School zones?

[Mao]

Academic Merit is so much more relevant for student selection than district...

but then, select entry encourages prejudice against other schools, and esp unjust to low-achievers... social implications hereafter is not so bright...

[humph]

I can see why a catholic school might care if their students are catholic, but i can't see why they would care where you live, seems absolutely irrelevant to me.

+1

i'm pretty certain that my school didn't care where you lived - people were from all over melbourne. but how often you went to church was one of the questions on the admission form thingy.

[costargh]

Being christened as a Catholic however doesn't mean you enshrine Catholic beliefs within your life.

I am Christian (Greek Orthodox) however I went to a Catholic primary school and now attend a Catholic high school.

I believe that for admission into Catholic high schools, one should have to be a practicing Christian (actually have some former education, either through church or through primary school) but not be based on whether you are Catholic or not. 10% of my school are non-Catholic Christians yet a lot of the baptised Catholic kids openly say "I don't believe in God" while many non-Catholic Christians say the opposite.

[humph]

Being christened as a Catholic however doesn't mean you enshrine Catholic beliefs within your life.

I am Christian (Greek Orthodox) however I went to a Catholic primary school and now attend a Catholic high school.

I believe that for admission into Catholic high schools, one should have to be a practicing Christian (actually have some former education, either through church or through primary school) but not be based on whether you are Catholic or not. 10% of my school are non-Catholic Christians yet a lot of the baptised Catholic kids openly say "I don't believe in God" while many non-Catholic Christians say the opposite.

but that's not the point. the school doesn't just want students who believe in God, they want students who believe in their God. and they want students acquainted with the Catholic religion, not just Christian religion in general. there is a fair difference.

[costargh]

What is at the heart of Catholicism?
The belief in Christ.

... The same as the belief of all Christians. There are differences but the belief in Christ is at the heart of Catholicism and if students are willing to listen to the teachings of the Catholic religion then what purpose does it serve to disallow enrollment in a school based on the fact that one is of the "wrong" Christian religion. Would you not think that schools (as well as the entire religion in general) would be happy that non-catholics are willing to learn about their beliefs... possibly leading to a greater incidence of Catholics in society?

[Pencil]

I can see why a catholic school might care if their students are catholic, but i can't see why they would care where you live, seems absolutely irrelevant to me.

Hm i'm not too sure, because where I'm from there isn't much variety haha and everyone generally goes to the closest school, buuuut, if schools did select on academic merit, wouldn't that mean there would be students who would miss out on going to a school close to them (because they weren't smart enough) and have to travel ridiculously long distances/move just to get an education?

[Odette]

I went to a Catholic school and they accepted students who were from other religious traditions (buddhism, islam,etc)... so you didnt need to be christian(catholic).. probably mainly because we didnt have enough students or something lol i dunno 

[brendan]

I can see why a catholic school might care if their students are catholic, but i can't see why they would care where you live, seems absolutely irrelevant to me.

Hm i'm not too sure, because where I'm from there isn't much variety haha and everyone generally goes to the closest school, buuuut, if schools did select on academic merit, wouldn't that mean there would be students who would miss out on going to a school close to them (because they weren't smart enough) and have to travel ridiculously long distances/move just to get an education?

that might be the case, but that is still better than selecting on location. what's worse? selecting according to postcode or on academic merit (like MHS and MacRob)?

If you believe in equality of opportunity you cannot support school zones:
 
"How Much Do Public Schools Really Cost? Estimating the Relationship Between House Prices and School Quality"
Ian Davidoff (Harvard) & Andrew Leigh (ANU)
http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/~aleigh/pdf/SchoolQualityHousePrices.pdf

"Since houses in better school zones are more expensive high-quality public education is not costless. The price of buying into a good school zone may prevent poor families from accessing the public schools of their choice. Given that education can transform the social and economic opportunities of the underprivileged, such social exclusion may perpetuate cycles of disadvantage if left unaddressed."

Say you have two kids one X and Y and you had to pick 1. X lives within the school catchment zone, but Y doesn't. Y has a greater academic merit than X. How do you pick? I'd say the school should pick Y. Location shouldn't come into it. You don't deny a meritorious student a place at university because he doesn't live within a 2 km radius and accept the less meritorious student who does live within a 2 km. Neither should you do it anywhere else.

Just think how you would feel, if you were denied a place at university, not because your marks weren't good enough, but because you didn't live close enough. Is that fair?

[Odette]

Hmm you do make a valid point there Brendan... it would be unfair to be denied a place because you didn't live close enough...i see where you're coming from

[memka]

I go to a public girls school in central Geelong. I'm not zoned to it.

Personally I have no idea how my school selects its students. I know they take 25 people a year for
the SELP program. Then I think they take the zoned girls who apply (which isn't that many, not too many primary schools in central Geelong).
They have a sibling rule too but other then that I don't know. People all over Geelong go to my school. Even one or two from really far away places like Anglesea or Anakie.

Beyond the SELP people, the siblings and the ones zoned everyone else just seems randomly accepted. For example out of the 4 kids who applied from my primary school this year (who weren't zoned, siblings or SELP)  3 got in and 1 didn't. There was no discernable difference between the ones who got accepted and the one who didn't. Perhaps if there were clearer guide lines for selection this girl could have got in.

[humph]

What is at the heart of Catholicism?
The belief in Christ.

... The same as the belief of all Christians. There are differences but the belief in Christ is at the heart of Catholicism and if students are willing to listen to the teachings of the Catholic religion then what purpose does it serve to disallow enrollment in a school based on the fact that one is of the "wrong" Christian religion. Would you not think that schools (as well as the entire religion in general) would be happy that non-catholics are willing to learn about their beliefs... possibly leading to a greater incidence of Catholics in society?

non-catholic students don't go to catholic schools to learn about their beliefs - they go there because it's a good school.

but as i said, the main purpose of catholic schools is and always has been to educate members of the catholic community. if there are any places for students left over, then they go to non-catholics.

[sheepz]

if students were selected according to academic abilities, there would be much more pressure on the kids to do well so they can get into a particular school as opposed to the 'dumbed-down' school. that will probably raise the state's education level but may mean the kids have to sacrifice their childhood studying and their social lives (which is what happens in asia).

[brendan]

if students were selected according to academic abilities, there would be much more pressure on the kids to do well so they can get into a particular school as opposed to the 'dumbed-down' school. that will probably raise the state's education level but may mean the kids have to sacrifice their childhood studying and their social lives (which is what happens in asia).

i'd say thats pretty far-fetched. no one is forcing any kid to sacrifice his childhood. if he does that is his own choice.

[sheepz]

if students were selected according to academic abilities, there would be much more pressure on the kids to do well so they can get into a particular school as opposed to the 'dumbed-down' school. that will probably raise the state's education level but may mean the kids have to sacrifice their childhood studying and their social lives (which is what happens in asia).

i'd say thats pretty far-fetched. no one is forcing any kid to sacrifice his childhood. if he does that is his own choice.

for one most asian parents would

EDIT: took comment out of quote box >.<

[Mao]

if students were selected according to academic abilities, there would be much more pressure on the kids to do well so they can get into a particular school as opposed to the 'dumbed-down' school. that will probably raise the state's education level but may mean the kids have to sacrifice their childhood studying and their social lives (which is what happens in asia).

i'd say thats pretty far-fetched. no one is forcing any kid to sacrifice his childhood. if he does that is his own choice.

but how much of a choice is that?
its alike to saying to a vegetarian "here's some meat, if u starve it's ur own damn fault"...