Sir, – Brian O'Brien is probably nearer to the truth than he realises as he sets out to defend the practice here of the State financing inequity by subsidising private schools (Letters, January 1st).
His opening paragraph cites the “Glasgow Effect”, which describes the discrepancies between life expectancy in Glasgow and the rest of Europe – not just the UK. From here he argues that as “nobody has advocated reducing the life expectancy of the London elites” to tackle the “Scottish” problem, so we should not stop subsidising private schools to tackle the issue of inequity in education here.
First, it needs to be said that those working in research have stopped referring to lower Scottish life expectancy as the “Glasgow Effect” as this distracts from the core causes. New research by the Glasgow Centre for Public Health alongside NHS Scotland, the University of West Scotland and University College London published in May 2016 found that in “Glasgow’s case, the city’s population has been made more vulnerable to the important influences on population health – poverty, deprivation, deindustrialisation and economic decisions taken at UK government level”, consequently leading to poorer health than in other places. So it is clear that inequity is a key driver of the problem.
As it happens, there is also a very strong connection between education inequity and lower life expectancy.
In a study based on data from Fairer Active Ageing for Europe, a European study that looks at people’s life expectancy after age 50, researchers found that people in Europe who are more educated tend to live longer compared with those with lower levels of education. They also found that people with higher educational levels are more likely to live more years without disability.
The importance of equal access to good education is confirmed in another study in the United States. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Harvard University also found that people with higher levels of education live up to seven years longer compared with their counterparts with less education.
From these studies, we can see that a good level of education is not only about improving life’s chances, it also increases life expectancy, and it is for this reason that the State must take its responsibilities more seriously in this area and ensure that all expenditure on education provision is used to create equal access for all citizens.
State funding of exclusive private schools obviously runs counter to that obligation and is thereby indefensible. – Yours, etc
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.