Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

school is a great thing dosen't mater what system
but I hated it and left when I was 13 and to this day would not go back
doing coarses at work is hard enough for me I cant spell or write unless in capital letters stick a pen in my hand and I loose it give me a spaner or saw and i'll fix it build it make it work
I've never been unemployed in 37 years

This guy never went to school but in the end he did alright:

The lesson? Do really bad things, then maybe the government will pay you to teach them how you did those really bad things so they could stop others from doing it.

Thanks for all the feed back on this subject guys. Its given me lots of food for thought.

I think as we get closer (as parents), there will be some lengthy discussion between the said youngster and ourselves on what her hopes, goals and dreams are for the future and look closely at what her grades have trended towards through upper school and try make a logical decision that best suits her.

Wait what? You are including her in choices for her future? That is so crazy it might just work! All of a sudden this thread might be one that I want to participate in again. Perhaps the server issues had a silver lining after all!

As long as her studies include AP Im happy for her to make her own choices

Its all about the kids after all isnt it Ron

My four year old can name more plants than I could at four. It amazes me every time I hear her tell people about our system!

AP is the reason my kids started eating vegies. We had a write up in a local paper about it a while ago and how gardening and growing your own produce really enlightens the kids.

Ive been trying to get AP into our local schools for some time now but its proving to be very difficult. Kalgoorlie is a bit sheltered in the way of home food production and especially fish (we are 400km from the ocean) but I will keep trying. I think if I keep working at building the AP awareness here I might have a better chance. Time will tell.

AP is great on so many levels.

Interesting discussion, so thought I would throw my 2c in. My wife is a teacher, my Dad a teacher, and my brother worked as an IT guy at a school for a few years, and given my wife is a teacher, many of our close friends are teachers.

Me, I always went to private schools. While I was born in Perth, most of my growing up was done in the country. In Broome early 80's for primary school, that was an experience. I was one of about 12 white kids at the school, the rest were the local aborigines. Loved it, was a great few years. Some of the stories I have most would not believe. Even though the school was private, it was a poor school, none of the elitism which people who have never been to a private school assume is the case with them. But a certain level of behaviour was expected, even though there was not a lot of money.

Now, I do have to tell 1 story from this time. I was in year 3, our classroom was a double garage with roller doors. Imagine how hot that was in Broome. Anyway, I remember one day the Teacher coming up to me and asking if I had ridden my bike to school that day, which I answered I had. He then handed me a $20 note and said "whip down to to Matso's and buy me a packet of Whinnie Blues". So I got onto my bike, rode down into 'central' Broome, walked up the steps on Matso's general store, and bought my first packet of cigarettes.

Now, a couple of points, some of you may have now had beer from Matso's but trust me, it started life as a general store. The teacher involved turned out to become a family friend, and actually worked with my wife for 4 years in another country school. And before you pass judgement, I don't smoke, and unless you know what Broome was like in the early 80's, you would not understand sending a child off to the shops for you.

Anyway, back to topic. I continued at private schools ( and being country schools they were poor in terms of money), and ended up at one in the wheatbelt. This one only went to year 10, and the thought of going to the local senior high was not a great thought. I was lucky enough to win a scholarship to one of the PSA schools for years 11 and 12. Now, again, many people think that there would be a money elitism also judging by some of the comments earlier in this thread. I can honestly tell you, I have no idea who the rich people were at school, it just never came up. We were too focused on winning the next sporting event. Obviously, being a PSA school there was a big emphasis on sport, but that also bubbled over to other achievements, so academic achievement was also a big thing. There was no elitism, achievement was the aim. I was probably one of the poorest kids at the school, but had no idea to be honest. Did it help me academically, maybe. I did manage to represent the school in several first teams sports wise, plus athletics and swimming, but to be honest, I was lazy school work wise. But if I am honest, I think being there in some ways forced me to do more study purely based on wanting to do well. For the record my first attempt at Uni was not great, but I did go back and now have post grad degrees.

Dad always taught at private schools until the last few years where he is now teaching at a government school. He hates it, he spends all day trying to keep 'unteachable' kids under control, while the kids who want to learn miss out because he attention is focused on discipline instead of teaching.

My brother, he after working in IT for a few years ended up at a country government school. He has had students try to pick fight with him, and he is not even a teacher, just the IT guy. For the record, picture Tony Locket from his playing days, put 5kg on and there is my brother. The kids still tried to pick fight with him. After him telling me if I ever sent my kids to a Gov't school he would deck me, I got him a job on one of our mine sites.

