In today's time, which is better?
Assuming it's the same area, same academic result, etc.
In what way would private be worth the fees?
More than just mere academic result, would the kids have good creativity, social skill, street smart, etc?
Primary Public Vs Private School: Which Is Better?
[Deactivated] on 18/06/2020 - 17:57
Last edited 19/06/2020 - 15:15 by 1 other user
Last edited 19/06/2020 - 15:15 by 1 other user
Poll Options
- 143Private of course. You pay what you get.
- 59Public. Because it's near free.
- 392All the same (public anyway, because it's free(
Comments
@[Deactivated]: It varies.
My old boss paid 30K a year to put all of his five kids through grammar school. $750K in school fees, all up.
Admittedly, they are all gainfully employed. One is a refrigeration mechanic (ironically, he has the highest wage of all five kids). One works in local government, the others are in engineering, one is still in film school, I think the other one wants to become a horticulturalist.
They are all very well mannered, I can't fault that about them. They do pick up soft skills. But its a lot of money to spend for only a marginal benefit. I could see the value in low-fee independent schools, particularly if the public schools nearby were a bit scrubby. Elite private education is a bit of a scam, though.
OTOH, one of my friends put his kids through language immersive childcare programs when they were younger. Cost was marginal. All his kids learnt Mandarin. Its actually quite amazing hearing these white kids nattering away in Chinese. Which is likely to confer a larger benefit?
@cannedhams: As I said, not all private school kids will be a success. After all, providing a kid with facilities, networks, opportunities does not guarantee that the kid will actually take advantage of anything.
As per the old adage - you can bring a horse to water…
@sarahlump: Your assumption and conclusions are incorrect.
You did go to public schools so your comment is still relevant. Point private.
@MrHyde: Usually international students hangs out with international students also, which they often disperse to their home country or whatever.
MBA is different, as it is a master degree.
@[Deactivated]: Very true.
(I attended public schools but I am surrounded by those who attended private school.)
Same.
It was my smarts that got me where I am now, but if I had those networks, and the things that I know now (but my parents and their network are not aware of) … I wonder how much more I could have achieved or how much quicker?
One thing I've realised as I've gotten older and maybe a bit wiser: Because I wasn't exposed to those patterns and was essentially self-made, I've been able to pursue my interests from my early 30s (things that I fell into were very interesting up to then), which I might not have if I had not been self-made.
Maybe an example will make it clearer. My neighbour is a partner in a law firm; before Covid every day left home before 7am and came home 12 hours later and has done similar things for close to 3 decades. We're probably in a similar financial situation but every five years it's been very different for me - my current daily focus is family, physical movement and health, satisfying my curiosity with lectures and documentaries with a smattering of focused investing now and then.
My neighbour is a partner in a law firm; before Covid every day left home before 7am and came home 12 hours later and has done similar things for close to 3 decades. We're probably in a similar financial situation
If this bloke is a partner at a big law firm then I can tell you that he is probably in a better financial position than you.
I have a mate who is a fairly junior partner and lives in a nice neighborhood and has a nice car (but nothing OTT) compare him to his neighbours they all seem on par. But this guy loves his 12-14 hour days and literally is content with life so he doesn't spend the 7 figures in liquid assets he has. I can't imagine how much cash he'll have after being a partner in a law firm for 20 years.
@serpserpserp: Lol I thought the same thing but realised it wasn’t specified if it was a top tier law firm or Dennis Denuto. That being said i wouldn’t want this to detract from the previous comment as I also went to a public (but selective) high school and am surrounded by largely private school alumni at work. Ten years ago I would’ve scoffed at the idea of paying for private school for my (hypothetical) kids- but here I am in 2020 with my newborn daughter on two enrolment lists for private high schools (and gosh it wasn’t cheap just to fill in a form).
@jace88: I've done both private and public in both primary and secondary schools. I would say that in a rural/regional area it may help if you plan on staying in that area as the people in private schools there are usually the kids of professionals/big employers of the area and being family friends with those types in rural areas definitely helps you get a job early on. In the city it will really be dependent on a) how your kid engages with the other kids in school, if they are socially inspiring types they might do ok. IF the family also gets very involved with other families from the school that will work even better. You really need to have the whole family flexing that social muscle on private school to get a social edge to use in terms of professional gain.
But my personal experience was that I made far more connections that have help professionally from the ages of 17-25. I think a lot of kids really waste those years from year 11 to end of uni being petrified into getting good marks or falling into a popularity hole that they can't get past for many years.
