Geelong Gent

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...956332552.html

Astonishingly I heard a group of mums saying they are moving to state school so they can keep up their holidays and dinner parties

annqldau

And in theory the state school should have a spot waiting for everyone of them and be able to keep up the same education standards for that child if the state schools are not offering inferior education.

Geelong Gent

In our case state school would be an inferior education and therefore are staying with the private school - although have now moved to another with smaller class sizes.

Before the public v private debate commences we did pop along to our local state for a view but no no. Despite being one of the best in the state if not country its just not right for our daughter and her specific needs.

But was really quite astonished at comments by some people on lifes priorities
Childrens education versus selfish holidays/new cars.

PS the said holidays were parents only - children stay with housekeeper and nanny while parents dive in Maldives

ozzieeagle

Maybe they should move to Parkville

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers...ool,_Melbourne

Consistently one of the highest scoring state high school in Australia, overall always one of the highest scoring schools of any type in Aus.

rabsody

jeez, they've got the right idea

Assegai

Credit to the parents. I think it's really gay sending your kids private rather than state, after all that's one of the reasons we pay taxes.

I should point out that although I have lived in Oz, I am speaking from a UK perspective where only 7% of the schoolkids are educated independently rather than the 30% in Oz but I'm sure the principle is the same.

What I can never understand from the UK state school critics is that we are agreed that GCSE and A'levels (which are the staple diet of comprehensive and independent schools), have been so dumbed-down that top grades are easily attainable (even at the bog std comp), so why shell out all that money for private education?

When I send my son and daughter to the local comp back in 1995/6, just 22% of pupils got 5 or more good GCSE passes (It's now around 80%) and I truly believed they both achieved their academic potential because a child's home background and their ability level are more likely to determine their outcome than the school they attend.

One of the girls in my daughter's class got 10 A* GCSE passes, how would she have done better at Roedean? Didn't the Eton educated Prince Harry only get a B and D in his 2 A'levels and one of those was Art. Furthermore extra curricular activities that private schools offer like learning the violin or playing tennis can be learnt out of school.

There is so much more to be gained from attending a state school – preferably a local one – where you are promoting community values and where the child is more likely to have schoolfriends in the area. Some universities also give preference to state school kids over their private counterparts even if the exam results are inferior (although imo this is wrong as I can’t see how any benefit is derived from attending an independent school over a state one).

Geelong Gent

You have no idea do you

Schools are a personal choice and not all children do best in state system.

What is the logic in sending our daughter to an underfunded school whereas we have the opportunity to send her to a school with no such issues.

Assegai

I see you were unable to disprove any of my points and couldn't counter any of the arguments I made.

How do you know your daughter wouldn't have achieved her potential in a state school just because it was "underfunded"

Private schools are for snobs.

annqldau

What's up...couldn't afford to send your kids to one?

The school you send your child/ren to is a personal choice. The same as the clothes you buy them (do you buy them the latest Nike trainers or an old pair of Woolies own brand)...is it snobbery to buy the Nikes if you can afford them? You do what you think is best for them and hope you come through it unscathed. I think there is probably more snobbery attached to private education in England than in Australia, but maybe that's because it did appear to be more elitist in the UK. Here it's just a viable option.

Geelong Gent

There is no point in me having to argue anything, your tone and manner prove it. But if you want specifics? go visit two schools and then make a list of why you choose one over the other.

As for my daughter it is because she is autistic and state schools are not equiped with relevant visual aids, have too large class sizes etc. Specialist autism schools are out of the question because she is too high functioning and requires far more social interaction with likeminded little girls. The local state school (which we went along too view) required additonal aide at an annual cost of $15k per year (no funding from govt). The school she will now be attending does not as they have teachers aides already in addition to the teacher with class sizes of 15 to 17 versus 28 to 34 at state.

Other points relevant to us:
Pool - state no, private yes indoor and fully equiped including diving platforms
(swimming is a big part of our daughters life)
Blackboards at state versus electronic boards with laptop workstations at private.
Location private continues from junior school into senior school, state does not and we have no state schooling beyound primary in our areas.

I think its more a case of reverse snobbery from you.

I have nothing against state school but not for my daughter given specific reasons above.

Again public versus private raises its head by another ignorant poster who fails the first basic test question.

"What is right for our child"

rabsody

Part of the problem here in Aus (IMHO) is it is very much about who you know to get ahead career wise/socially. Private schools often provide that network. And I guess aspirationally if all your kid's friends are wanting to become lawyers or doctors then your kid is likely to want to too.

Prior to coming to Australia I would never have thought to send my kids private. Once I got here and saw how the system works (particuarly here in Bris "two degrees of separation" bane) then I almost felt I was disadvantaging my child by not sending them.

rabsody

I forgot something....

I was discussing this whole subject with a guy who lives in UK. He pointed out to me that parents pay an arm and a leg to buy a property in an area that enables their child to go to a good school (because of the limit on numbers which doesn't so much apply here).

He said savvy developers had caught onto this and were buying up property near schools and turning them into tiny flats that parents were buying as a second property just so they could have that as their home address, enabling them to get their kid into that local school.

I guess we all pay in some way in the end.

annqldau

In our case also the state school could not offer the same standard as our local private schools.

I have now realised where we are going wrong as now he is at private school we are still taking him on holidays with us despite using his share of holiday money on his education. Must admit though as not to be hypocrtical when he was in state school we used to manage the odd child free holiday and very relaxing it was to.

ABCDiamond

I have highlighted an important part of your comment; "speaking from a UK perspective "

Further, the principle is NOT the same in Australia.

• In the UK, private schools get no public funding
• In Australia, private schools get State and Federal Government Funding.

One example of this is: Private School Fees can start from only about $800 per year, hardly the choice of 'Snobs' as you say, but then, you were referring to UK private schools



Education: State v Private

Hutch

Firstly, I agree that it's a very personal choice and any parent that chooses to send their kid to a private school is perfectly entitled to do so. These things often come down to something as elusive as the way a school 'feels', so there's little point in beating people about where they've chosen.

That said, you're deluding yourselves if you think they get a better education at a fee-paying school. In terms of basic results, the state schools out-perform the private schools every year.
I'm certainly not going to take the moral highground on this and if we found, after visiting them and looking into them, that the best school in this area for our son was private, then we'd pay up.