Several friends have moved from private schools to Gov't schools, and they ALL talk about how much more time is spent on discipline and not teaching.

SO what are we going to do? I could get my boys into my old school as I am an old boy, but to be honest, I don't think the cost is worth it. We are going to get them into one of the cheaper private schools in our area (I'm talking high school here as they are in a cheap 1 stream private primary school which is fantastic currently). I know this school won't have the same sporting focus which I believe is important, if my kids do need to sporting stimulus, they can get that from club sport, but they will get the academic focus I want them to have. Plus between myself and my English teacher wife, we know the homework will be done. Would I consider public school? Only if I was in the catchment for one of the few great public schools. While the cost can be higher, you only get one chance at bringing up you kids, so we personally are willing to invest in that. Will it make a difference, I am hoping so, but it is one bet I am willing to put some money on.

Just my 2c, not saying I have the answers, just the way I see it. I am hoping for my kids sake I am right. Time will tell I guess.

I was in 2 different public school systems growing up, never in private. One of them was like you are talking about with the discipline problems and instead of dealing with it there was constant disruption. The other sent problem kids to a school all their own so they weren't ruining school for everyone else (much better for people who are there to learn).

Another one of the main problems with public school is the monotonous routine and having classes adjusted for the lowest common denominator. You would basically follow the routine of studying the same stuff for a week and having a test on Friday, when nearly everyone learned the weeks subject in 1 or 2 days. I don't know if private school is like that or not, I hope not.

Im with Wazza. I was sent to private school for year 7 onwards and I have to say that it was all about learning. Not a lot of time was needed to be wasted on discipline as I think most of us wouldnt have wanted to disappoint parents. The price per term was astronomical and a lot of kids were boarders as they were farmers kids. My parents werent overly wealthy and I was aware of the fact that a lot was invested in my education.
There were kids from very influential families who had money to burn and were rat bags and most who were very down to earth. Its funny because there was never a difference between mixing with the kids from wealthy families and us kids that didnt have a lot. I know a few turned out to be doctors,lawyers,dentists and well that would have never been me no matter where I went to school. You either have the brains or not i think and all the fancy teaching will not change that.
Me, an average student but didnt have the distractions that maybe some schools struggle with(my only downfall was talking in class )
I seriously think a lot comes down to parenting. My parents always helped with reading and times tables.We were always taught the importance of working hard and if you cant afford it you dont have it

I turned out just fine. Wanted to be a vet but crap at chemistry (maybe if i didnt whisper in class i would have learnt more )so Enrolled nurse for 27 years,have cert in Arch. Drafting and best job of all of them now,working at BYAP, Happy as Larry and nothing could wipe the smile off my face(unless Joel and Faye say "We are out of business") But that will never happen. Right??
So to summarize, Go the private if you can afford it as they offer a lot. (Just dont join the old scholars association cos they will be at you for donations for the rest of your life and I dont think they accept anything less than $1000 )

I'm reading this book at the moment called The Beautiful Tree by James Tooley

It turns out that private education is extremely popular in the poorest nations on earth. In the slums parents are choosing to spend a few dollars per month to send their kids to unofficial private schools despite the fact that free public schools are available (and the private schools are illegal). The simple reason is that the public schools, while well funded provide significantly poorer standard of education compared to the private schools.

Who would have thought !?
Sometimes the answer is not just throwing more money at problems..

The parents are throwing money at the problem.

What do you mean? By using a private school ?
Ultimately parents will generally do what is best for their children, no matter how poor they are.

This is only a thought, but part of my reasoning behind this thread is because as I grew up I wondered if private school was a wealthy way of attending school?... I never went to private school but I watched some of my more wealthy friends jump on the bus in their fancy clothes and go off to the fancy schools.

To me they looked so much more professional and educated.... Ive wondered all my life if I had the wrong deal. Those kids were a lot more popular growing up and they got all the good jobs around town. Its only till time moved on that I realised a lot of them had fallen into problematic situations or lifestyles. But... this also happened to a lot of the public school children. So I was never too sure what was best.

This played in the back of my head again recently when I was deciding on private school for my daughter. What was best? What were my experiences? What do my friends, parents and children think?

Everyone has a different answer. I think because everyone is different and unique in their own way. Possibly there is no right or wrong answer.... I think Ill let my baby girl decide.

Its her life after all....