Oh, I definitely agree that there is a degree of snobbery present with selective schools, akin to that of private schools (I think the idea of school pride in general is quite juvenile). My issue was more with the 'and should be abolished' part.
Selective Schools: Good or Bad?
- Thread starter Camikaze
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Oh, I definitely agree that there is a degree of snobbery present with selective schools, akin to that of private schools (I think the idea of school pride in general is quite juvenile). My issue was more with the 'and should be abolished' part.
those articles really do fit the stereotype that australians might be a bit racist, as for selective schools, i think its an alrite idea but parents can get super competitive, quite a few people i went to school with had tutoring to help them pass the tests, i didn't but my mum still made me do practice exams, I didnt enjoy my time at that school, dont think my sister was too keen either-siblings got in without taking a test which kinda seems a bit unfair, but they usually get good results there, so i guess its good for most people
definetely wasnt some pseudo posh school as someone said they were, probably quite an even spread of people from working and middle class backgrounds
definetely wasnt some pseudo posh school as someone said they were, probably quite an even spread of people from working and middle class backgrounds
If only the entrance exam were remotely fair, I might have a different opinion on the matter, but for the present, the system is totally despicable. I say that even though I go to an excellent grammar school.
id say its a minority of areas that still operate the 11 plus and grammar school system now
Patroklos
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Having different schools based on achievement is really no different than having advanced courses based on achievement, either way you are seperating segments of students based on a functional need to cater to BOTH.
For the most part I was in advanced or AP classes by my junior year in highschool, but there were still a few core curriculum classes outside my academic ocus in which I was still at the regular level. Which basically meant tossing me in with a group of people with no will to learn and no desire to be there. It was exceptionally hard to learn in those classes because a teacher was constantly dumbing down the curriculum or spending most of their time just trying to keep order.
To a certain extent there is a benefit to having high academic achievers in such classes as their performace can trickle down to other students in the class, but I think the detrimental effects on the high achievers is far more pronounced. And in the end the high achievers have no obligation to sacrifice their performance to maginally help others.
So no, there is no problem with it. We need to cater to the good and bad students (you don't abandon the bad students, but pretending everyone needs advanced math and is college bound is daft as well as a diservice to those students). If you believe in advanced courses, then you should have no problem with selective schools.
For the most part I was in advanced or AP classes by my junior year in highschool, but there were still a few core curriculum classes outside my academic ocus in which I was still at the regular level. Which basically meant tossing me in with a group of people with no will to learn and no desire to be there. It was exceptionally hard to learn in those classes because a teacher was constantly dumbing down the curriculum or spending most of their time just trying to keep order.
To a certain extent there is a benefit to having high academic achievers in such classes as their performace can trickle down to other students in the class, but I think the detrimental effects on the high achievers is far more pronounced. And in the end the high achievers have no obligation to sacrifice their performance to maginally help others.
So no, there is no problem with it. We need to cater to the good and bad students (you don't abandon the bad students, but pretending everyone needs advanced math and is college bound is daft as well as a diservice to those students). If you believe in advanced courses, then you should have no problem with selective schools.
I don't think they are necessarily a bad thing. In the US, most of our large school districts have them....we call them magnet schools. Some are for the the arts, some are just specific high academic achievers, etc. In big cities, the best public magnet schools are usually just as good as any fancy private school. These can be an effective way of keeping really talented students (and their families with money and social capital) in public school districts.
That being said, magnet schools usually only pop up in really large districts that have a lot of really crappy schools, so I hope that administrators don't use a fancy magnet as an excuse to neglect the rest of their schools (like people kinda did in New Orleans and Washington DC). By design, magnets can really only serve a fairly small number of people, and they are usually the folks that could get into a private school anyway...
