I object to my taxes being diverted to subsidise parents who have CHOSEN to educate their children outside the Public system.

I recognise their right to go to a private system but they should be prepared to pay the FULL difference in cost and not take away funds that have been intended for the public system.

I don't think that public school students should be subsidising private school students.

I may choose to buy a Rolls Royce but I don't think it's fair to have all the Toyota owners in the country pay extra for their cars to help me pay for mine.

Wobbles

I object to my taxes being diverted to subsidise parents who have CHOSEN to educate their children outside the Private system. I prefer my children's minds to be shaped by truth rather than secular dogma. Seems like politicians of all mixes agree. Many of them send their kids to private schools. Better still home school if you can.

Richard and pdev, I agree. Petal, HRS is not capable of being rational re feminists. I'll be 50 in a few months, have rarely come across his type of feminists, but plenty of sneering, rude downtalking men towards women. Privately and professionally. I wonder how HRS addresses women he comes across?

Outcomes of children are strongly determined by what happens up to age 8. Years ago when at uni I came across the Burdekin Report, which cost taxpayers lots of money with lots of recommendations not acted upon. Ask any teacher, it doesn't matter whether privately or publicly educated, but by age 8 all the signs of success or failure are there to see.

Whether your child goes to a public or private High school makes very little difference if early childhood and primary school years where of high quality. The single biggest factor is parental (note the 'Parental' HRS) input/encouragement and pride,not the school.

Unfortunately, there are many children who do not receive the parental support they should be entitled to. To ignore these children is to the detriment of our society. Through loss of potential untapped talent, loss of productive citizens and possible (likely?) cost to society in adult life.

This is why education, in particular public education, is of vital importance. Public education is not properly funded. Too much is made of 'choice' between private and public. And I'm sorry to have to say this again, but the 'mummy wars' have a lot to do with the 'choice'. A child in a private school is a status symbol for, by no means all, very many parents.

Jolanda, scholarships to private schools are one option to gain entrance to expensive private schools cheaply. Because overall student results are an important factor in 'selling' their product, all private schools offer scholarships to high scoring/gifted students to maintain high overall student ratings. It certainly was beneficial to us.

There is nothing wrong with a parent sacrificing personal luxuries to provide an education for their children. In some cases, a private education is the only suitable option when the local state schools fail in providing the right care or, when the family lives in an isolated part of Australia and private boarding schools become a necessary norm.

Having said this, it is necessary to raise the matter that the State Labor Governments continue to neglect what is their responsibility. Queensland is now seeing the Beattie/Bligh Government shirking their responsibility of funding the staffing of government schools as P&C's are being forced to pay for the wages of Teacher's Aids in the 'Prep' year.

I assume that this will be snuck in across the board so that governments of both persuasions can have more money to spend on fine wine and cavier as they fly first class around the world for first class study trips.

Politicians and the people need to see education as a long term investment of 20 years. It takes that long to see a return as children grow into adults. With the right support, they can enter the workplace, earn a wage, pay taxes, put money through the economy or, spend a life time on welfare or living on the streets.

Yvone
I have not said anything negative about women, but you have said quite a few negative things about men and also about boys.

These are the number of students who achieved high marks (A’s and B’s) in all their subjects from a public co-ed school this year.

Grade 8 - Girls 22, Boys 11
Grade 9 - Girls 18, Boys 5
Grade 10 - Girls 19, Boys 7
Grade 11 - Girls 21, Boys 5
Grade 12 - Girls 16, Boys 7

In this co-ed school the boys and girls come from the same socioeconomic backgrounds and from the same parents, so socioeconomic background and parents can be discounted as a reason for the major difference between the girl’s and boy’s marks.

I do know of a mother and father who have now taken their son out of a public school and now drive their son across a city each day to attend a specially selected private school, where the teachers actually take some interest in educating boy students.

Under the circumstances, the mother and father are totally entitled to do so.

Petal,

I have tried again and again to follow your link it just goes to a previous thread where you assert the same thing. Unless you can provide a link to something of substance, your assertion remains vague and nonsensical.

Your comments that money can be saved by running the department of education better are a given, like wise, that good education has more to do with attitude than funding.

Unfortunately both the above statements indicate that public education needs a massive shake up where pay and promotions are based on performance, and where kids' performance is closely tracked and feedback given. Most people move from public schooling precisely for these reasons.

I would suggest the first step would be to fix the public system before breaking down the alternatives.

Wobbles,

Many parents who chose the public system recognise its failings and chose to have their children tutored. The selective schools are full of these children who then get the places at university. Also, most additions to the musical or sport offered are often outside of school.

Your logic would then penalise them for their choices and charge them extra for their schooling.

The choice of independent schooling essentially combines the public curriculum with a different work ethic in the classroom, more focused teaching, and a broader range of sporting and cultural activities.

Funding independent schools at about 75% of the funding of public schools gives the government a higher return for its money.

In fact privatising all public schools and funding them based on student numbers and rewarding on results would probably save the taxpayer the $2bn and get a better education for all.