I'm prepared to take the flak...
I went to Public School - my parents worked hard and, because they felt it might be a good idea if their kid could read by the age of 18, sent me to a decent school (I went ot a state primary and they were told outright by the headmistress that as I was rather bright, the state system wouldn't care for me at all - the focus was on the cunts and retards, as that made jobs for social workers and teachers and the results required were easier to acheive).

I had a lot of stuff as a kid, but I was ill and couldn't go out much before I was about 7 - hence the need to have stuff to occupy me with in the house. I appreciated it all and still have all the Star Wars stuff in the loft, having sold the rest when I was a teenager to help pay to redecorate my room and the hobby room my dad had, as I used a corner of it to work on my radio-controlled car (I used to race when I was a nipper).

Spending money for holidays was only ever what I'd saved of my pocket money and, although I used to get a decent birthday and Christmas, anything I wanted, I had to save up for and buy, unless it was a requirement for school (hockey stick, rugby boots, etc).

My dad bought my first car, as he spotted it and knew it was ideal - I gave him what savings I had towards it, but I was, at the time trying to finance a fiancee who was sucking every penny out of me (a mistake I rectified some time later).

I've worked hard to provide for myself, my (now) wife and I've done my best to reapy the kindness my family has shown me.

Yet, because I was born in Surrey, went to Public School and have made a good career, it seems that the bitter, twisted inverse-snobs posting a lot of jealousy on here would label me as spoilt. Yet, when i lived in Leeds for five years, I saw kids whose parents laughed at the brats throwing rocks at the schools they were bunking off from as "they could always go on the social", so why bother trying to get an education or a job? I'm happy to take the abuse, but I think that these twats are the spoilt ones - they think they have a god-given right to expect handouts, for the state to raise their spawn, that no-one can criticise them ("I know my rights!") and, heaven forfend you point out their thieving pikey brats are doing something morally reprehensible.

No, they are, it seems, the salt of the earth, whilst I am destined to be a spoilt ponce purely because I and my fmaily aspired to be something other than council-housing fodder and I happen to be able to use the letters "T" and "H" correctly in my speech. Obviously.

This QoTW is showing up a lot of prejudice and bitterness, I think....
(Chad, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 16:59, 42 replies)

Superb
I was in the same position - grew up on a council estate, and my headmaster basically told my parents not to send me to the local Comp for the exact same reasons. My Mum took a job in the local chippy and then the local Liptons (as it was at the time) to afford to send me boarding at the nearest Grammar. Was I spoiled? Definitely - I have three elder siblings who all got sent to the Comp they were desperate to avoid sending me to.

But apparently, because I went to boarding school, I'm either gay or upper class or both. Sorry to disappoint...
(Steve The Monkey, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:05, closed)

Suppose theres a lot of truth in this
Blame the parents for stuck up spoilt cunts and tax-stealing chavs. Just different ends of the spectrum with equal flaws.
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:05, closed)

Well, I wouldn't say you were spoilt
if you had to save your pocket money for things you wanted. Sounds to me like your parents did a fine job preparing you for adulthood. I don't think anyone on this QOTW is equating "having money" with "being spoilt", except those who do have money and are getting defensive...!
(Binary Solo loves a bit of algebra, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:08, closed)

Human nature
There's twats on both sides of the spectrum.
In the end it usually comes down to parenting and how closed minded the individual is.
Funny thing is that there are plenty of drongos that are snobs, and vise versa.
Just people being people.
(SpangoTheWonderBadger is brewing beer, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:13, closed)

Hear Hear!
More of this sort of thing please!

*Adjusts silver spoon now poking into eye*
(Oil Slick, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:14, closed)

Snob!
Just because someone didn't go to a posh school doesn't make them a "thieving pikey brat". You look down on decent ordinary people who haven't spent their childhood being buggered in the dorm. Typical middle class wannabe.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:16, closed)

Er
I'm pretty sure the 'theiving pikey brat' comment is directed towards people who went to NO school and suck money out of the system, not just those who didn't go 'posh'.
(wide walking will, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:32, closed)

yeah
But that's just generalising in the exactly the same way. Is everyone who didn't go to school abusing the system? Is everyone on benefits abusing the system?

Same mentality, different prejudice.
( rofl harris, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:45, closed)

Not really.
There are indeed those who sponge off the system. The woman from Wifeswap a couple of years back being a case in point. Some people do work hard but find themselves placed on a backburner in a system designed more to cater getting everyone through at the expense of the best and brightest.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Wed 15 Oct 2008, 18:30, closed)

My Dad..
receives Disability Living Allowance because he was told he couldn't work any longer after being diagnosed with asbestos-related lung disease.

