Oh Glenda 2007 you didn't understand what my main arguments were which is the fault of a hurried response. My bad
. I wanted to curb the excitement of oliver and was quickly jumping in my mind from one thing to another.
To clarify i didn't say that sleep less and working hard was a free ride but the scholarship that came from such great determination and work ethic gives him a free ride financially in his further education. I didn't mean this negatively. I would love a free ride. I just wish more people and a diverse lot of people were getting the ride too.
17 of the 20 kids who got those scholarships came from private schools, is this becasue public school kids aren't smart or working at it enough? 3 were from Xavier. I think the school has an xfactor that may just come in to it.
Also i didn't write that kids who volunteer or have tough times at home or working all the time are state kids. not what i meant at all.
I am sorry if it read that way but i was speaking generally about how scholarships are given.
I added with what i meant as a side note (which i think is the source of misunderstanding) that often no other option is available for some who attend public school. My argument there was not about the ridiculous private public debate rather how an ENTER should not be the only thing we judge and give attention to when labelling 'high achievers'. I realsie it was out of context with the first posts but i was thinking aloud about how scholarships are given...sorry. It was certainly nothing to do with where you go to school.
In terms of spoon feeding again i wasn't using my own words but that of friends who have gone to exculsive schools use it to describe their own experiences. I see you complete VCE in 2010? Take it from someone who has the experience once you get to uni there is a lack of prompt replies or even someone who knows the information you are after. Self reliance is the most important tool a teacher can give you ultimatley, not fielding your phone calls out of hours. I got a bit more of that from my education then my private school friends i have found.
You list the other reasons for going to a private school and of course they have merit. But this is a debate about a schools ability to help a student reach their academic potenial whcih must be a huge influence in deciding where a child completes year 12.
Can you honestly say a parent spending 20 000 for their childs year 12 education doesnt want results in their VCE results?? Why are most private school advertising campaigns about their great results? I don't think there is anything wrong in having such expectations but lets be honest about it. There was a case last year where a father of kids at a bayside grammar sued the school because they hadn't helped his sons to the results he expected.
You keep saying that in no way is a student disadvantaged for going to a public school yet why is it that so many people don't? The US has something like 90% of students at public schools and we are slipping down to 70 or something? It isn't about pastrol care or music programs at the root of the issue but a loss of faith from year seven onwards that the child won't be supported and get the results if they are at state school. And look at the media coverage of the results, the perfect scores, the top achievers in the paper and it is absolutly dominated by private schools. So what are parents of students going to think about where they will get good results? I don't mean this in a cold hearted way from a parent view, they want the best for their child.
What about an A in a private school getting marked as a C in public school? But that is actually not really how moderation/ranking disadvantages a state school kid.
Moderation is an issue beacause i was in the situation where i had the best combined sac mark by a mile, going into the exam i had to get at least an a or my whole class including me would have sac marks dropped because my A's through the year must not have been true and marked too softly (teacher told me after results thank god). In private schools success breeding success means you are guaranteed to have at least a few people who can peform to the standered mark. That is also a problem of public school kids, its often an isolating experience of learning as like minded peers are poached to private schools on scholarships or leave the system at the concern of worried parents.
Hope this clears my badly expressed sentiments of the first post up. Cheers