I want to do that too, BUT I don't want DD1 to go to a cultural (and religiously [is that a word? lol]) homogeneous school. She needs to learn about the diversity in Australia and around the world. How to achieve that baffles me slightly ...:
Printable View
I want to do that too, BUT I don't want DD1 to go to a cultural (and religiously [is that a word? lol]) homogeneous school. She needs to learn about the diversity in Australia and around the world. How to achieve that baffles me slightly ...:
Well, my area is so WASP that it hurts. More likely to have diversity in the private system around here.
TBH I have never thought about the racial profile of the secondary school I want my boys to go to. I have my eye on it because it's a selective school with a great academic program. If they don't get in then it's off to the local high school. Since it's in the middle of the Embassy district I assume there will be a few diplomat's children there.
I think it's important to note that the model underpinning that report is not on the individual level but the community level, so it's not actually suggesting that individuals who send their children to Private Schools are all racists. Though if you read the paper, they do give an example of a parent who was quite O.o in what they said. But it's about community level attitudes, and I do think there is an element of racism in our community. Futher, it's not even saying that cultural quarantine is the sole explanation for the division we see, and if you look at the results, and could split up what "causes" this division, it's only a small percentage anyway.
I think that this would happen a lot but if you ever asked some people if thats why they chose a particular school then they would say no because how can you say it without coming across all wrong?
My SIL would do this for sure - she lives in a town with a large Indigenous population, and they are mostly townie bogans - along with all the white bogans, so it's not so much that they are Indigenous, but that they are of a particular socio-economic status. So she will more than likely send her kids to the local Catholic school, which isn't private, but because you have to pay it prevents a lot of the bogans from going there. But then she doesn't like catholics so she's torn about sending them there too. Her only other school options is in the next town 1 hour away. She just hates people in general though and nothing is good enough for her boy so she'd be better off homeschooling :lol:
Where do the bogan Catholics go? ;) :p
I have considered Montessori for this reason. I did some consulting work for the Faculty of Education in the place where I work and that's what piqued my curiosity about it all. I like the idea of educating my daughter about the international community we live in. And to be clear, I'm not saying other people don't want this, I'm just saying that something specific triggered me to go looking for this.:
Trill, your post made me laugh so much. And yes, I agree, who would openly admit to it? I think it plays a part but there will be all sorts of reasons to do it in the parents' head aside from racial quarantining, most likely. But I think the end result, though, is the same.
I haven't read all the article and I haven't read all the responses but since when has that ever stopped anyone :)
Just looks like one of those studies that reaches a conclusion and then another conclusion is drawn. Like the article in the Herald Sun the other week that said that parents were dumping their kids at shopping centre play areas because the cost of childcare had gone up. No evidence whatsoever for the latter part of that statement.
No doubt the stats are true, significant yada yada yada but that doesn't make the parents racist, just means they want their kids to go to schools where they will have a better chance of academic excellence. Kids whose first language is not English are not as likely to do well. Not rocket science, not racism. I would have a problem sending my kids to a school where English wasn't the first language for a significant proportion of pupils. It's the language thing not the kids' skin colour or cultural background that would affect my choice.
I have had fun with this type of stuff in the past. One parent, who was one-eyed private school, and very anti a particular local school that was in her catchment zone, would have state the most bizarre reasons for choosing a private school. Finally one day, she let out the term "socio-economic", to which I replied "so poor people send their kids to that other school then?" She kept quiet then (will say I only had fun with her, as she would often have a good friend in tears about her choice to send her children to a public school).:
My four daughters go to a small catholic school. About 100 kids.
With that 100, their is two gay couples, an african, 4 philippines children and two crotians. For such a small school (private) that's quiet a large number of different cultures.
I included the gay couples as for catholic ed I found it quite different.
(Im not homophobic,I couldn't care aless as long as the kids sent picked on) All the students are friends and bullieing is almost non existsnt.
I live and work in a very disadvantaged area with a huge migrant and refugee population. MANY of my Australian-born colleagues have said, out loud, that they will send their kids to private school because they don't want them mixing with 'those' people. 'Those' people meaning poor migrants.:
If we're still in the area when DS starts school, he'll go to the local public primary school. I love the influence of the multiculturalism area we live in and we live here very deliberately so that we get to experience different cultures.
Actually lots of schools with higher migrant density are high performing schools. It is the case in WA, where 2 of the top 5 state schools are situated in high immigrant populations. Migrants don't automatically translate to lower performance in school, nor do they always equate to lower socio-economic areas. So to say that parents don't send their kids to a high migrant density school because of lower performance doesn't actually stack up.:
Like a previous poster, I couldn't give a rat's if DD was going to school with kids from the moon - black, white, green, purple, any religious denomination...whatever. What I do care about is the attitude, values, standards and outcomes of the school and its teaching staff and students. To me, education is one of the most important and valuable gifts you can give your child/ren. It's not something I will readily compromise on. If people want to call me an academic snob, or elitist or exclusionary, good on them. I don't give a flying toss. It's not about them. It's about my DD. I will give her the best I can. If, at the time, that's the local public school, then the local public school it is. If it's a private school, then that's where she will go.
And, for me, it's not just about academics. A little while back I looked at the website of an exclusive all-girl school to get a sense of options available. It was all about academic excellence, etc. But not once, on tHe website of this $30,000+ a year school, did they mention anything about social service, or teaching children about social justice and giving back to the community.
I closed the website vowing no child of mine would ever go there.
Migrants may or may not speak English as a first language so to generalise about schools with migrant populations isn't helpful IMO. High-performing schools where English is not the first language of most of the pupils may exist but they are probably the exception. Happy to be proven wrong, that's just my understanding.
Migrants may or may not speak English as a first language so to generalise about schools with migrant populations isn't helpful IMO. High-performing schools where English is not the first language of most of the pupils may exist but they are probably the exception. Happy to be proven wrong, that's just my understanding.:
My DD1 goes to the local public school where approximately 1/3 - 1/2 of the school kids come from a non-English speaking background. We also have the English Language School on site so many kids come to the school not speaking any English at all. There are many different nationalities represented but the majority are African. It's a mixed socio-economic area where there are quite well off, well educated professionals mixed with public housing and a high immigration population. I think there is definitely a benefit for the kids from non-English speaking backgrounds to be in a school with these kids - many of the parents go to help out with reading specifically to assist the kids who have nobody who can read with them at home. It is also beneficial for the other kids to mix with and understand different cultures and religions.
The school's NAPLAN results are significantly higher than similar schools on pretty much every score. Just sayin'
I don't understand how it's not helpful? The article was about parents choosing not to send their children to schools in areas where there are high migrant populations, NOT non-english speaking populations. So how do I not make a general observation about schools with high migrant populations? The ones I know of, like Rossmoyne and Willetton High in Perth, consistently rank in the top 5 public high schools. It's not a one-off, it's been so for as long as I lived in Perth.:
I think that saying that high migrant areas = lower socio-economic areas or non-english-speaking areas is more of a generalisation personally.