"At the end of the year meeting yesterday, all the boys were told to leave, the doors were closed and the girls were informed that if their skirts were too [short], they had to use one of the unpickers provided to lengthen them"."
The headmaster of the prestigious St Andrew's Cathedral School has apologised to Year 12 girls over a uniform check that forced some to unpick the hem of their skirt.
"Geelong Grammar's got a bigger salary cap than Collingwood," quipped one AFL official, explaining how so much talent had been herded into the boarding houses and immaculate fields.
Whereas the rugby codes, from the outset, were divided along class lines – traditional rugby union was the domain of the upper crust from private schools in NSW and Queensland, while upstart rugby league was the blue-collar game – Australian Rules owed its strength to the fact that it was played and watched by all-comers, by the sons of investment bankers and tradies, by lawyers and labourers, suits and singlets.
Footy remains the glue that binds disparate stratas in the southern states.
Yet the drift towards private-schooled footballers in this egalitarian code is undeniable. According to the APS' figures, just over a quarter – 25.6 per cent – of the players drafted to AFL clubs in 2017 came from the 11 schools who make up the APS, which also supplied four of the first five picked. That's just 11 schools from one state, out of 2755 Australian schools that run to year 12 (2018).
The 11 schools are cradles of the country's owners and decision-makers: Melbourne Grammar, Scotch College, Geelong Grammar, Xavier College, Wesley College, St Kevin's College, Haileybury College, Caulfield Grammar, Brighton Grammar, Geelong College and Carey Grammar.
In 2018, the percentage drafted from these elite 11 schools was 24.3 per cent and, on the basis of the AFL website's phantom draft, the APS, AGS and schools with that stature in Adelaide and Perth are forecast to account for at least 17 of the first 30 next week. The definition of "elite" precludes the likes of established and well-regarded Catholic colleges such as St Joseph's Geelong, St Patrick's in Ballarat and Whitefriars (Donvale), whose alumni account for 31 current AFL players.
"The trend has sort of come through the last five to six years and it's increasing every year," said Luke Soulos, the executive officer for APS sport since 2003, of the private schools' share.
It’s their business model and it applies equally as well to sport as academic pursuits. Find the best talent in state schools, poach them then use their success to attract others. Spectacularly successful. They’re caught in the game as well. Defund them.
And Rohan Connolly
As a product of a government school, this is fucked. Will the game’s administrators (most of whom came through the private schools) act to give ALL kids a better chance? Governments of both persuasions certainly don’t seem to give a toss. theage.com.au/sport/afl/how-… via @theage
Two in five parents would choose a different school for their children if they had the choice again.
But parents were less likely to have regrets if they did their own research by visiting the school, speaking to staff or using information on the My School website, rather than relying on word of mouth or doing no research.
Adrian Piccoli, director of the Gonski Institute for Education - a think tank focusing on equity in schooling - said parents who chose non-government schools might have felt more satisfied because those schools could choose their students, while public schools were required to take everybody.
"Private schools can essentially select who their cohort is, and that's a big advantage," he said. "If you are a student and your parents are happy to pay the school fees but you are running amok ... that school can, one way or the other, get you out."
Professor Piccoli said satisfaction included factors that were beyond schools' control. "If a student's experience hasn't been what you might have expected, it's not just the school," he said. "It might be the student and all the other influences on that student."
The poll also found 88 per cent of parents thought their school was at least adequately resourced, including 86 per cent of students at government schools. Parents' spending priorities were facilities and extra curricular activities.
Students are paying the price for a decades-long "steady and stable" decline in the proportion of teachers who are male across Australia, Macquarie University researchers say.
In 1977, men were 28.5 per cent of primary school teachers and 54 per cent of secondary school teachers.
Forty years later, men were 18.25 per cent of primary school teachers and 40 per cent of secondary teachers.
A bill that passed the Ohio House of Representatives this week would force public schools to accept scientifically incorrect answers if those answers align with the student’s religion.
In addition to allowing religious expression-based work, the ‘Student Religious Liberties Act’:
Requires public schools to give students who belong to religious groups the same access to facilities as secular groups (eg. drama club, choir.)
Removes a provision that allows school districts to limit religious expression to outside the classroom.
