Arjay, a few comments:

"Luny" is normally spelt loony or occasionally looney (as in Looney Tunes).

"Surrepticiously" is normally spelt surreptitiously

It's customary to put a space after a full stop, or a comma.

You say the "public education system is predominately controlled by a left wing mentality." I wasn't aware that a public education system had a mentality, left wing or otherwise. Ditto for the public system's "personal views".

You say we "have a whole generation who cannot spell or use grammar correctly or even demonstrate skills in critical analysis and it does show."

Yes Arjay, it certainly does show, doesn't it?

We also have a generation of State educated people who deny absolutes and yet are quick to pick up grammar and spelling mistakes. Something does not add up!

I'll tell you why it does show Johnj.I'm just a tradesmen who was taught in the old school and I can match it with best of what the modern day self flagellating,egocentric Dawin Ankers of your ilk.My intelligence quotient is far below yours,yet your perception of reality is well below mine.

Arjay

Remember these words that I have cut and paste:

'I was a teacher from the mid seventies to the late eighties.I have taught children from K to 12.'

In all my years of teaching, I have never met one teacher who has taught from kindergarten to year 12. What is even rarer is a male kindergarten teacher, particularly during the 70s and 80s.

Now you are a tradesman with a passion for hating teachers.

stephen@csa

‘For every $1.00 invested per student in public education by Australia’s governments, the same governments invest $0.67 per student in non-government schooling.’

You cite the latter amount in a way that implies this is a ‘small’ offering. I disagree. $0.67 in the dollar is actually a high percentage (over two-thirds) of that spent per student in the public sector. This is in addition to the fees charged by non-government schools, plus tax concessions received, as well as the freedom to pursue tax-free fundraising activities.

I doubt that this combination of extra revenues adds up to $0.33 per non-government student for every $1.00 spent per student in the public sector. Operating at such a clear financial disadvantage, it is amazing that public high schools achieve the impressive results they do.

Liz: Wow, you're amazingly generous towards the private system. I don't think it's typically that way with people who teach in the public system.

I suspect that this is the sort of debate, like abortion, that brings most people out strongly entrenched on one side, and that there's little likelihood that people will change their ideological stripes or meet in the middle. I'll freely admit that I have almost complete contempt for the government system and see those who are very opposed to the private system receiving funding as leeches off someone else's tax dollar. That's hardly going to win any friends or influence people though. Likewise, I suspect that there are plenty on the other side of the fence who view people like me in the same way and they're probably not going to win many friends or influence people either.

Still, it will be interesting to see the future of education in this country. Personally, I plan to either homeschool my children or send them to private school, but wild horses couldn't drag them from my arms into the state system.