Alan2005

I often see people on here say that Canadians don't worry about which school their kids go to and just use the nearest local one. That's not true; what people who say that mean is that "I don't worry because my kids go to a good school."

Shard

My initial thoughts too...but if you have baby/toddler in tow, it is not quite so out-of-place. A shame that the world has become so paranoid / PC. Well, not the world, but certainly Canada, US, UK etc..

ExKiwilass

ha ha true!

Shard

Would you say the variance amongst Canadian public schools is as great as amongst UK states?

ExKiwilass

mmm not sure I agree. What's a 'good school'? Mine didn't even rate on the FI when we picked it (too small) and was shit for the first few years of testing, we picked it for the neighbourhood, programme and party/involved parents. It was the community involvement that really swung it for me.

Almost Canadian

I have no idea whether my kids' schools were/are good or not; in the UK or in Canada.

They go to the local school and that is that. I find the parents that really fuss are the ones that also care about what car they drive. I don't care about that either.

Now, I accept that my kids are unlikely to be awarded anything by the Nobel people, but I don't care about that either

Alan2005

I have no idea.

I'm not defending the FI report. I'm only stating that people in Canada do worry about the school their kids go to. If they didn't nobody would care about the FI report - something which is only filling an information gap that should be, as Oink says, filled by a proper regulatory body (not the BCTF).

Anyway, I have anecdotal evidence! My neighbours with school age kids talk about which school is the best and how they don't want their kids in the local high school and how they are going to get them in the better one even though they aren't in the catchment area. This is a frequent topic of conversation.

Alan2005

Yes you do. I'm not specifically referring to knowledge of any organizations quantitative ranking, but you'll know qualitatively whether the school your kids are at is "good" or not (and by "good" I mean not shit). If it was bad you'd have moved your kids.

Oink

How far does one take their parental responsibility when it comes to education? Do you try and get them into the best private school, hire extra tutoring, design research projects to fill their spare time and take them on educational field trips in the school holidays or do you think, 'I wasn’t constrained by social class parameters, the local school was good enough for me’ and let them hang out down the rec with their mates?

Shard

Not really. Many parents who really fuss over schools are focussed on the quality of the education on offer, but share your indifference about cars. Schools depend mostly on the people within them (students and teacher) and so are definitely not all the same.

ExKiwilass

yeah there seems to be more concern about high school than elementary. There's similar chat here, the high school in our catchment isn't as well regarded as the big one in the catchment next door. but i can never get a solid reason as to why one is supposedly better than the other - it is just 'accepted' as fact. So I suspect it's prolly bullshit.

So my anecdotal evidence backs up your anecdotal evidence.

Alan2005

My parents had no choice. I failed my 11+ and there was only one secondary modern to go to where I lived.

ExKiwilass

i suspect the answer depends on what success the parent has had in their life. My myself, I'm nothing special, I was sent to private school by social climbing parents and I have no desire to replicate that experience. IMO private school is a guarantee of nothing (sorry mum & dad ). The only thing that appeals to me about it is not having to deal with the effing labour unrest in public schools.

The OH has done fairly well in his industry and he was state-schooled all the way. He doesn't get the need for private school.

Oink

We didn't have the 11+. But if my parents had really cared about me they'd left off the estate and probably moved to Switzerland so I could learn four languages simultaneously, as we know this promotes brain growth in children, plus got me a classics tutor and then at 11 enrolled me in Eton College to at least give me a chance in life.

dbd33

I camped out overnight to get one child into a particular school. I lied about the children's primary address to get then into a school. I misrepresented one as having a religion in order to hype her into yet another school. I sent them all to Switzerland for months each year so they could be quadratically linguated. I financed all manner of tutors and ferried the kids to and from night school so they could take more subjects than fitted into the school day. In short, I think I was interested to the degree typical of the parents in the area.

At the time I drove a TR6 for which I imported red lines from the UK and trim from the US.

Concerned parents don't make their children ride in minivans.