Private Schools

[Ren]

there's way too many generalisations in this thread.

I'd have to say each school is an individual, you cant just lump all public, private or selective schools together. There are some awesome schools out there that provide wonderful education and prepare their students for the future (i.e don't spoonfeed them) and some of these are private, some public etc.

[dcc]

About 40% of the year 12s next year at my school will get an ENTER of 60+

My school website:

With 43% of students receiving an ENTER over 60

SHIT YOU GO TO MY SCHOOL

[extra-UNcool]

private schools will spoon feed you with everything you need and they probably have better learning envionments. some public schools are really terrible and have very little to provide their students. you kind of are disadvantaged because you need to go out of your way to do everything on your own. your class time is also alot less productive because of many factors, eg. dodgy teachers, class mates who aren't interested in school and are really noisy/distracting

if i had the money, i'd send my kids to private school. for vce at least

[Eriny]

I found that up until year 12, classes were badly affected by others who didn't want to work. I guess in year 7 and 8 the disruption was fairly minimal because I was in a 'high achievers' class, but in year 9 and 10 and even in year 11 some classes were a horrible waste of time. But, IMO it depends on the teacher. My friend who goes to a private school said that she was exposed to disruptive kids too. It seems pretty universal.

[brendan]

Exodus in state school attendance
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/state-school-student-drift/2008/02/29/1204226991431.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[misskaraleah]

I'd rather not get into mod decisions, I have no idea what just got deleted. However, I do respect the fact that coblin identified himself as the mod to have taken action. I admire his willingness to accept the power AND the responsibility of being a mod, and that he's been gracious enough to supply an explanation.

Back on topic... I would never pay the money for a private school. I believe that it's not so much a school, as it is the teachers. I believe that a student who is willing to put the effort in will do well no matter what the school. That said though, 95+ enters become private/selective school territory because all the students in such a school tend to adopt an all-or-nothing mindset, and drive each other further. I don't have any such support or competition at my school, and I believe that may have acted to limit my enter to the lower 90s. However, I'm happy to have it that way, since I'm only striving for a 90 for my uni course and I'd consider any money spent to drive my enter higher than necessary as frivolous spending. If I wanted to get into medicine or something, then I'd consider asking my Dad to take out a second mortgage...

I totally agree with what you meant by people at your school having an influence on your education. Surely its up to the individual to do well, but certain factors such as peer mates all wanting to 'go to tafe' or get a standard year 12 pass (no offence to people who fall under this category) yet, i feel they do have influence over people.

 I dont go to a private school, and for this sole reason, i wish i did, because i feel that people in my year are tring to bring me down when they see me suceed. So i congradulate you for doing so well last year. You got 97 ENTER? May i ask how you did it?

[Eriny]

I think if I ever have kids, regardless of my salary, I'd send them to public school.

[jess3254]

Personally, I would definitely send my children to a private school. If the current state of the public education system improved dramatically, then perhaps I’d consider it. MHS and Mac.Rob are good examples of how schools should be funded and what resources they should possess. I attended a public school for most of my schooling, and found I was just dragged down by the majority of my peers. I felt intimidated constantly, and I was taunted for working hard. I wasn’t in a conducive environment and ended up becoming despondent. I was unhappy about being at school. My parents eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to move schools, so I started trying out for scholarships. The teachers at the school bullied me, saying, ‘you’ll never get in, you’re not smart enough’. Etc.

Anyway, now I am at Wesley, and I’ve never looked back. I love absolutely every second of school I remember being amazed that there were never any physical fights at wesley... like ever. There was at least one every single lunch time at my old school.

I’m sure they’re some fantastic public schools, but unfortunately my experience within them has been rather unpleasant. I don’t want my potential children to go through the same thing!

[brendan]

so I started trying out for scholarships. The teachers at the school bullied me, saying, ‘you’ll never get in, you’re not smart enough’. Etc.

that's pretty significant actually, are you sure that is what they said?

it's definitely in the teacher's own interests to bully you like that because for every student that leaves the school loses a bit of funding, and if you were smart, it would mean their average scores go down.

its like what i've always said. some teachers only care about their own ass, and are willing to sacrifice others to enrich themselves.

I think if I ever have kids, regardless of my salary, I'd send them to public school.

theres also a lot of parents that regardless of salary, send their kids to a private school

MHS and Mac.Rob are good examples of how schools should be funded and what resources they should possess.

If i'm not mistaken, MHS gets even less government funding than other government schools with the same number of students.

[Eriny]

Personally, I would definitely send my children to a private school. If the current state of the public education system improved dramatically, then perhaps I’d consider it. MHS and Mac.Rob are good examples of how schools should be funded and what resources they should possess. I attended a public school for most of my schooling, and found I was just dragged down by the majority of my peers. I felt intimidated constantly, and I was taunted for working hard. I wasn’t in a conducive environment and ended up becoming despondent. I was unhappy about being at school. My parents eventually came to the conclusion that I needed to move schools, so I started trying out for scholarships. The teachers at the school bullied me, saying, ‘you’ll never get in, you’re not smart enough’. Etc.

Anyway, now I am at Wesley, and I’ve never looked back. I love absolutely every second of school I remember being amazed that there were never any physical fights at wesley... like ever. There was at least one every single lunch time at my old school.

I’m sure they’re some fantastic public schools, but unfortunately my experience within them has been rather unpleasant. I don’t want my potential children to go through the same thing!

I had, like, the opposite experience in public school. It wasn't perfect by any means, but no school is. If I had the chance, I think I'd make years 9 and 10 more challenging for myself, but it all worked out quite well in the end. While I obviously wouldn't send anyone to an awful public school, I think there are many great ones out there despite not having tremendous amounts of funding. I think I also tend to preference small schools (not crazy small, more like around 500-600 students) over big schools.

I guess an exception to the public school thing is if my potential kid was offered a scholarship to go to a private school.

[Collin Li]

I will send my children to private schools if I can afford it because I value it highly, so I will be willing to spend more on it. However, if money was tight, I would not hesitate to send my children to a public school that fosters a competitive learning environment (SEALP, for example).

[jess3254]

that's pretty significant actually, are you sure that is what they said?

Yep. Some teachers heard I was starting to apply for scholarships at private schools, and two of them made comments like that, saying I'd never be good enough and I'd never get in, so there's no point in trying etc. I know my experience was unfortunately not isolated; a family friend of mine who graduated from MHS last year had the same issue at the school. The school was pissed off that private schools/MHS and Mac.Rob were poaching their brightest students.

[Collin Li]

The school was pissed off that private schools/MHS and Mac.Rob were poaching their brightest students.

I hate that attitude. It implies that schools have a right to particular students. What's worse is that it suggests that bright students have the responsibility of pulling up the worse students.

[Eriny]

I think it's more that the school feels as though they helped the student get where they are and if they move then another school gets the credit for their 'work'. But the question would be then, how responsible is the school for a student's academic success? In jess' case, clearly not very, although I think some schools do really try to support and put a lot of resources into their brighter students, so maybe the schools have the right to feel pissed off? But then again, the student would probably stay at the school if they realised that it was putting in a good effort anyway.

[brendan]

The school was pissed off that private schools/MHS and Mac.Rob were poaching their brightest students.

i'd tell 'em to stick it where the sun don't shine. tough titties. if they did a better job, the student have moved in the first place.