I have just spent eight days in Naples. My daughter and I stayed at a flat in a relatively poor part of the City with a young couple. (They advised us not to wear good watches or carry credit cards or any substantial amount of cash.) The wife told me to that "most" children in Naples go to private primary schools. The children on the floor above with whom my daughter played - offspring of a family of modest means - were at a private school.

"Why?" I asked.

She said it was because the government schools were not 'secure'. There were children there who were aggressive. There were knives.

This seems to be the turning point for many parents around the world. I think it is often very difficult for parents to see that their child is getting a poor education. But they quite clearly grasp and react to any physical danger to their children.

The wife is not an educationalist and there was no sign of any newspapers in the house. So, while liking and respecting her greatly, I would not use the information she gave me as evidence in a book or article. It needs to be investigated and confirmed. But it interesting, as an anecdote at least, that there are people who are not rich at all, in Italy, who send their children to private schools.

She said it was quite different in Sicily, where she comes from. There, most children go to the government schools. Implicitly, the schools are safe there. She also said, more puzzlingly, that in Naples most children do go to the government schools at the secondary school stage. Her explanation was that, by then, the good children have learnt to cope with the bad children. I think that definitely needs more investigation.

The price paid for the schooling seemed incredibly low. She said it was 140 Euros a month and that the children went from 8.15 to 4.00 for that price. The cost was much lower if they left a few hours earlier. I wondered how on earth the cost could be so low.

It is a pity that, as far as I know, there is no on writing about the failure of state education in advanced countries. James Tooley writes about its failure in poorer countries. But there is another big story out there. If anyone has the time to find out more about the numbers using private schools in Italy, I would be fascinated to learn more.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Education

Comments (2) TrackBack (0)

Comments

Add a Comment