PGR POSTCARDS

"How can we learn to live together if we don't do it as children? Public education pulls races, religions and tax brackets together to create a socially cohesive society."

"Remember when 'State schools were great schools'? Well, they still are, despite the millions of dollars private schools spend on advertising to try and persuade us otherwise."

“State schools win by a head. Don’t be a sucker for private school advertising. Government school students perform better, and are less likely to drop out of university than students from private schools.”

Reference:

State pupils ‘better at uni’

TONY RINDFLEISCH
Education reporter

Government school students perform better and are less likely to drop out of university than students from private schools.

Students from government schools are also more likely to pass first year university, return the following year and complete their degree, research has found.

Studies by the University of Western Australia show students from private single-sex schools, on average, achieve higher grades in Year 12 by a small but reliable amount. But when they reach university, their fortunes are reversed.

The study of 2800 students who began at university over three years indicated government schools prepared students better to be self-guided learners.
It also indicates that students from rural schools become more resourceful at university than those from wealthy schools rich in facilities.

“Despite conditions being the same for independent and government school girls, government school girls perform significantly better than independent school girls in the first year”, a report by the university’s Institutional Research Unit says.

“Independent school girls do not adjust to the style of teaching and learning at university as quickly as government school girls and independent school girls are more broadly involved in campus activities than government school girls, leaving less time to spend on their studies.

“A similar pattern of differences in performance exists between boys from government and independent single-sex (non-Catholic) schools.”

The studies reflect similar results from Victorian research in the 1980s.

A national review of first-year students also shows government school students have stronger personal traits and behaviour that enable them to adjust better to university study.

The director of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at Melbourne University, Professor Craig McInnis, said government school students applied themselves better, were more independent and focused, had a stronger sense of purpose and were better organised in their first year of university than students from private schools.

Professor McInnis said it was too simplistic to suggest private school students were spoon-fed or coached to pass their VCE. The top students from private schools were very bright and resourceful and were supported by strong school networks.

It was a myth that Year 12 was toughest for students, because many found the less structured university first year more difficult. Students’ ability to organise themselves was vital to their success at university, he said.

Published in the Sunday Herald Sun 2/2/2003, pg. 25.

“Don’t work like a dog to pay for private school fees. If it means less time spent with your child, it may undermine rather than promote their life chances.”

Reference:

Many studies in the USA, Britain and Australia have consistently shown that families not only have a powerful impact on the way children learn in school but that the influence of family actually outweighs that of school.

“… parents also need to exert whatever power they have to find their own best balance between work and family. When some parents realise the full extent of their power to have an impact on their children’s learning – and how important time with children is as part of that equation – they find themselves re-thinking the goal of private schooling for their children. If working to pay for private school fees means far less time with children, it may be undermining, not promoting, children’s life chances…”

From “The power of positive parenting” by
Dr. Moira Eastman
(Senior lecturer at Australian Catholic University)
Published in the Education Age on Wednesday March 19th 2003