"Privileged" Education

[Jennifer13]

Does the school you went to matter? That very much depends on whether or not you got a tertiary education and what field you're working in. If you want to own a TV company, then yes, you'll need the exclusive ties that will draw in multi-millions of dollars in investment from your fellow former students. Personally, I believe it's your tertiary qualifications and field of work/experience that give you more prestige. It seems odd to me that this only matters if you went to school in Sydney or Melbourne (and it seems to) and it mostly matters if you're male.

I can't speak for Div's field, but in the corporate world, being well-qualified, good looking (and well dressed), female and smart is a winner every time. It's almost as shallow, but true. Oh, and the suburb where you currently live is usually asked/noticed. The other thing is the working relationships and connections you make in your career. Knowing the right people is key, but not as many of them come from Sydney/Melbourne private schools as you'd think, because they're often older and sometimes from overseas.

Does private schooling afford you privileges that would otherwise not be open to you? I think privilege is mostly dependent on your family background and what you then go out and make of your life. Some ppl become very successful through luck, brains and hard work, some start out with not much going against them. How do you define 'privilege'? If it's being able to jet off to Italy for every holiday, live on the waterfront and not have enough room for all the 0s on your bank statement, then it's mostly family connections. If privilege is living well and not stressing about money (or much else), then it's luck, brains and hard work.

Does it play a role in your future eg job selection, lifestyle choices etc? Living where I do, I see a lot of privately-schooled women who have since applied their expensive education to SAHMotherhood. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, by any stretch of the imagination, but if you believe that the private school education is set up to make them world-beaters, then you may be off the mark. A lot of private girls schools still seem to have the philosophy of preparing their 'girls' to become the lovely wives of important men. You could argue that definitely affects their lifestyle choice, given they aren't exactly living on the poverty line, but I hope for better than my DD to become someone's pretty plaything, who speaks nicely and knows all the right ppl. In some ways, their schooling has limited their life choices, because going against family wishes or trying something new out isn't as easy as you think.

I know some women who are drifting in their 30s because that perfect husband hasn't come along (or slipped through their fingers when they found someone younger and prettier) and because they didn't go to university they have no real qualification and no need/desire to earn a living and work their way up. No work, no family, no drive.

Does it shape the person/adult you become? I think personality and what values you instil in your children at home have a much bigger influence and schooling is taken by each child with the attitude you help instil. As someone else pointed out, a w@nker will always be a w@nker. Maybe because he got a good education, he's a better paid w@nker. But I think education needs to be considered in terms of the whole lot - including (and especially) tertiary. The w@nker with the good job certainly didn't stop at Yr 12. And there are plenty of Rhodes scholars who are from the public system.

And how do you classify someone whose run the whole gamut - public, private, regional university, sandstone university? Because I know plenty (and I'm almost one of them, bar the private bit) of women who've done all four. With varying degrees of success. Most of the really successful women I personally know (most in their late 30s, or beyond) actually came from regional areas, where posh private schools don't exist, are very smart and have worked extremely hard. But that's only in the corporate sphere, could be different elsewhere.