Defusing the Education Arms Race

For decades, the ability to access the best schools and universities has been dominated by an education arms race. A clear divide has existed between the haves and the have nots, where a clear advantage has lain with the wealthy in bagging the top spots, often spending tens of thousands of pounds (and more) in the process.

While this area has become less clear cut in recent times, the recent articles in the Express newspaper, My London and Southwark News show that for some, money is no object when it comes to their childrens’ education.

I’m on the record as repeatedly saying that while it isn’t fair, very little in life is a level playing field. I’ve also personally and professionally benefitted from the education arms race, serving families who wish for their children to have the best possible Maths and Physics tuition. 

While many of my clients are doctors, lawyers and similar, many have been from outside of ‘the professions’ and have regularly included parents in blue collar roles. 

The difference for these parents? They chose to prioritise education. Not to be glib, they chose to prioritise a lesson per week in place of other spending choices, from takeaways to the latest gadgets and viewed it as a sacrifice worth making.

However, I don’t need to tell anyone that the landscape has changed. The cost of living crisis continues unabated, and a willingness to prioritise private tuition is outstripped by the need to buy food and pay the bills.

I heard this loud and clear and in response I began to offer Pay What You Can (PWYC) lessons which are exactly as they sound. Pay what you can reasonably afford, no fixed fees, no questions asked.

PWYC is now a significant part of life here at MST and we’re now working with individual families, local schools and have recently entered into a dialogue with the London Mayor’s Office with a view to raise awareness of PWYC. Our goal is to enable as many families as possible to access the highest standards of tuition.

While there can never be a level playing field, I believe that through initiatives such as PWYC, we can go a long way to defusing the education arms race and giving children from all walks of life a fair chance to access the best schools, universities

We are running a broad range of classes, including 11+ exam prep and you can see more here.

For more information about PWYC and 1:1 lessons you can email me at [email protected] or click here to use the contact form.

Muhammad.