MMD: Should Donald send Huey, Duey, or Lewy to private school? 25 September 2007 at 4:45PM in Money Saving Polls 36 replies 5.9K views

Former_MSE_Archna

Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:

Should Donald send Huey, Duey or Luey to private school?

Donald and Daisy Ducke have three sons, the eldest Huey is about the age of going to senior school. They don’t rate their local comprehensive, but there’s an academically top private school nearby, but they’ve only enough money to send one of the sons and there are no scholarships.

While Huey's the oldest and will just about get in, Duey is by far the most talented and they’re worried he won’t be challenged enough at the local school, and little Luey is more sporty (he’s a great swimmer).

So should they send Huey now, even though it means either they’ll have to pull him out later or Duey won’t get it?

Should Donald send Huey, Duey or Luey to private school?
Click reply to have your say

Previous MMDs:

Should David and Victoria pocket the pizza?

Should Mrs Robinson leave all her cash to Garfunkel?
Should Chanelle avoid using Ziggy?

nm2000

I wouldnt send any of them. Mind you why not sit all three of them down and explain the situation to them... You never know kids can be quite grown up about thigs and they might not want to go to private school anyway...

averagepunter

All or none. Perhaps they can use the money to move closer to a comprehensive they do rate. Seems to be the done thing these days.

Kernow_Kid

Don't bother deciding which kid to send, use the money to get a private tutor for extra lessons after school for all three kids

tallgirld

I wouldnt send any of them. Dont think it would be fair to send one only. That would be like having enough money to buy 3 pairs of "no name trainers"or buying 1 pair of designer trainers and having to choose which child should have them.

drowningnotwaving_2

Very bad idea to only send one - this happened in my family and was not successful. I was one of 4 children of pretty poor parents - I was academically very bright and was sent to private school for two years while my siblings went to the local comp. I eventually asked to leave cos it just didn't seem right. It didn't affect my education and I got better GCSE/A level results than most of my friends that I left behind in my fancy private school.

Btw, I don't rate private education at all - but it depends what you're looking for in education. Do you just want the 3 Rs or do you want to learn about life?

Bridge_Teacher

If you're going to send one child, send the one that you think will benefit most from a private education; however, alienation from the other two siblings is almost certainly going to occur.

sunchick_2

we had a similar situation in our family. No steady income, living on small island with mediocre secondary education. With the help of my father, we sent the eldest son to boarding school. As things stand we cannot do this for the others; it is possible we may be able to when the time comes. We made our decision based on wanting to do the best we can, at any given time for each child - being sent to boarding school being the best at the time for the eldest. It seems wrong to deny an opportunity to a child if it is there.

seven-day-weekend

Try to get them all into a better comp (moving if necessary) and then use private tutors.

adr0ck

very difficult decision

probably go for the private tutor idea myself

wouldn't want to rely on the state system OMG

one pace fits all (the slowest)......what an education system we have in this country......everyones educated to the "special needs" level in the class

can someone please tell me why it costs more to send kids to state school than private school?

sluggy1967

With the right support from their parents the kids will do well at any school. Even if you took the (supposed) "worst" school in the country you will find great success stories. They should put their faith in their local school and get involved in the school (parent governor for example) and their children and others in the community will reap the benefits.