Should schools be forced to accept troublesome students?

[brendan]

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-best-of-both-worlds-20081125-6hdw.html?page=-1

The ability to eject underperforming students gives private schools the flexibility to maintain a higher academic average. The less gifted or troublesome students are then potentially bounced into the state system, which is obliged to take all comers.

It's not clear how much this actually goes on or how severely it drags down the academic results of the state sector. In any event, in terms of improving general education standards, the exit process is not as important as the entry process. Eventually, all schools that accept public money should be obliged to accept any student whose parents want to enrol them.

My reply:

Shaun Carney (26/11, Opinion) argues that schools should be forced to accept troublesome students. I cannot see the logic in this at all. If anything, accepting disruptive and violent pupils would probably breach of a school’s duty of care in providing a safe learning and working environment for students and staff. Not to mention the damaging effect on the learning of other students when you have a disruptive student in the classroom.

Secondly, we have to move away from this focus on the well being of schools rather than students. Schools aren’t an end in themselves; they are there to serve students. Hence, any government funding of education ought to be focused on, and attached to, the student rather than the school.