Education: General Discussion

[mantra]

I went to an 'exclusive' all girls school. Just saying. Sure I didn't have to travel far but those that did were boarders (who were a different breed). To be honest, I find it quite offensive and ignorant to say that people who attend same sex schools are 'desperate' for the opposite sex. In my personal experience that is absolute rubbish

What do you base your opinion on Mantra? Did you attend an all girls school? Were you and your friends desperate for male company?

Or is this just an assumption because you didn't like 'private school kids'?

If you had bothered to read my original post properly you wouldn't be so offended. I said "The same could be said for the reverse. Same sex schools unfortunately CAN cultivate a bit of desperation for the opposite sex". Your private school education neglected to teach you comprehension. I didn't dislike children from private schools. I was lucky and went to a selective girls high school where intelligence took precedence over money.

[IQS.RLOW]

I was lucky and went to a selective girls high school where intelligence took precedence over money.

*guffaw*

[mantra]

And as far as craving attention from members of the opposite sex is concerned ...well we used to cop this assertion from the public school kids on our school-bus from time to time,(yes,we were allowed to share a bus with members of the opposite sex and who attended a public school also, shock horror shock ;-p) who would call some of us lezzo's and assorted other things of sexual orientation usually, and more often than not it was the boys misbehaving ...(given our school was all-girl theirs co-ed) so I guess we must have been boy-deprived penis hungry carpet munching lezzos, right? lol.... ..In all seriousness, I can only recall being called a "cat-licker" once by a boy on our bus, a derogatory term for Catholic apparently.

Fortunately, that's the worst thing I recall them calling me, and I'm not even Catholic, just went to a catholic school.



Kids can be so naive and cruel at times,

Catholic schools have changed a lot over the last few decades. The nuns used to be very hard and the more they condemned sex - the worse the girls behaved outside of school, although they did receive a good education. Catholic school boys though were wild in my era and even worse in my children's generation. Maybe the Priests weren't strict enough.

I was lucky and went to a selective girls high school where intelligence took precedence over money.

*guffaw*

[Black Orchid]

I was lucky and went to a selective girls high school where intelligence took precedence over money.

Well for someone who went to a school where education took precedence, that's quite an uneducated statement. You often show bias towards people who you perceive to be 'well off'. Is this how your political leanings originated?

The nuns used to be very hard and the more they condemned sex - the worse the girls behaved outside of school

Again you are basing your views on hearsay and Chinese whispers, not experience. I was once told that Catholics had to crawl down the aisle on their hands and knees when they married. Did you believe that too?

[mellie]

I went to an 'exclusive' all girls school. Just saying. Sure I didn't have to travel far but those that did were boarders (who were a different breed). To be honest, I find it quite offensive and ignorant to say that people who attend same sex schools are 'desperate' for the opposite sex. In my personal experience that is absolute rubbish

What do you base your opinion on Mantra? Did you attend an all girls school? Were you and your friends desperate for male company?

Or is this just an assumption because you didn't like 'private school kids'?

If you had bothered to read my original post properly you wouldn't be so offended. I said "The same could be said for the reverse. Same sex schools unfortunately CAN cultivate a bit of desperation for the opposite sex". Your private school education neglected to teach you comprehension. I didn't dislike children from private schools. I was lucky and went to a selective girls high school where intelligence took precedence over money.

My mother said she would have liked me to sit the selective high schools test however our catholic primary school didn't offer it as they had their own catholic secondary schools they wanted their students to feed into, so mum only learned of this option well after I had already started high school and was settled.

Selective schools weren't a big thing when I started high school, back in 1988. (I should have started high school in 1989) However my Catholic primary school had the decency to grade accelerate me in year 2 at least, not that that did much good, I don't believe.

All it served to do was make me feel younger than my class peers.
I remember feeling awkward because everyone else was able to refer to themselves as a "teenager" at some stage during year 7 at least, though I was still 11 until August during year 7, and to make things worse, I was a short 11 year old, half a chromosome off a dwarf some will insist.
So, for a little while I felt a little out of place, so spent most of my time socialising with my gym friends after school anyway, (most of which went to local public schools anyway) as we trained together 4 - 5 days a week after school, except school holidays when we didn't have gym-camps. I did however have few close friends at that school who shared similar interests to me, this and came from the same primary school so I at least had someone to hang around with.

btw...