He worked six or seven days a week for 30+ years in a job that nearly killed him (he was registered disabled after an accident in 1981, but continued to work his full workload for a further 15 years). So, no, I don't think that everyone on benefits is a pikey. I do, however, think that those who believe in geting knocked-up at 16 gives them a right to a free house and a cushy lifestyle with no work are scum and if the state is paying for their breeding programme, then maybe the state should control it, too - if I can't afford to raise 7 kids, I won't have 7 kids, so why should the chavs who are viewing kids as paycheques and whose offspring will soon be stealing my TV?

My dad grew up in a council house after the war and, because of this, worked hard to get away from that lifestyle, and owned his own house from the age of 25. I applaud his efforts and those of the people like him who sought to make their lot better. I have zero sympathy for the scroungers, spongers and ne-er-do-wells who think that the world owes them a living, however.

Oh, and how many of the pikeys who won millions on the lottery have done something to benefit the society that paid for their council house, I wonder...?
(Chad, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 10:39, closed)

Your username is oddly appropriate.
However, personal jibes aside, please provide an actual quote as to where he did this?

If ever there was a

[Citation needed]

button needed it would be here.

Read the post properly before you criticize.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:33, closed)

SOHB
Citation needed. WTF?

Oh and as for your threats of physical violence, anyone can be hard infront of a computer moniter, I am most evenings...
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:49, closed)

Once again

[Citation needed]

It seems I've ruffled your dear little feathers. I didn't actually threaten physical violence, nor am I an enraged keyboard warrior staying up all night. I'm assuming SOHB means sense of humour bypass... not at all. In fact I would say it applies to you more than me.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Wed 15 Oct 2008, 18:28, closed)

I disagree
Firstly, my original remark was tongue in cheek.

Secondly, you completely failed to notice my reference to wanking.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 18:39, closed)

Oh I noticed it
I just decided it didn't merit comment.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Wed 15 Oct 2008, 18:46, closed)

It wasn't very tongue in cheek though was it

(Bazongaloid, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 18:46, closed)

Well
There are two options: either it was tongue in cheek or I'm so thick that I can read something, misinterpret it, have a rant and drop in some insults to boot. Actually I have a history of doing just that and no one ever gets it but it makes me chuckle.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 19:01, closed)

I'm not saying you didn't
intend it to be tongue in cheek, but it didn't come across that way. It read as though you had read something, misinterpreted it, had a rant and dropped in some insults to boot.

If your going for satire in a written format, you've got to push it so far that everyone has to either assume you're joking or your the biggest cunt in the world.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 19:25, closed)

I think
alot of people make the second assumption but I've made a few people laugh along the way. Cheers for the tip, will try harder, either that or put a ;-) after every post.
( stopmeandslapme Cometh the hour, cometh your mum, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 19:41, closed)

By the way...
I'm not a middle-class wannabe - I am, by any definition (qualified professional, married, public-school education, university degree, high income, car owning, living in rural market town) middle class, or even upper-middle class, depending on which edition of the Guardian you happen to be basing your allegations on...

I didn't insult anyone, unlike you - why the personal attack, unless you feel things got a bit close to home?
(Chad, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 10:48, closed)

Spoiled?
Fuck no- sounds like your parents worked bloody hard to get you where you were, and taught you the value of money rather than possessions.
( jim_bob can herd cats., Wed 15 Oct 2008, 17:29, closed)

Chances are their offspring are
were well and truely fucked up though.

I married one.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 0:06, closed)

very nicely said
and it's also why I've been very careful with me posts for this week. There's a thin line between a spoilt person and a person who has more than expected.
( Jeccius Steam Borderlands 2 junkie, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 18:03, closed)

Interesting!
I liked the post, especially because it neatly illustrates that "Spoiled" is an attitude of mind, and nothing really to do with personal wealth... which is interesting...

xS
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 19:53, closed)

so you could read read by the age of 18?
the majority of people on here had a state education and they are clearly more articulate (and interesting) than you.

please use your perfect diction to recite the following...

i "h"ave an incredibly "h"igh opinion of myself whereas most people quickly realise i am i complete "t"osser
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 20:11, closed)

Seconded.
You went to public school because your parents worked hard? So the ninety-three percent of British parents who send their children to a state school don't work? It's interesting that you talk about prejudice and bitterness after sharing your tiresome and outdated cant about adult illiteracy, working-class unemployment and the superiority of an RP accent.