When you are 17-20 and you go and work somewhere and have ambition, smarts and a good attitude people want to get to know you and help you. You just need to be able to put yourself in a good position. Which can sometimes be luck, other times can just be good effort.
Children with higher parental income tend to do better no matter what school they go to. So schools with lots of children in the higher socio-economic brackets are going to be good schools through no input of their own. Have a look at this site: https://www.myschool.edu.au/ as it shows results from schools compared to results of other schools with similar socio-economic backgrounds of students. So you can see what the influence of the schools themselves are, independent of the children's backgrounds.
By the way much research has shown that children from public schools do better in university. I believe this is because they have to learn to work hard on their own and not get pushed (as there will be nobody to push you in university, you have to know how to work hard on your own).
Creativity has nothing to do with public/private.
I don't think the school would influence how much creativity they have?
What kind of question is this? Do you actually believe public schools don't produce creative kids? If so, I'd like to introduce you to one of my local states schools: Newtown Performing Arts. I suspect you're not this naive though, and this is a bad faith discussion to get stories about how private education is a guaranteed ticket to future upward mobility: it isn't.
This OP is so biased to private schools. The best schools in Melbourne are all selective public schools… every stupid question they make is rebutted yet they still keep asking
You can't even teach creativity wtf it's encouraged through activities, which you can provide (without a school) if you are rich enough to send them to a private school
Bizarre question.
Don't forget, doing better in university is not different than doing better at school. they are just grades.
What you say is true though.
Also, public school directly and indirectly indoctrinates a child into a life of a worker. For many, that is infact as good as it gets.
Private schools groom children to succeed from a higher launching point. They are different life lessons to someone starting from scratch.
Neither school systems guarantee success but choosing the right environment does make a difference.
Neither school systems guarantee success but choosing the right environment does make a difference.
Agree whole-heartedly to this comment. As parents, the best we can do is give them the right environment and hope the ungrateful little sh*ts take advantage of it - whether it is public or private or extra classes/tutors/whatever.
As someone who went to a private school, and whose cousins went to a super dooper elite style private school, you are fetishising them and their effects.
Better facilities, yes. Steering kids to a higher path than being a worker? Meh. Thats systemic.
It definitely depends on the area though. I live in a wealthy area and the public schools are quite good. I have a mate interstate who was dux of his high school with a 60 something UAI (got moderated down) and felt cheated by it all.
Steering kids to a higher path than being a worker? Meh. Thats systemic.
Either there is a definition of systemic that I am unfamiliar with or use of subtext but would that mean that it is ingrained and widespread in private schools?
PS. Perhaps I do carry that inferiority complex but I know for certain that they do know things I don't and I have learnt things that has allowed me to make some serious dosh.
Ps2. I went to a public school but we had over 10% score higher than 99.00 and 50% over 90.00. Academically fine school but still a public school at heart.
@[Deactivated]: Oh I definitely stuffed those two sentences up. I should have written:
"Steering kids to a higher path than being a worker? Meh. Ingraining a stereotypical path towards being 'a worker' as the default, is a systemic issue whether public or private.
From the experience of myself and my cousins, the idea that private schools teach/inspire you to be captains of industry/leaders etc doesnt happen. Its soft marketing.
Either you live in that world, or your parents want you to be in that world and so have maybe instilled a sense of striving.
Im oretty skeptical of those who blame not going to private school as the thing that held them back. Its not a winners mindset. Its not something a leader or a special person would say.
Unless it is a proper, terrible, looks like an episode of Housos, kind of school. But then you probably have a whole bunch of societal/family issues getting in the way.
@jacross: Haha. Fair enough.
I agree that you can't buy your way into high society but neither is it easy to mingle your way in later in life.
I'm not bitter about my upbringing. I just know my skill set and assets and I'm realistic enough to identify what I am lacking.
@[Deactivated]: Yeah sorry I wasnt directing the skepticism at ypu but I can see hpw it could be construed as a shot at you.
I will definitely concede that elite private schools can be a way to make connections.
@[Deactivated]: I spend my time surrounded with millionairs and people who are dirt poor all the time, I went to public school in several countries, I've studied several degrees and had a lot of interesting jobs. Send your kids to public school, hitler sent his kids to private school, Kim Jung ill sent his kids to private school, do better than despots.
By the way much research has shown that children from public schools do better in university. I believe this is because they have to learn to work hard on their own and not get pushed (as there will be nobody to push you in university, you have to know how to work hard on your own).
What about scholarship kids?
I went to a public school and now I am Prime Minister!…oh, but I lie a lot.
