"Thorny it's hard to believe isn't it that my experience with...

"Thorny it's hard to believe isn't it that my experience with public education might well be the same as thousands of other parents who simply want their children to have a good education, and couldn't get that for them in the public school system."
Not hard to believe at all. Where did I say that? There are millions of people who believe exactly as you do. That does not alter the fact that, according to my understanding of a good education is, they are misguided. As well, nowhere do I say that one system (Public or Private) is necessarily better. None of the criteria for a good education I've mentioned (and I've only mentioned a couple) excludes either of them.

Hypocritical, because you say on one hand, you say you believe in the Publicly funded system and on the other you support the Private system. To use a simple analogy (since you've insulted me, I'll insult you now) so that you'll understand what I mean and how important I feel a Publicly funded education system is: It is like saying I believe in a Catholic Christian God but I better pray to Zeus also and pay for the building of his temples.

By mentioning well equipped schools and pushy parents, I did not say -look over my post- that YOUR Private school, belonged to that category. I simply meant that all schools should posses the former and lack the latter. But that's my experience.

"The topic of the thread is 'before christ' replaced in books and it refers to some history books in NSW schools. So the definition of education and what it encompasses is entirely spurious, and I will not enter a discussion about your prejudices."

What does the first sentence have to do with the rest. I know the NSW Ed. System very well. You might wish to eliminate the BC/AD system of noting the passage of time but that can be introduced in any school at any time, via the Government.



"My opinion will not change your mind - a futile exercise not worth any effort on my behalf."
Why not? If your opinion is a sensible one, one which is based on reason instead of dogma, then I would have no problem at all changing mine to follow yours. Your dismissive attitude gives me cause for concern about how you've treated your children. I have no doubt that your heart was in the right place but that's exactly what I mean by pushy, opinionated parents. They tend to follow a cliche (like "focussed") and no matter what they're told about the ridiculousness about following cliches instead of thought and instead of asking a great many questions, they go on with following their favourite cliche: "focus, boy!" I hear you say... and you're not watching the fact that it is exactly that word which puts the child's back up or frightens him to idiocy.

"It is true that not all children develop in the same areas at the same rate but by the time they are about 11 this has evened out. That's why some High Schools give children pre-entrance IQ tests - they can better manage the child's education."

I find that to be yet another enormous reason for concern. No two children are alike. Do you suppose that a society will build a school for every child? Or even for every two, three, four? Ask yourself a couple of questions about that. Ask yourself what is it that I'm searching in a good school? Go back to school yourself and try to formulate an idea as to what are the constituent parts of a good education. A broad education: is that good or bad? a narrow, "focussed" education, is that good or bad? Should the development of an inquiring mind be a strong or weak component? Should the development of imagination be there? Should the development of debate and oratory be there?
How will the school be administering to these needs, if, indeed you find them useful?
Looking at numbers (statistical numbers, rather than Pythagorean numbers) mean nothing because they are there to produce more numbers - not quality products.

"Additional facilities are nice to have but not essential - some impoverished private schools have proved this over and over again - delivering excellent educational outcomes at a lower cost than public schools."

They are Lekki! Facilities, THESE days are an absolute necessity. If you're going to help your children better understand the chemistry of a compound, or the distance between stars, the speed of a star's movement, the maths involved in an explosion, then you need good, sophicticated hardware. Even if you wish to develop their sporting skills, their football skills, say, you need damned good, expensive facilities. Uou see? that too is an old, cliche view of "good education."

"And since when has putting your child's needs above your own views/interests/personal philosophy been hypocritical?"

Never! But is that what you were doing? I don't know. The answer is in your head and guts. All I know is dogmatism stiffles the broadening of a mind - broadening of a mind should, in my opinion, be the consequence and proof of a good education.

Good luck with everything.