And if you're going to bitch about bitterness, don't bring your ex-fiancee into a completely unrelated story.
(Shinigami, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 21:14, closed)

State education you say?
so that'd be China then?
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 0:08, closed)

what a muppet you are
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_school
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 10:11, closed)

What does this
Have to do with anything?

Your insults achieve what? Because you had a state education (would that include the top art college you claim to have studied at?) you are more interesting and articulate than people fortunate enough to go to private schools?

As to your assumption about his opinion of himself, you are simply wrong. Whereas it might be true, at no point can you work that out from his post.

Same for you Shinigami. Where does he say or even begin to imply anything about parents who send their kids to state school not being hard workers?

As he says, this QOTW is bringing out an awful lot of bitterness.

Bring something positive to the table for once spimf - try to break the habit of a lifetime here.
(Spreddum O Grrrr. That's my vicious circle, that is., Thu 16 Oct 2008, 7:08, closed)

actually maybe you prove chads point here...
clearly you cannot read and comprehend adequately

chad suggests that state schools are not able to teach pupils to read adequately - that is a huge insult to the majority of people on this board who attended a state school and choose to send their own kids there

i do not 'claim to have studied at a top art school'...

i did however leave one of the most respected art colleges in the UK with a first class honours degree. (It is however regarded by most as one of the best art colleges in the UK)

while there i was maintained by a grant initially then a student loan (and several bar jobs) - not mummy and daddy

NB his does not in way way mean you are not still a cunt though
( spimf ™ is whoever you want him to be, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 10:10, closed)

you might want to read the post...
because I stated that my parents sent me to public school because they wanted me to be able to read by 18. I know many people who went to comprehensive schools who are literate. I know a fair few who aren't as well.

Given that the state system is geared to the lowest common denominator and all support systems are for those with sub-normal rather than super-normal abilities, or are for containing criminal behaviour, I personally wouldn't send any child with an IQ over 120 to a state school, because they will be bored witless and will, in all likelihood, start to act out because of it.

The fact is that there is *no* provision for exceptional students at all, as there is no easy living to be had from it, or social workers to employ - your thieving/schizo/violent illiterate with an IQ of 80 provides a nice excuse for lowering the goals set to something easier and will keep four or five social workers in jobs for a decade or so.

I'm not making this up - this is precisely what a respected headmistress of some 30 years experience told my parents when I was a pupil at the school, before she advised them to move me to a public school.

I never said parents who didn't send their kids to public school didn't work, either - I said that there were scumbag parents who laughed at their kids bunking off as they were milking the state for benefits and felt it ok for their kids to do so, as well. These parents lived in council houses and their kids were supposed to attend state schools, but it doesn't then mean all council tenants are scumbags and all those at state school will end up on benefits. You might want to look at your logic skills - maybe drawing a Venn diagram might help you sort out the issues there...?
(Chad, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 11:21, closed)

Well...
ok, let's see - universities are reinstating entrance exams because the "pass at all costs" culture under this government has led to teachers basically doing the exams for students in some case.

Case in point - West Ridings school in Yorkshire. One year it is in danger of being closed because the kids are functionally illiterate. One quick round of NUT meetings and a new head teacher later and the next years' students are rated as the highest acheiving in the district. Now, I may just be being cynical, but that smacks of political engineering, rather than a dramatic leap in academic ability.

Second case, the head of the Cambridge Examination board quits after 20+ years as the GCSE and A level results are climibing towards 100% of students getting all A grades - the whole point of the percentile system is that only the top 10 or so percent get an A grade, regardless, but we now have a system that doesn't dumb down the questions, but does give marks for being vaguely in the right area. So if a kid puts something that has a vague connection with the subject, the markers are encouraged to take it as correct.

I am not saying it's the kids' fault - far from it - I think it is shameful that teachers, unions and the government would fuck up a generation of our youth in order to try and score political points. Before any teachers on here go mental at me, I also understand it is hard to teach a bunch of kids with no interest in learning and who you can't discipline for fear of being beaten up, sacked, or branded a kiddie-fiddler. I don't know the solution, but I do know that things need to change.

