HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Originally Posted By: scouser Quote: I wish everyone could say the same of thier school. It is hard enough to be a teenager without your school sucking! Where I'm from there are 2 schools in the catchment area - very different levels and lots of problems every year in terms of parents wanting their children to go where. Are they government schools or private fee paying schools? I know there is a high school in the Southern suburbs of Perth where people desperately try to secure a house in the catchment so thier kid can go there because they offer a private level education - really good results - at a public/government school. My boys school is a high fee private school, there is a waiting list (which bizarrely is not getting any shorter despite the economic crisis - so far anyway), and once your name is up you pay your fee's and you are in. No arguments - few pushy parents trying to get acceeerated on the list - and I am sure some have succeeded. We were lucky because this school has a siblings and old boys priority on the waiting list. So when child #3 secured a place, the others moved up the list to the bottom of the 'boys with one sibling at the school' list, which meant child #1 was at the top of the list and got a place, which rocketted child #2 ahead of nearly 40 boys still on the wait list to secure the next available place. Of course #4 who was at this stage not at Kindy was the 1st child of his year to be guareenteed a place! LOL But the kids come from all over Perth - in fact all over the world - we have a number of international bordersX BOARDERS. <excuse the mild brain malfunction> Couple from Japan, masses from HK and China. Link to post Share on other sites
gareth_oau 2 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 my kids go to the local state school. they do this in the knowledge that it helps to fund my snowboarding excursions Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Thats good of them Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 they'll prbably pickup some good skills there for a profitable adulthood. Link to post Share on other sites
gareth_oau 2 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 not sure how true this is... however, some research found that kids who go to state school AND make it through to university, tend to better at Uni than kids from private schools. the belief is that kids from state schools had to do it harder and therefore are more self-disciplined for uni, in comparison to private school kids, who are used to being encouraged throughout school and may falter at uni when left unsupervised. LOL, just have to make sure the state kids actually make it to uni in the first place Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 that last part is the hardest part. Not a stereotype thing, but I have friends who have never had a job in their lives. Straight out at form 5, onto the dole. But they're just weird long haired def metal headbangers, or were. Link to post Share on other sites
keba 0 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Gareth, I went to Uni after state school, and I think there is more than a grain of truth in that argument. My kids will be going to a private school, though. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Interesting Keba. Papa and I were state school educated, I have a Uni degree, a Tafe diploma, and a couple of private accrediations - hvae always been reasonably good at school and disciplined enough to finish what I start even if I hate it by the end. Papa started 3 different degree's and dropped out of them all - not because he was not competant - way smarter than me, and got good grades in each of the 3 degree's sunbjects - but after studying for a while could not see himself in that career - he has no formal qualification, but is the owner/CEO of a very successful company he(we) built from the ground up. But we have our boys in private school. We wanted to give our kids the best we could, but we also found the state system was failing them - they are all academically talented. It came down to a choice of homeschooling or private school. LOL! NO WAY I was having those mosters at home fulltime!!!! Private School it was! I do think you are right about the Uni successes though - I read that somewhere as well... there are a lot of schools where they shepherd the kids through and spoonfeed them the info. Not like that at our school! And thier Uni success rate is quite high. Some of the things I really like about our school are the compulsory sport committments, and the compulsory weekly service (army, surf life saving or community service). Character building stuff. Link to post Share on other sites
ILoveZao 8 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 What are the "best" universities in Australia Mamabear-san? Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 hmmm....it would depend on what you wanted to study I suppose. University is different here than in other parts of the world, Australian kids often do not leave home to go to Uni, so if the University close to home offers the course they wish to study they usually go there. There is some prestige attached to studying at the University of WA (I am in Western Australia), as opposed to the other Uni's in the state, but as I studied at Murdoch Uni I reject that theory and fly the flag for my own Uni. Some specific courses can only be studied at one Uni in the state giving them signifigance - for example Vet Science is only offered at Murdoch and WAPAA (Western Australian Performing Arts Acadamy) is the place to go for stage and screen. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Second what Mamabear says. The "best" university is the one that offers the course you want, with the minimal distance to home. I'm nearby to Armidale, the home of Uni New England, So if I were to want to study, say Beef Genetics (NFI why I'd want to do that, but, ...) I'd go there, travel an hour each way to get to lectures and stay at home. OTOH, If I wanted to study (as I have done) Oleaculture at Grad Dip level, I'd have to go to Charles Sturt Uni (in WaggaWagga) as they are the ONLY uni offering that course in Aus as far as I am aware. For common or garden courses (like Arts, Science, etc at basic degree level) it matters not what uni - they are all pretty much useless degrees. What's important with these degrees is what you do AFTERWARDS, in the real world! Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 WaggaWagga is a great name! Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Yep, it comes from the local aboriginal (native) dialect word meaning "crow". Wagga is a crow, wagga wagga is many crows, so Wagga Wagga is the place of many crows. And, if you ever get down/out there, you'll understand why! Quote: The name of the City is derived from the language of the Wiradjuri tribe, which was the biggest aboriginal tribe in New South Wales, embracing the Riverina area. "Wagga", "Wahga" or Wahgam" in aboriginal dialect means "crow". The repetition of a word was the method of expressing the plural or emphasis, thus Wagga Wagga means "crows" or "the place where crows assemble in large numbers". The Murrumbidgee River which runs through the City also derived its name from the aboriginal language and means "plenty water" or "big water". source Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Interesting stuff. Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
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