Private schools receive more than 10 times the government funding than public, chandeliers arnt cheap
If youre normal and planning to ship your kids to a expensive private school 'coz success factory', just go public
I’m no fan of public subsidies for private schools, but the extra funding is only the portion from the Federal government. The state government funds public at a higher rate than private, and the total government funding for private is lower than public.
Source: https://saveourschools.com.au/funding/the-facts-about-school…"Total government funding per student in Victorian private schools adjusted for inflation (“real funding”) increased by over $1,500 per student between 2009 and 2017 while funding for public schools was cut. Government funding of public schools increased during the Gonski funding period of 2013-2017, but it was significantly less than the increase for private schools."
"Government funding increases have been badly mis-directed in favouring the more privileged, better-off school sectors and students. Over 80% of disadvantaged students in Victoria are in public schools and nearly 90% of disadvantaged schools are public schools."
Are you on drugs?
And again
"The income disparity between public and private schools has widened substantially since 2009. Total real income per student in public schools fell by $104 per student (-1%) per student but increased by $2,120 (20.5%) in Catholic schools and by $2,423 (14.4%) for Independent schools [Chart 2]."
You are talking about increases and decreases, and this is all true.
But it is also true that public schools get more government funding in total per student than private schools.If I have $20 and you have $100, I can get and increase of $40 and you get nil, but you still have a higher total.
I’m not on drugs, and I’m not a fan of public subsidies for private schools either.
@[Deactivated]: I don’t think that’s the case at all.
Just pointing out your original message said private schools get more government funding than public.
They don’t.
I don’t think they should get any.
My parents thought it would be good to send me to Barker college (Private) on Sydney's North Shore. I didn't want to lose my friends. So I purposely failed the entry exam… Ended up at Davidson High with all my friends intact. Had great fun and have gone on to be successful in life.
Parents note to self ask your kid if they want to go.Not true always. Kids sometimes are not smart enough to make those choices at young age.
They may not have the maturity to make the decision, but it's still worthwhile asking them so you can talk through any reasoning or issues they're worried about.
How much did it cost them to get you into the entry exam?
(side note I was also on the list for Barker back in the day but I went selective and saved my parents a bucketload)
Couple of hundreds, bugger all when compared to the fees particularly years 11/12.
Probably different then but I recently paid the application fees to get the exam/interview in 10 years time at a couple of private schools for my 1 y/o daughter and the upfront application/waitlist fees were $1-2k each.
@jace88: I've always laughed at the application fees. Paid $275 for Sydney Grammar prep (good value - you get 2 lots of tests and an interview if you managed to gain a place) and $200ish for another school over in the eastern suburbs. It's all fun and games when you've been accepted - paid $4.5k for this eastern suburbs joint and SG wanted almost $7k or 1/6 of their annual fee. As a comparison, I've paid $250 for PLC (not the Pymble one) 10 years ago for my daughter but left it at that so application fee haven't gone up as dramatic as the tuition.
Private have better drugs.
Private (especially single sex boys schools) seem to breed arrogant pricks who have difficulty relating to women.
Public have to take all comers, so you can have some real bad eggs.
Private develop a network of “mates” as privileged kids get a leg up and end up in positions of power. This is helpful for getting jobs etc.Private can be particularly racist towards non-Anglos, and the mates club only includes Anglos.
Public can be under resourced.I send my kids to public schools, but we have a pretty good one nearby.
Uh oh, you said the n word
Even used the hard g. Savage
We sent our child to a private pre-school to have a feel for the private school. Then we moved her to a public primary.
Why? As you said, it is a bit difficult for a coloured kid. She felt different. In public, about 1/3 of kids are from her background. She's been thriving.
Also, as parents, we needed gel with other parents. We both work, whereas most mums don't. We would go on holiday once a year. Others would go during every school break.However at the private,
1. Teachers were much more polished
2. There was a personal care
As someone who went to both private and public in high school, the biggest differences I found is the diversity among students, after moving to a public school there were people from many different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. I think this combined with people coming from many different primary schools meant that there was not as much bullying and clicky culture which is often carried from primary to secondary in the private system.
Another big factor in why I moved was due to the religious aspect of many private schools, which for many makes them lose their beliefs as you are constantly having ideas forced on to you.
There are certainly examples of highly diverse public schools and less so public schools. This is especially the case with selective schools in Sydney, which are dominated by rich asians.
Public Schools are way out in front with results.
Yea results for most punch ons and drop outs.
name doesnt check out
In NSW, they are mostly from Selective schools.