So, the upshot is that Universities now view anyone from a comprehensive with suspicion, despite Government policy trying to push them to accept state school kids over those who went private/public. Eton or a similar school might not be full of geniuses, but they will at least have been made to learn something, as the kids will be examined every year and turfed out if they don't reach the standard - it's that simple. By having done away with grammar schools, etc, the state education system no longer makes any allowance for brighter pupils, as all students are now supposed to leave with 27 A levels at A* and above, by government decree.
(Chad, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 11:03, closed)

Well said mate.
No problem with that and I am a Marxist.
(Tugnut I got them all..., Wed 15 Oct 2008, 21:07, closed)

I'm a
typist
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 0:10, closed)

i have no problem with those who have money
being spoilt knows no social status. just as there are decent, hardworking folk among the rich, there are spoilt scroungers among the poor, and vice versa.
what i do have a problem with is sweeping generalisations, unfair pigeonholing and class stereotyping. i am receiving benefits. does that make me a scrounging pikey?
no.
that makes me a disabled woman who is not capable of working. i don't judge anyone based on money, be it a lack of same or an abundance.

sour grapes? in your case, it seems the fruit doesn't fall far from the vine.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 21:41, closed)

I made no sweeping generalisation
I said that there were some parents living off the state who took the piss and let their kids do so - I, at no point, said "everyone on benefits is a pikey". Those were sentiments that others have attributed to me without actually reading what I said properly.

I've got no problems with helping those in need, but there are those who are being helped purely because they feel like it, or because they are too lazy to work for their home/food/luxuries. That's what I object to and, no doubt, you do too.

If you are of working age and fit enough to work, then there is no reason you cannot be found something to do to pay the bills, similarly, if you are of school age and sitting in a bus shelter drinking cider, then you are taking the piss and the state which is paying to keep you should be able to exercise some sort of punishment, or remove the funding you are taking.

If you are a decent human being, who happens to be injured, sick, or down on your luck, then it is our duty as human beings to help you. I just think there is too little come-back on those who take the piss.
(Chad, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 12:16, closed)

I dunno if you've ben reading the same posts as me
but I haven't seen anyone fingered as a SB just because they went to public school. I've read plenty about people who didn't appreciate how lucky they were, expected to be treated like Royalty and so on. This doesn't appear to be your case (and good for you)

This QoTW is just proving you get spoilt brats at all levels of society.
(lolwhites, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 22:01, closed)

one in particular...
sticks in my mind - someone proudly boasting about pushing a posh kid off a wall because he happened to say something about thinking the state schools kids were uncouth. Of course, pushing him off a wall helped that opinion...

There are a lot of "Some kid at Uni went to a posh school and had a rich dad, so they must be a cunt" type of posts - without ever thinking that unless you have experience of a situation, you won't know how to cope - so what if they didn't know how to load a washing machine in a launderette? Hell, I don't - I bought a washing machine and have my suits dry cleaned.

However, if they went to a posh restaurant and drank the finger-bowl because you'd never been to a formal dinner before, no doubt the inverse-snobs would expect no-one to take the piss out of them. I think it's just a bit of sour grapes and a lot of double-standard....
(Chad, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 11:27, closed)

I read that post
and thought 'That little brat was openly insulting a large group of people to their faces and got exactly what he deserved'

I would have thought the same if the kid was a chav and the school party a bunch of toffs.
( chenobble rocking his explorer beard on, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 11:47, closed)

Another vote for your point of view
I went to (Grammar) school in Surrey (Wallington CGS) and I've spent my adult hood in Manchester, Huddersfield and Leeds too. I can echo a lot of your experience - coming from somewhere other than where you happen to be at that precise moment, enjoying decent food and having a few minimum standards of behavior just mark you out as "Posh". Once you're labeled as such, there's no going back.

Snobbery is Snobbery - it's despicable whoever does it.
(neilfann www.betterthankids.com, Wed 15 Oct 2008, 22:59, closed)

Oh, not far from me...
I was at a place the other side of croydon (don't particularly want to name it here, though)...

I agree that our friends above the Watford Gap lablled me as "posh", but I don't care - I don't label them as flat-cap-wearing, whippet-owning, pigeon-fancying, colliery-band-loving, inbred yokels because I don't believe in crass generalisations and I am secure enough in my own identity not to worry about conforming to anyone's stereotype. They, for whatever reason, feel the need to label myself and those like me without taking the time to get to know me. I feel sorry for them...
(Chad, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 11:33, closed)

The road to hell etc....
Well, my brothers and I (see what I did there?) were sent to boarding school. This was because Dad was in the Forces and kids who move school every 2 years grow up ignorant. It wasn't just officers' brats, some of my mates' Dads had only 2 stripes.

BUT: if you're not sporty, or at least violent, there's no one to intervene. I was small, ginger and clever. No internet in those days, no Skype, not even STD landlines to foreign parts. Letters would take a week, and were read by the staff. For 7 years I was beaten like a gong by teachers and pupils alike.

Sometimes I wish I'd been apprenticed to an tripe boiler at 12; at least I'd have a trade and be able to handle people.
(all my scars face forward possesses 2.5% of a hyperalloy combat chassis, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 14:39, closed)