speaking ppl from private schools - i have a colleague who went to a very good private school, but his attitude towards work stinks. palming off work to others, cunning etc. no guarantee that private schools churn better/higher moralled individuals. another colleague went to a very very prestigious brisbane girls private school and she was bullied cos of her ethnic background.
i dont think in our organisation, we really care which school we've been to, there's ppl from all over the world.
when ive told some mothers that we will send ds to a public school, ive had got the reaction ''aaahhhhh' like im such a bad mother for sending him to a public school where as htey are going to send their kids to a prvate school.
at the end of the day, i cannot tell which of my colleagues went to a public/private boarding school unless they tell me. and frankly i dont care. as long as they are good people and deliver and are sincere at work, that's all that matters.
My XH who went to Melbourne's second most expensive private school and was the partner in a top 6 accounting firm said if he was responsible for recruitment he'd employ purely women from public schools (ie. like me) because they're the hardest and smartest workers! Might have just been trying to get into my pants that night though
I went to many different schools - we moved a lot. A public primary, then I did school of the air for a while (due to moving to a remote area), then into a private Catholic school for year 7, then for high school it was all private - three different Catholic schools, one of which was a boarding school (once again due to my parents living in a remote area). I would have done well whatever school I went to - I had/have that drive. I am very good at motivating myself and committing to things, and I liked school. But I am still glad I went to private schools. The ones I went to were not ridiculously expensive, nor were they "snooty". They accepted students from all different backgrounds and you didn't have to be Catholic, or even Christian, to go there. But of course you did have to accept the Catholic ethos of the school, which included compulsory religious education classes.
Anyway, I want our children to go to a private high school. I would like to get them into the local Catholic primary, but they are full atm. I don't want to go into debt however - I have made sure that we could afford the fees (which are quite reasonable really) if our kids were enrolled there. DS's current primary school is ok, he is doing really well and the school itself works hard to make sure they foster the right environment for the children - which is hard considering how under-resourced state schools in QLD are (the govt really needs to pick up it's act in this area - there is something badly wrong when a teacher has to use their own funds to resource their classrooms adequately, even to buy hand soap for the children to use) and so I have no problem continuing to send him there (and his sisters) if we don't get offered a place at the Catholic school. But the public high schools in our area leave a lot to be desired. In fact, our local state high has such a bad reputation that many parents send their children to state highs in the next suburb or even further (if they can get them in) rather than send them to the local school. I would rather pay for them to go to the Catholic school.
Divvy - I too am pretty sure I got a couple of jobs thanks to the school I attended and it was made quite obvious as everyone at the group induction for my first past time job went to a private school...
Shell, I think I know the schools you are talking about! The one where people bribe the principle and move into the zone to get in lol is that the one up the road from me??
Afm...I attended a private school in a "well-to-do" suburb for primary up to year 10 and then did VCE at a public school!! Why? Because the public school offered MORE subjects - the ones I wanted to do and were relevant to my uni choices. I really think I had the best education - the best of both worlds. I loved the school I did VCE at - yeah it was a culture shock and I admit I was part of the minority in that I was a bit of a nerd and cared about my studies. Having said that, a lot of people from the public school didn't go on to tertiary studies whereas most people from the private school did. I found that having come from the private school I had, I was more disciplined and took exams more seriously than a lot of the other kids who'd often use their free periods (or just skip class) to go down to the beach or to the shops, whereas I'd go and study!!
I don't think I'd be prepared to go into that sort of debt per child for private education. If DS and any future bubs we might have are bright and academic, there a a few selective public schools around that they can sit a test for or if we have the money then we'd consider private school but I don't think it's a neccessity.
Oh and one thing about private schools is the ridiculously expensive uniforms A summer uniform, a winter uniform, a sports uniform - I remember when I left I didn't even consider selling my uniform and I gave a lot of it to a friend of mine and boy did my mum go ballistic when she found out I gave it away!!
I'm going to see if I can learn to link to another post in another thread because whilst replying to that thread one of the main reasons why I value my DD's independent schools became apparent. It's about the vastly different approach teachers take at my DD's school to the way they teach in (I imagine) most public schools.
ETA: ok... it didn't work. If you're interested check out my post in Brontides thread about Children and Creativity in the Education section.
Last edited by Bathsheba; September 17th, 2009 at 04:42 PM.
I don't think that valuing creativity can be divided into public and private. Of the schools that I attended one of the public schools valued creativity the most. In NSW there are 6 public selective creative and performing arts high schools which focus more on creativity than any other schools in the state.
I hope they have changed things now but when I was at school an A in an arts or humanities subject was given less weight in calculating your TE score than an A in maths or science regardless of what school you attended.
LOL Ta Bron... but it was my first (previous) post in that thread... the one explaining about the Reggio method. When I was a teachers' assistant I did professional training which on one occasion involved going to about half a dozen other independant schools in Melbourne who also taught using the Reggio philosophy of respecting children as being in control of the the way they learn and not just blank slates to be "written" on. IYKWIM. I'm not sure if any public school in Melbourne adopts this approach.
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A summer uniform, a winter uniform, a sports uniform - I remember when I left I didn't even consider selling my uniform and I gave a lot of it to a friend of mine and boy did my mum go ballistic when she found out I gave it away!!
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