Primary honestly doesnt matter all that much they are both pretty much the same
High School it depends on your area
You live in Toorak - sure the Public school will probably be fine, You live in Boardmeadows you might want to fork out for private schooling….
Or spend the money to move to an area with better public schools.
Private and public are the same, they both follow the same curriculum.
If in NSW, a good primary school then an OC class. Your kid will be the average of his classmates
If you kid can get into OC then I don't think this kid needs any help.
Independent schools aren't answerable to anyone. Your kid gets abused there and the school chooses not to do the right thing, then you're boned. Department of education can do nothing, school isn't obligated to report it to the police but they will set their lawyers on your family.
what rubbish, every school is answerable to the relevant authorities.
You’d think so.
Been working in the Education sector now for more than 7 years, so I'm calling you out on this one
Fake. News.
For those with kids in private - what proportion of families would you say are really well off vs just above average?
I had a friend that went to a private school (Sydney Grammar) and he’d always feel self conscious about his family’s lack of wealth. He always worked multiple casual jobs in high school to earn enough money to be able to hang out with his mates and for him, he would’ve preferred going to a public school.
I went to Kings and in my time, most of the day boys were from modest means - basically, middle to upper income families from around the Hills area. A lot of them had parents who just saved up that bit extra to pay tuition or had assistance from relatives like a grandparent.
We also had rich kids - https://www.domain.com.au/news/massive-mansion-in-dural-coul…
Boarders (like myself) were basically either country boys whose families retained multi-generational estates but didn't show or talk about it and a minority of rich Asians. For me personally, my family was financially well-off but not wealthy.
Depends on the school and their clientele. Sydney Grammar St Ives is weird.
Went to their assessment last year, my (then) 7 year old son said to me "that's a Bentayga!" and I said yep spot on. Even he felt povo at that age. The other extreme is people living in nearby apartment selling textbooks on forums as a side hustle. We only found out about the latter after we bought some textbooks off a forum then realised the seller is someone we saw at the assessment.
Ended up sending him to a different private school. At that school, there's a bit of multi-generational wealth thing going, a bit of owners of fairly sizeable businesses where you see their names on trucks or cranes in the sky to a bunch nouveau riche.
How is this even a question? If money was no object would you send your kids to private school? Fair to say vast majority would. Now, not a private schools are good nor all public schools are bad. If you live in the catchment for a good public school then your laughing. Looking back on my high school education (10 years ago) I wish I was fortunate enough to go to a private school. I grew up poor, lived in one of the worst socioeconomic area in Victoria and went to one of the worst schools in the state. I live in metro Melbourne btw. When I scored decently enough to land a course into uni, our career advisor personally called me up to congratulate me on the achievement. And no I didn't land in medicine or law lol. My high school was notorious for fights, truancy, students never in uniform and just general drop kickness…
Just thought I'd say: well done you :)
This is funny cos it reminds me of school back in the day, you can add to that heaps of courses not offered or not offered at the level of HSC, school/teachers just refusing to teach a course when only 3 kids want to do it while at private if one kid wants to do something they will hire someone even if it means that person is sitting around half the day
I put my daughter in private school back in 2001. I then tracked the fee increases year on year since then and it was 7% minimum each year. They try to disguise this by stepping fees across two year levels, so one year doesn't feel like a big hot and then a big wallop every 2nd year along with a routine from the school very similar to Ronnie Johns famous finger skit.
So back in 2001, year 12 was $11,000 for the year. By the time my daughter was due to get to year 12 the fees were $32,000! And that post-tax dollars so that was $50k of my annual salary.
Thankfully she was fed up with the private model and their spoon feeding and bailed out to the public system at the end of year 10 because the private school refused to run any sort of IT program. She thrived at public school, loved it.
Suddenly I had an extra $3k a month spare!
I think private in the young years is good. All the facilities you could ever want are there to shape their personalities and interests. It's a very social scene and networking between parents is quite lucrative and due to the expense you are dealing with a mindset of opportunities. However once they get to year 7, you never see other parents and there's little to no feedback from your kids as to what value they're getting out of your investment in their future. By then they will be more focused on their studies and don't care for all the extra facilities your fees pay for (some do if they're really sporty or artistic - where access to materials is important), but intellectually inclined kids once they get here would be fine in a public setting.
Every public and private school is different. You need to look at the academic performance of public schools that you are in the catchment for and then decide from there.
In some cases families are in catchments for excellent public schools which outperform the private schools in the area, and in my opinion this is a no brainer to send my kid to the public school.
