Selective schools on the basis of nationality/religion

[ninwa]

I'm talking about schools like Bialik (Jewish), Islamic Colleges (Islam...duh), Gennazzano FCJ College (Catholic) etc.

What do you think of them? Should they be accepted or discouraged?

And what would you think of a school being set up primarily for Asians?

[ninwa]

LOL!
MHS has non-Asians too! (.... right?)

edit: oh why did you delete your reply, it was pure gold

[kyzoo]

I never met a religious kid 0.o

But I really don't think this kind of segregation is ideal. As school should prepare children for adult life, it would be best if schools simulated the adult world. I would imagine that the range of people you interact with once you've graduated from high school will be diverse. As such schools should prepare children to cope with this diversity. And people should learn to deal with bullying early, rather than growing in an environment artificially devoid of such behaviour, and subsequently being traumatized as adults due to lack of skill.

[Tashi]

My cousins go to a catholic school and my brother is starting year 7 at one next year. Personally, I'm glad I don't go to one because you have to do Religion for VCE (at least some catholic schools). But I was talking to my cousin, and she says most people there aren't religious (she's definitely not) and there are even some muslims etc.

Most people go to religious schools because of the quality of education, and catholic schools usually are cheaper aswell. There really aren't many non-religious private schools though.

Lol even at my old school (public school), they were handing out free bibles??? haha

[i-am-bored-69]

Parents send them there because they feel learning about their culture and heritage is important, and hence they dont send them to normal schools.

[/0]

I don't understand why they are necessary. If you want to be religious you can go to church. Schools should be a secular environment for learning.

If someone is teaching you from a religious point of view, then what they teach you will be biased, whether implicity or explicitly. I know most teachers in religious schools are careful not to be biased, but there are still classes like Religious education which do this. Children should be able to learn in an environment where they can form their own opinions, uninfluenced by religious doctrines and unrestricted by religious taboos. If religious biases exist in schools, it is more likely that children will grow up to believe that since schools are places of authority, those particular religious biases must be the truth.

In addition, schools based on religion (or for that matter, race) only encourage segregation, at a time when it is especially important for kids to recognise the values of egalitarianism - but in reality this is only a very slight issue.

The main point here is that school and church should be separate.

[m@tty]

I can't speak for other schools, but, Christian schools mainly exist to provide a Christian environment in which to learn. Just as 'smart' kids benefit intellectually from attending a school with other 'smart' kids, such as MacRob, MHS etc. Religious people benefit religiously by attending a school with other such students [and teachers], it also provides the support and encouragement some students need academically. Remember schools do not only impact students academically.

[kenhung123]

If someone is teaching you from a religious point of view, then what they teach you will be biased, whether implicity or explicitly.

Explicit different-iation 

[bloodboy]

But I find it funny how Mount Scopus is a Jewish school I think? And, it brags about being non-selective, beating mhs and macrob

[m@tty]

But I find it funny how Mount Scopus is a Jewish school I think? And, it brags about being non-selective, beating mhs and macrob

They don't select on students intelligence level. They only let Jewish people in(I assume?), it's not their fault Jewish people are smart

EDIT: Less racist/religiously discriminatory You wouldn't believe how angry my friend gets...

[kenhung123]

Yea, I wonder why Jewish schools are one of the best schools? Like heaps of them are in the top 10? Is it just because their cohort is small and is easy to do well or something?

[m@tty]

I think it's just because...

Jews are really smart

[Tashi]

A lot of them learn Hebrew?

[ninwa]

In addition, schools based on religion (or for that matter, race) only encourage segregation, at a time when it is especially important for kids to recognise the values of egalitarianism - but in reality this is only a very slight issue.

Yes, you're right. History has shown time and again the ill effects of segregation on society and the collective psyche - though I have often found that even in multicultural schools, more often than not there tend to be cliques based on race. This seems to be even more evident in university - it's very common to see large groups of Asian students congregating together, for example. I guess that's an attitude which should be tackled at a secondary school level (I've noted that these 'cliques' are not as common in primary school).

But could you elaborate on the "slight issue in reality" point?

edited for fail English

[TrueLight]

i don't mind them... its up to them if they want to go to school there
increases options for ppl...