The Smiths

Have to correct you there I'm afraid......I think you'll find that the catholic church and its parishioners, via the second collections every Sunday, contribute to the funding of catholic schools.

I have to smile when non-catholic parents scheme to get their kids into the school and then moan about the religious content of the syllabus.

dentaltech

no , not borstal , community service = helping out at school , helping in the community etc.

not borstal :scared: sorry but were you trying to be funny , the quote is not even what i said, i am offended you have taken this out of context , they have to do 40 hours to graduate !!

Tiaribbon

I arrived here 2 years ago with my daughter who was 8 years old at the time. Daughter was assessed and Canadian school suggested that her knowledge was comparable to Grade 5. Grade 3 was the year she should have been in, alongside children of her own age.

We thought long and hard about whether to place her in a class of children more than 2 years older than her and most were almost 3 years older as she would have been one of the youngest in the year. Our decision was to leave her in a class of same-age children. Daughter has had a very easy time at school over the past 2 years. We won't know whether we did the right or wrong thing until some years down the line I suspect but so far it seems like it suits her.

We had no intention of returning to the UK when she started school therefore we did not feel that it was such a big deal for her to go through the schooling system here with her own age group. If we had not intended remaining in Canada for the whole of her school years then we would definitely have placed her in Grade 5.

Novocastrian

^^ and another bunch of posts. With this one I agree.

I'm an academic so can I just say that it is the end product which is significant, not the amount of knowledge/information/programming which kids have been subjected to at a certain age. Education is (or should be) more to do with building a whole, functioning, balanced individual than it is to do with test results, speed of completion, even age of completion. They all end up at the level that they are capable of achieving. Sooner or later...who cares?

OK. As an academic, I guess I can't say squat.

dingbat

I agree, but with some significant qualification. I have kids in Grades 12, 7, 2 and Kindergarten. I started off my Canadian education experience with a six year old daughter who was placed in Grade 3 instead of Grade 1, due to her academic abilities which had been assessed against her Canadian peers.

I put her back to Grade 1 doing Grade 2 work, fighting a recalcitrant school board all the way. By Grade 4, I had to pull her out and pay for her schooling, as the public school options were utterly abysmal, she had learned nothing and was suicidal from boredom and bullying. The private school was great. She hated it. I moved her back, a miserable child who performs academically is not what I wanted. She graduates this summer, just as she turns 17. She is headed for medical school, having been put back into the public system at Grade 7. I am pleased with her science and math education. The rest could have been written on a cornflakes box. I just had her AP Grade 12 curriculum evaluated in the UK, she is nowhere near ready to attend University outside this province. She is a well-rounded, intelligent, funny and confident individual. I cannot see why she would have been anything other than this had she been educated elsewhere, such as the Uk. This is her personality, shaped by a myriad of factors. To be at the same standard as her UK University peers, my daughter needs to go home or move to Ontario, where standards are arguably higher. She has already been told that she is disadvantaged against Ontarian based Med school applicants because the standards of her Grade 12 courses are set provincially; the standard here being lower than other provincial standards. An education lottery springs to mind. Two of my other kids are in Catholic school and have been since Kindergarten. They are doing reasonably well and have great social skills. I teach them at home as well, to fill in the obvious deficiencies and gaps, but in a relaxed unstructured way. They have a school day, the rest is just bonus stuff, once they are taught to read and write properly. That basic literacy skill is lacking here, in answer to the poster who assumed that most six year old children can read and write. They absolutely cannot here and if you get a teacher who is useless at teaching phonics, prepare to teach your own children yourself. The other school age child (Grade 7) has had the misfortune to have had barely literate teachers in the public school system, and has endured so-called professionals who should not be allowed to stand in front of a class of kids and open their mouths in most cases. Some teachers have no experience outside this end of the world to pass on to the kids. Teachers and schools resent anyone complaining about factual inaccuracies being taught as gospel, spelling errors etc., prejudices and plain ignorance in the classroom. Make a fuss, you get labelled as a trouble maker.

Bear in mind I work closely with my local school board and know many of the teachers personally and professionally. The more honest among them admit that the standards are set at the lowest common denominator and that many just teach from standard copy masters to the middle of the class. Critical thinking just does not happen unless you get a good teacher who is willing to do that bit extra. There are also quite a few of these, you just have to hope that your child gets at least one or two before Grade 10. The "end product" from an education in BC is not always producing a whole, functioning and balanced individual. Far from it. Parent participation is key, particularly if academics are important to you. I would imagine that this is the case anywhere really. Not a rant, a considered observation after eleven years here, that's all.

Canada2006

Generally, middle class parents who care for their children's eductation will try to get them into the best schools, and if they are cato, so be it.

As these middle class kids get a lot of support and high expectations from their parents, they will tend to want to learn more and get more out of school.

Hence, kids in Catholic schools are easier and more rewarding to teach!

Success breeds success!

So if you're in Ontario, make sure you're Catholic!

BTW, concerning drugs, having seen first hand the bad effects of illegal drugs, my children will be drilled that they must not experiment or go near them ever.

Novocastrian

Which might or might not have the desired effect.

Canada2006

You're right, but I have to try - it's less risk than doing nothing. I see that dbd33 has a different outlook. Each to their own!

Biiiiink

That's got to be better in Canada than England - the sciences there seem to be a bit "Brainiac" (Sky One, pub science) these days...

Novocastrian

Just an innocent question. Did you personally ever try weed in college days?

dbd33

Understand that, in the mornings, there are crack (meth maybe?) whores working from the school steps. Every kind of drug is available on this block. I think it important that children be able to differentiate having a beer and a joint from getting involved with more serious, and more seriously illegal, drugs.

I wasn't pleased with the cocaine experiments but, whaddaya want, it's everywhere, like Ecstasy in Europe.

TrishP

Would disagree withthis one - I grew up in N Ireland and a friend who was Protestant went to the local Catholic school as it had a good reputation. The school was aware of her faith background at the time she started.

Novocastrian

I just had her AP Grade 12 curriculum evaluated in the UK, she is nowhere near ready to attend University outside this province.


There you run into the reality of the system: education is a provincial resonsibilty. BC has no more desire than any other province to modify its curricula and approaches so as to enhance inter-provincial mobiity, let alone international mobility.

The various provincial systems can only be compared at their end-points, by which in general I mean young people graduating from college or university, young people who have remained in the same province throughout.

You should be prepared for extra difficulties if you choose to buck the norm.

dingbat

Yup, that's the reality I have been facing this last year. It's the reason my house is up for sale and the reason we have to move as a family to another province or country. I have to establish residency somewhere else for at least a year in Canada to get in-province fees. We have to be back in the UK for three years (or she goes to Uni in our third year back) to get home student fees there. Both options are open to us, it's a question of housing now and the best job offers to facilitate the move. Scary after eleven years here

Edited to add: I have to move her because I cannot afford UBC. My ex (her father) refuses to pay toward her education, even though he is court ordered to do so. As a result, she does not qualify for financial aid to attend Med school, as the parents are expected to pay their contribution. I can't pay his as well as mine.

TrishP

Different residency regulations for Scotland wrt university funding - ? possibility