The Forum > Article Comments > I feel guilty my son is at a public school > Comments
I feel guilty my son is at a public school : Comments
By Leslie Cannold, published 8/11/2007Why do only the wealthiest parents in the community, and the most religious, deserve a real choice about where they educate their kids?
- Pages:
-
- 1
- 2
- 3
- ...
- 8
- 9
- 10
- Page 11
- 12
-
- All
Don't lay your smug self-righteousness on us.
Some of us have very good reasons to send our children to government schools. One of the main ones is that we love our children and care very much for their education (as distinct from their schooling) and want them to grow up knowing a broad cross-section of Australian children.
Then there are many, many families who genuinely cannot afford the fees even if they start at 'only' $2000 a year. Private schools tout their 'generous' scholarships in their PR brochures but in fact these represent in the order of 1-2% of private school enrolments. The scholarships are a mere token to let the affluent parents feel better.
Finally, your efforts to help your children are no doubt genuine, but have you thought about the possibility that you are wasting your money? With three children now through the government school system now all with Master's degrees at the best universities except the last who is just entering his Honours year. They learned exceptionally well at government schools and were not spoon-fed by private school teachers anxious to cram Year 12 facts into their heads and not at all interested in how they would cope after that.
My children's schools also didn't chuck the under-achievers out in order to falsify their academic results. These were government schools that took all-comers and cared for them all whatever their backgrounds, their bank accounts or their abilities.
Why should you be surprised that State governments spend more on government schools than they do on private schools? Are you also surprised that the Commonwealth government spends more on private schools than on government schools?