'State of Playtime' As the private versus state school debate rages, two teachers go head-to-head while we hide Round 1 Are you a millionaire? No, neither am I. But some music lovers are, if the adverts at the back of an average classical concert programme are anything to go by. Jostling for position amidst composer and performer biographies you can be sure to find ads for glamorous cars, offshore investments, bespoke suits and elegantly understated stereo equipment.

Despite the tasteful omission of anything so common as a price tag, you can bet your bottom dollar that it's all pretty pricey.
The loudest trader at this market of middle-class dreams is the private education sector. Leaf through any BBC Proms programme and barely a page will go by without an advert for a wonderfully well-equipped and well-staffed prep or public school. But a private education, like a fast car or a flashy hi-fi, doesn't come cheap. A recent survey by the Bank of Scotland found the average cost of private schooling in the UK to be £10,637 per year. Ignoring inflation, this means that parents starting their child's private education this autumn can expect to shell out upwards of £138,000 over the next 13 years, in school fees alone.

So what do you get for your money? According to newspaper headlines, quite a lot. This year's A-level analysis revealed that whilst just 24.1 per cent of entries from state-school candidates gained the top grade, a handsome 47.9 per cent of entries from private schools achieved A grades. Meanwhile a study undertaken earlier this year by the Sutton Trust linked private education with greatly increased earning power. Of its sample, 28.6 per cent of former private-school pupils earned more than £70,000 whilst only 7.6 per cent of erstwhile state-school pupils took home that princely salary. At first glance, these statistics are enough to make most parents feel that denying their child a place at private school would be some terrible act of neglect. On closer examination, however, the picture is less than clear.

What the figures don't show, of course, is any definite link between a cause and its effect. Does a private school education nurture the skills necessary to do well in life? Possibly. But it's equally likely that children sent to such schools are primed for success in other ways. For example, as the children of doctors, lawyers and wealthy businessmen, it makes sense that they might themselves enter these lucrative professions – perhaps even using their parents' contacts to do so. Nor does it appear surprising that private school pupils achieve more top grades when you consider that most of these schools select their pupils by their academic ability. Research into the effect of private education on university achievement is equally opaque. Although pupils from the UK 's private schools secure a disproportionately high number of places at top universities, evidence from the Higher Education Funding Council for England has shown that former state-school pupils take a disproportionately high number of first-class degrees.

In music, the debate rages even more fiercely: ‘We went independent,' one mother told me, ‘because my son was particularly musical. We wanted his talent to be encouraged and developed in a supportive environment, where he would feel that he could join the orchestra and choir without being teased, and where there were others like him.' Was the financial sacrifice worth it, I ask. ‘We think so. It's difficult, if not impossible, to say how he would have got on in the state sector, but he's doing very well at his current place.'

Many private school parents share similar stories. They were drawn in, they say, by the peaceful environment, the smaller classes and the superior facilities. But above all, it was the needs of their child, as an individual, that guided them. Delving deeper, though, many also report twinges of guilt at having bought into a system that's only available to the wealthy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the parents who went to state schools themselves who felt this most. I put it to Alan, a teacher friend, that for such parents, the decision to ‘go private' was simply one of seeking value for money.
He was vociferous in his reply. ‘As I see it,' he said, ‘the private-school system is one of the most successful confidence scams out there. For ten grand a year your child gets a very similar curriculum, taught by very similar teachers, in very similar classrooms. The only thing you're really buying is a supposedly better class of friends - and possibly a tidier lawn.' How did he respond, I ask, to the suggestion that private school musicians are stretched further? ‘Total poppycock,' Alan replied. ‘For every child who leaves private school with Grade 8 I can name three of my own state-educated pupils who perform as well if not better. The private school myth is no more than that: a myth!'

My own experience as a teacher at an Oxfordshire comprehensive school largely supports this notion. A steady stream of very talented pupils passes through the school and, although some inevitably drop their music to pursue other interests, many achieve a very high standard of playing and composing. One particularly high-achieving pupil immediately springs to mind. Elizabeth joined my school as a confident flautist and soon took up the bassoon. From her first term she was involved in all our extracurricular activities, improving the standard of our ensembles and challenging older pupils to raise their game.

A couple of years later she earned the first in her clutch of distinctions at Grade 8, and a place in the county youth orchestra. During this time she participated widely in advanced ensembles outside school, eventually securing a place on the Royal Academy 's weekend programme.

Elizabeth thrived in her state school. Moreover – and it is a truth that some might find uncomfortable – her presence made the school a better place for everyone. She was an inspirational leader for other pupils, and her parents, both musicians themselves, were active supporters of the school's music department and its activities. Had they gone private, my department's musical offering would have been, in a small way, diminished.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth 's parents are in a minority. Slowly but surely the number of middle-class people choosing the private sector for their musical children is increasing. For those who believe in equality of opportunity and in the provision of a first-rate, free education system for all the UK 's youth, this is a very worrying trend. What the state sector needs is more middle-class parents to support it, more keen musicians to join it and more enthusiastic teachers to promote it.

So if you're choosing a school for your child and find yourself with £138,000 burning a hole in your pocket, I have a suggestion for you. Buy the Porsche. Buy a rack of Savile Row suits. Fill the pockets of Messrs Bang and Olufsen with your hard-earned cash. But, please, don't go private.

Robert Legg teaches at a large comprehensive school in Oxfordshire