to British boarding schools to complete sixth form. If you try to curtail the advantages of private education, a mobile elite in our global times will always find ways to counteract this.

This, however, has been a great advantage to the UK’S education sector. British boarding schools admit thousands of international students every year, bringing vast sums of money into the country. Most children go on to complete their university education in Britain, further contributing to the economy.

The huge economic and cultural benefits of being the educator of the world should not be forgotten when debating the private school sector; neither should the downsides of alternative systems. Lorenz Kost, Germany