Allows students to engage in religious expression before, during and after school hours to the same extent as a student in secular activities.
On Wednesday, the bill passed by a vote of 61-3, with every Republican representative voting in favour.
The bill will now pass into the state Senate, which is majority-held by Republicans.
“There have been quite a few other states that have passed Student Religious Liberties Acts including Mississippi and Arizona,” Dr Smith told The Feed.
“But this is the first one I’ve seen that goes into the realm of not penalising students for the religious content of their work.”
In 2013, the Mississippi Senate passed a Student Religious Liberties Act that prohibited teachers from disciplining students who expressed anti-LGBTQI+ views if those views aligned with their religion.
Unsurprisingly, the Ohio bill has attracted a number of critics.
“Critics have said that this law will allow students to say that the world was created 10,000 years ago and not be penalised for it,” Dr Smith says.
“The sponsors of the law are saying something a little different. They’re saying it’s not a free pass to say whatever you want, it still has to be consistent with academic standards.”
Republican sponsor of the Ohio bill, Timothy Ginter said that allowing religious expression would be positive because, “Young people are experiencing stress and danger and challenges we never experienced growing up.”
Democrats opposed to the bill have labeled it “redundant”.
“We already have religious freedom protected at the federal and state level," said Solon Democrat Phillip Robinson.
While most public schools in the US don’t teach intelligent design or creationism, there are exceptions like Louisiana, where the Science Education Act allows for teaching materials that are critical of evolution.
“The text of the law is not entirely clear. There will be some case that happens very early on that will go through the courts and establish what this law actually means,” he says.
However, if the Ohio bill passes the Senate, Dr Smith expects a lot of copycat bills in other states.
“While this law is unusual, the politics that have produced the law is not unusual,” Dr Smith said.
“What we’ve seen in the US over the last couple decades is that conservative legislation like this isn’t just formulated by concerned lawmakers at a state level; it’s drafted up at national conferences by organisations like the American Legislative Exchange Council.”
In Australia, the School Education Act 1999 prohibits curriculum or teachers promoting any specific religion.
The theory of evolution is a mandatory part of the national curriculum for year nine and 10 science students.
HOORAY: 186000 views!
More than 350 schools and TAFE campuses will be closed tomorrow in Sydney, the Hunter region, Blue Mountains and the south coast due to forecast "catastrophic" fire conditions.
The NSW Department of Education has published a full list of site that will be closed — this number is expected to rise as authorities continue to carry out risks assessments.
Early on Monday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency for NSW for the next seven days.
In Sydney, some of the suburban schools earmarked for closure include Manly Vale Public School, Menai High School, Oatley West Public School and Lindfield Learning Village.
In the Blue Mountains the department is shutting down a number of schools including Katoomba High School and Leura Public School, while on the south coast and in the Illawarra, Mount Kembla Public School and Vincentia High School are among the schools closing.
On the Central Coast, Avoca Beach Public School and Blue Haven High School will be among those that shut down for the day.
The Premier ( along with our idiot Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister ) still won't acknowledge the impact of climate change for there own perverse ideological reasons.
Government schools will not be eligible for $10m in new education funding announced in Thursday’s drought package, prompting the teachers’ union to argue the measure is elitist and unfair.
The Australian Education Union’s president, Correna Haythorpe, said it was “another slush fund for private schools” on top of the $1.2bn Choice and Affordability fund for Catholic and independent schools, which also included money for drought-affected areas.
On Thursday the education minister, Dan Tehan, announced the Coalition would provide “$10m for schools that are impacted by drought so that they can provide relief to families” – modelled on its response to the Queensland floods – and an extra $5m for childcare centres.
Labor’s education spokeswoman, Tanya Pliberksek, said it was “terrific that schools will get some extra help during the drought” but said: “What about public schools?
“Public schools students and parents are struggling through this terrible drought, too. What is Scott Morrison going to do to help them?”
Universities, private schools and solar and wind farms in Victoria should pay council rates instead of receiving exemptions, Victoria's local governments' peak body believes.
The Municipal Association of Victoria has made the proposal in a submission to the state government's rates review.
The Ballarat Courier
Universities and fucking private schools don’t pay council rates!!! What the fuck!!!!!