Gym = Gymnastics
Not Gym as in workout/body-building.

[mellie]

I was lucky and went to a selective girls high school where intelligence took precedence over money.

Well for someone who went to a school where education took precedence, that's quite an uneducated statement. You often show bias towards people who you perceive to be 'well off'. Is this how your political leanings originated?

The nuns used to be very hard and the more they condemned sex - the worse the girls behaved outside of school

Again you are basing your views on hearsay and Chinese whispers, not experience. I was once told that Catholics had to crawl down the aisle on their hands and knees when they married. Did you believe that too?

Speaking of nuns, the nuns at our school were all gorgeous, we had three teaching at St Patrick's Guildford alone , and one of them who was in her 90's would you believe (Sr Joan) was our schools principle even, well until two boys carrying a bin either side accidentally ran into her and bowled her over, sadly she broke her hip and left after that.
Sr Joan, Sr Jane and Sr Mary. Not one of them was awful, they were really lovely.
We just got lucky I guess, I have heard that some of the Catholic orphanages of the 1930's and 1940's were a bit harsh.
Mantra, I had no idea that Catholic schools back then even had selective schools, I thought they didn't based on the philosophy that in the eyes of god, all children were equal, at least this was what my mother was told when she made some enquiries once I had already started high school.

[mellie]

I was once told that Catholics had to crawl down the aisle on their hands and knees when they married.

-black orchid

Lol, thats gold, I haven't heard that one before..

[mellie]

Remember this....

Literacy program a $322m failure
BY: MATTHEW FRANKLIN, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT From: The Australian June 15, 2012 12:00AM


JULIA Gillard's signature education policy aimed at lifting national literacy and numeracy standards has failed to produce any improvements after three years and $322 million in public spending.

The findings are contained in an Australian National Audit Office report that also identifies the commonwealth's failure to create a mechanism to monitor whether states were delivering on undertakings made to qualify for a share of extra federal money.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... 6396027287


This Labor government has really let Australian kids down.

When to think, some think Howard was wasteful?

[mantra]

Well for someone who went to a school where education took precedence, that's quite an uneducated statement. You often show bias towards people who you perceive to be 'well off'. Is this how your political leanings originated?

You are very defensive. If you look back - you might notice that you introduced the subject of money first by bragging about your private education, but that's OK and to be expected. Back in the 60's and 70's in NSW public education was of a very high standard, but unfortunately the same couldn't be said of private schools. They didn't receive the generous government funding they do today and as their aim was to make a profit - they compromised on the quality of teachers they employed - many of them weren't even qualified.

The nuns used to be very hard and the more they condemned sex - the worse the girls behaved outside of school

Again you are basing your views on hearsay and Chinese whispers, not experience. I was once told that Catholics had to crawl down the aisle on their hands and knees when they married. Did you believe that too?

I've got no idea what you're talking about. What do you mean "did I believe that too?" Like Mel I've never heard that little fairytale before. You're getting your tenses mixed up.

[Black Orchid]

You are very defensive. If you look back - you might notice that you introduced the subject of money first by bragging about your private education, but that's OK and to be expected.

Firstly, I wasn't bragging NOR did I mention money. I was merely pointing out, from experience, that your comment that same sex schools cultivate desperation for the opposite sex was absolute nonsense. You keep bringing money into it, not me. How do you know that I didn't attend school on a scholarship? How do you know that my parents didn't work 20 hours a day to provide me with, what they thought, was a good education? What makes you assume and judge so much? Your judgments are prejudiced and arrogant

I was lucky and went to a selective girls high school where intelligence took precedence over money.

Here YOU go with the money bit again. You don't see bias and prejudice in your own statements? You again assume, and wrongly so, that public school educated people are more intelligent. Your generalisations are astounding and sound very resentful

Back in the 60's and 70's in NSW public education was of a very high standard, but unfortunately the same couldn't be said of private schools. They didn't receive the generous government funding they do today and as their aim was to make a profit - they compromised on the quality of teachers they employed - many of them weren't even qualified

What absolute nonsense. At least bad teachers are sacked in the private system. In the public system they just get shuffled around so someone else has to deal with them. There are good and bad teachers in both systems. The difference is that good teachers in the public sector suffer because the bad teachers never get laid off if they aren't suitable for the job. They just get transferred.

No wonder your political leanings are as they are. Communism rules for you doesn't it Mantra?