[jaguar]

I wrote a long post on this yesterday, selected all of it and accidentally hit paste. IE for mac does not seem to have a undo function. I was not amused.

Anyway...

First of all I've been in the 3 systems i'll be talking about - private, public and public elite.

For a few years i went to one of the biggest and most expensive private school there is here. If kids want to learn the are a great environment, providing unique opportunities that the lesser funded public schools cannot. The smaller class sizes and sometimes higher quality of teaching seem to help about 1/3 of those who are not born academics. the other 2/3s just stay the same. The space it gives teachers to move can allow them ot provide more interesting activities that can get otherwise bored kids learning and involved. The private schools here are between $1000 and $25000. This also included religious etc school which often make up the bottom end of the pricing scale.

I think it is the same in the US but the public system here is woefully underfunded. I mean badly. While those with an interest in learning can still thrive it is far harder, the environment is far less positive (although not too different to private schools, a thug in a $1200 blazer is still a stupid thug). Staff wise the teachers tend to be of lower quality, although there are exceptions and you can really tell when you get a good teacher. People are motivated, group work gets done, people hand in work and participate in class. As these schools are run as businesses they do give an amazing amount of leeway to students who can afford it, i know one girl at a top melbourne girls private school who has been kicked out 5 times, each time daddy has written a cheque and she's been let back in with open arms. While I'm more open than a few friends of mine who think the private school system should be abolished to provide a better level of education equality i would like to see the massive amounts of money that go as profits instead going into the public system, my putting everyone in the same environment you can also promote tolerance and understanding, which i would argue is as essential to teach kids as the 3 Rs.

One thing we have here which i don't know of existing outside australia is a network of 2-3 elite public schools in each major capital city. These school have far better funding, a mixture of government and donations from old boys and friends of the school (old boys tend to include high numbers of people in the top and astronomic pay brackets). They compete with private schools in sports, often wear similar uniforms and consistently top the state in final year results, often making up half the intake into top courses such as med and law. these schools tend to only include the last 4-5 years of high school at most and are usually enter by a test/interview. They offer an environment that actively encourages and promotes academic competition, tolerance and the onus to learn is firmly on the student. If work is missed, you fail, no extensions, no excuses, no teachers following you up. Thus while private schools which spoon-feed their students suffer by far the highest uni dropout rate. These schools offer the top 1000 or so students each year to have access to excellent affordable education that encompasses many minorities and a wide range of socioeconomic strata.

I don't think there is an ideal system, but having been through those 3 i do have to say the elite public schools do certainly provide an oppotunity for kids that otherwise would have far more trouble demonstrating their full potential.


Notes:
A good teacher can keep kids entertained while teaching but we all have ot do things in life we don't greatly enjoy, not being facinated is not a good excuse for not learning something at a high school level, i've heard that winge from people my age, quit whining, slacker.

Teachers are the most underpaid and undervalued profession we have. How can you expect the great people that we NEED to go into teaching on the pitiful saleries and futures we offer? Teaching should be as highly respected as law and medicine.