It's Just One Mom's Opinion: Success Isn’t Sold in Private School Tuition

Every year, families across the UAE line up to pay staggering school fees, convinced that the right logo on a uniform will unlock their child’s future. Parents mortgage their homes, take out loans, and sacrifice their financial security because they believe expensive private schools are the golden ticket to success. But let’s be honest: the evidence doesn’t support the myth.

History, business, sports, and the arts all tell us the same story: success has far less to do with where you studied and far more to do with who you are. Kids need resilience, the ability to think differently and solve problems in unique ways. They need motivation, persistence and a hunger to keep learning. They need to build real relationships, not just resumé lines.

These qualities don’t come from marble lobbies or glossy brochures. They come from family culture, personal grit, and opportunities seized outside the classroom.

Plenty of successful people never set foot in a high-fee school. Think Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, or countless entrepreneurs who dropped out altogether. On the flip side, there are thousands of alumni from elite institutions who coast through life unremarkably, propped up by family money but lacking the fire that true success requires. Paying Dh100,000 a year doesn’t purchase ambition, innovation, or resilience, it buys access to a particular social circle, nothing more.

For many school is the debt trap that parents willingly walk into. Here in the UAE, parents are literally taking loans just to keep up with quarterly tuition payments. But the real question is: for what? If success is driven by mindset, creativity, and adaptability, why are we draining bank accounts to fund an outdated system that may not even prepare kids for the modern economy?

The future belongs to those who can adapt to technology like AI and automation; think critically and challenge old models; build businesses, not just résumés; work across cultures and disciplines. These skills are nurtured in real life, in projects, in failures, in curiosity-driven learning. They aren’t reserved for private classrooms.

Parents, YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS: your child’s success will not be determined by whether you wrote tuition checks with more zeros than your neighboUr. It will be determined by how much space you give them to explore, fail, innovate, and grow. Success thrives in public schools, homeschools, self-taught pathways, and yes, even outside the traditional system entirely.