Education and the education system in the UK are massive sociocultural issues. The most effective methods of ensuring tomorrow's future is given the best learning opportunities are key talking points for any politician when running for any election—general or otherwise.
A major power play in education, as debated frequently by those in government, is the class divide.
Now, those of us who have studied the education system in the UK can probably talk about the tripartite system, which was the arrangement of state-funded secondary education where an eleven-plus exam divided students into either grammar schools or secondary modern schools.
One could argue that this system demonstrated the socioeconomic divide in the UK, as those from more affluent backgrounds could afford tutors for their children's exams, ensuring they got into the best schools possible for that area.
However, as the tripartite system is only still active in certain places of the UK, there is now a bigger debate surrounding education in the UK, being the divide between private and state education.
The University of St Andrews boasts the second-highest percentage of students who went to a private school in the UK, with 36.9% of students attending the university having been in the private education sector at some point in their academic career.
As someone who is in an interesting position, having gone to a state school for the majority of my school career and then getting a scholarship to go to private education for my final two years of school, the various opportunities that arise from the different methods of schooling is something that interests me.
This column aims to interview various people who have been to state schools, private schools, or a mixture of both to examine the positives and negatives of various education systems and to evaluate how schooling methods have helped equip students for university and beyond.
If you would like to contribute to this column, don't hesitate to contact me via my email ecl9@st-andrews.ac.uk to arrange an interview.
Credit: Somebody/Unsplash.
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