If I lived in the middle of a rough area with average to low performance I would certainly consider sending my kid to a private school.
The best school is the one where the teachers care
Richer schools could afford to hire better-skilled teachers.
25% up to the kid, 25% up to the parents (how they are as people), 25% the school (and sometimes the kind of friends your child falls in with at said school) and 25% luck/chance.
as a previous high school tutor I love this! absolutely spot on!
There are too many variants to generalise. Private v public debate in country towns not much of a difference, regional Australia obviously a private school would be better, metro - depends on the suburb.
It also depends where and individual falls in terms of skills and ability. Sporting wise an above average sportsperson would most likely be picked for teams at a public school, however might miss out at a private school where there is more competition. Same can be said for those at the lower end, more support at private schools as the ‘average’ level of competence is higher. Are classes mixed ability or streamed? Class sizes? Overall school size? Access and proximity to affordable excursions etc.
I’d say it’s more of a case by case situation.
regional Australia obviously a private school would be better
Based on what? Can single-handedly tell you that definitely isn't the case
Agreed. There are 3 private schools here (with boarders) and the local schools give them more than a run for their money (lots of money lol).
Data from NAPLAN, year 12 results, graduation rates and follow on data from school leavers. Many regional students can also be limited in the types of seniors (years 11 and 12) subjects offered. I also have been a teacher regionally at a public high school. The limits on funding, lack resources needed for vulnerable students, expense of excursions and wider community issues severely impacted how the public school system could do. These issues weren’t as apparent in a suburban school.
Personally I was educated in the private sector regionally, my mother was a single parent with limited education. Without the support and opportunities provided my the school I would not have achieved a high ATAR or been able to study at university.
Just my two cents.
Correlation is not causation - regional people, a lot more do trades. The education is still there for those who want to do higher education, especially now with the internet.
@Scantu: Yes there is access, but without adequate support networks and a constant availability of courses it is not a reality. Many young people regionally work or do a TAFE course, however long term they are under employed or have a much lower based wage. The number and availability for higher paying jobs that aren’t public sector is also limited by regional demand.
Online only higher education is not the answer, it does not adequately prepare people for the workforce.
@[Deactivated]: The first part, I was just telling you how correlation is not causation.
Online only higher education is not the answer, it does not adequately prepare people for the workforce.
If that is the sort of thing you believe then I don't think you have an adequate perspective to judge the quality of higher education. Because I'd agree with you if it was laying bricks. But it isn't.
@Scantu: So business and accounting graduates who study online are equiped with face to face skills to manage a small business and manage employees?
Teachers who only see other teachers and don’t have experience networking with other graduates can work collaboratively in schools?
Online only higher education has its place, however it isn’t the answer. Many graduates come into the workforce with more formal qualifications but less practical capabilities. The bigger problem is that courses are pushed on school leavers and they have no idea of the reality of cost of the course they are undertaking.
@[Deactivated]: Since when do you graduate highschool and become an accountant straight away lol… Also what was the last time/have you ever been to University - 99% of people do it fully online regardless.
It sounds like you are coming at this from a very TAFE perspective.
@Scantu: @tablewhale stats for 99% of people do it online?
Graduated with a double degree, completed two single subjects online as per employer requirements. I also work casually for a business and screen resumes for business management based jobs. Most people who apply have zero practical experience, no knowledge of current software systems or how to manually reconcile despite having a degree or planning to pursue an MBA. A piece of paper doesn’t equal the ability to work in their field.
@[Deactivated]: You give me stats for that not being true. That is where all of the major universities are moving, especially with Covid.
That's great - a piece of paper will get you in to university, it's called an ATAR score. Your job in HR does not make you an expert in whether modern learning environments are "right" or not for a great education.
Best to have your kids in a public primary school, at a much lower cost. Go private when they go to high school.
Where a child gets the best education can be influenced by so many factors, except for one big thing, socio economics (as others have mentioned). A lot of kids that go to expensive private schools generally do better because of their social connections to other people with more money or better jobs, or influence. It's not what you know, it's who you know!I’ve heard over and over that it’s the “connections” that one makes at high school that make private fees worth while… However I have yet to hear of one single person say this true for themselves (or even someone they “know”). Perhaps they are just too embarrassed to admit how they got where they are.
Sure if my dad is a senior partner at PwC and yours is C suite at BHP, then something can probably be arranged… but each kid was probably already going to have opportunities opened up for them anyways. What is the likelihood that joe blogs from middle class land is going to get in on this nepotistic action? Is this what we want to be teaching our kids - that making friends with the wealthy and hoping they throw you a bone is their best bet?
