"This move toward a lengthy, one-size-fits-all, broad-based schooling -- and today, in 135 countries, compulsory -- is hailed as Progressivism’s greatest achievement. This is 'social engineering'—the use of centralised planning to manage social change and regulate the future development of a society."
~ Vinay Kolhatkar, from his post 'Why Education Must Be Freed From Social Engineering'
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3 comments:
Indeed - and as evidence that this is a failure rather than an achievement, consider that we have just gone through the long process of trying to get our son of above average intelligence accepted into the one secondary school in Christchurch that seemed to not fit this category, to be told this week the roll is full and they cannot offer him a place. The demand for education at this school is so high, even at the cost of $25k per year per student on top of our taxes, that demand far outstrips available supply - with apparently only 35 places for boys being available at the start of high school once existing primary students, those whose parents went there, a 50/50 split of males to females, etc are given priority. Terrible and utterly demoralizing state of affairs.
MarkT >> Name the school friend >> this is no time for delicacies, there is a social revolution to start. Civil disobedience first, I will give further instructions later.
When my daughter was placed in Burnside High, it was without my help>> we were out of zone, and they found out the place I called home was a renovation project on Fendalton Road, and at first turned us down. Now my home is over the East side, Richmond, the prices are like Invercargill, its unreal. So I imagine Shirley Boy's high is for the poor white trash , and if you want the right side of town you front up with about double the valuation to hit Boy's High, Girl's High, and so on.
Name the school Mark.
Not sure how naming the school could affect a social revolution - but it's St Andrews. Burnside High is our next preference, but we're out of zone - so it's a slim chance unless we move.
I'm not particularly interested in the single sex boys schools, either public or private. Whilst they might have the advantage of being less exposed to the over-femininization that's increasingly endemic in most schools, that's over-ridden by my belief that having no exposure to girls at that age is unhealthy.
When it comes to state schools, you're correct there's generally a correlation between quality of the school and average house prices of the surrounding area. I used to think that might just be snobbery/perception, but I now believe it's real. That would be less of a problem if there was more choice to go outside zone.
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