Maybe you can get an interview or similar favour - but I’m not sure it’s going to be worth hundreds of thousands of post tax dollars.
Not a personal attack - just not convinced on this whole “connections” argument.
I work in an expensive private school ($30k pa fees) and attend many of the events held there. A lot of events. I've seen these interactions and know people who have benefited from these relationships. The school actively encourages post school socialization in the form of "collegians" and "old boys".
I myself come from a very low socio-economic area and attended a one of the worst schools in my state. I see first hand the massive differences in the career paths of people from both sides of the coin.
I think we do need to teach our kids how it should be, but also how it is.
There are multiple segments here.
NSW | VIC:
In NSW, private school fees are SO high but there are more decent public schools.
In VIC, private/semi school fees aren't not as high as NSW but there so lot more private schools compared to NSW.For high school, we need to segment schools into
Public | Private (high fees ~ $35K)| Private (Lower fees ~ $10K) | SelectiveWe (in NSW) are sending our kids to a public primary. Local kids come here. We can walk to our school. Everyone is in a similar socio-economic background. This is where we belong.
Our first kid is self-driven and book-smart enough, we are aiming for a middle-range nearest selective.
The other kid is actually smarter but needs a lot of attention. We might consider Private.I think it depends on where you live in NSW and what you define as 'private'. Most catholic schools in Syndey are realtively cheap in terms of fees (probably no more than $3-4K per year for year 12), whereas private schools you would be looking at $20k at least for year 12.
Private schools are a scheme to strip aspirational class families of their money for something you could get better and for free at a public school
Either will be good but if you choose public school, remember to re-invest the money you saved from cheaper tuition fee for extra-curricular activities for your kids
I think there's good point to both, and that it comes down to the schools, as well as the individual departments.
I think a super important factor that not many people have raised is: what does your kid shows flair in?
I went to a public school, and our musical department was considered one of the best in our state, yet we had a private school literally down the road who put shitloads of funding into their science department.
The decision is pretty specific depending on all those factors.
Depends on what kind of personality your kid ends up with too, as socially there can be a lot of differences. A guy I used to work with was this really cocky arrogant prick, but never really had to skills or work ethic to back it up. Someone told me once that he went to Xavier College and suddenly everything about him made sense.
Save your money, and go public for Primary. If you think it's not working, then move the kid to private.
In my experience in working with schools, in private schools it seems to be smaller class sizes, generally flowing into more one-on-one time with teaching staff. This is based around the academic results that you wanted to assume were equal though.
I don't have any school-aged children so I don't know about social benefits but I have definitely seen smaller class sizes in action.
Don't send your kids to a catholic school thinking you're getting semi private education at below private school costs.
This is coming from someone went to one. Found it quite subpar in sporting and extra curricular activities. Even compared public schools.
Also you're wasting your kids time as they make you study a compulsory religious unit up to and including HSC.
If I could turn back time.As long as it coed go either.
Having gone to private boys since yr 5, absolutely destroyed my ability to interact with the opposite gender.
Having parents who both immigrated with no family and tended to keep to themselves. Didn't help matters.So if you just spawn boys and don't wanna end up with two 35+ years old and no grandchild.
Send ya kids to coed schools.
I went to public all my life and now send my kids private.
My only reasoning was the local public school we fall into catchment with, is a terrible school (known for racial fighting, assault and the teachers get walked on by the parents)
To me it's basically:
Good area - Public School
Bad area - Private School.
The private school route is basically the bogan tax.
I think for most people education is one aspect that people look at, but the most important thing is putting your kids around other kids who have normal and functional families, so they are in an undisrupted environment growing up, and parents who care about their kids education, i.e. spend time with them at night to help them with homework etc.
Simply put you just don't want your kids to be around other kids who distract them from wanting to study.
Can of worms opened here. Many many variables.
At the very least if a child goes to a public school in Oz they'll get a better education than most places in the world.
If you have extra cash, by all means ain't nothing wrong with private schools.
(note of caution: all private schools receive public funding. It gets murky here…)
@MrHyde: Very.
My friends understand options, contracts, financial planning, legal avenues….
They know these things because they picked it up from their parents' gatherings.
Then of course there are friendships.
My friends and their families were good people but they talked about fighting for promotions, office politics, worrying about mortgages.
My parents weren't by any means poor but they only know what they were exposed to. They didn't see the value of private schools. I do.