@twouptom; the moment John Howard's government lit up the afterburners segregating privileged kids into grossly over-resourced taxpayer-funded elitist private schools vs grossly under-resourced public schools this was always going to happen.
Many highly aspirational parents have followed the Coalition's lead by separating their own kids from those of less aspirational parents. This has deprived grossly under-resourced public schools of more aspirational students and thereby knee-capped student learning in public schools. The Coalition even ensured that almost all kids with special needs are restricted to public schools where supportive resources are scarce.
The Coalition created a feedback loop based on public school classrooms becoming more difficult to manage, leading to an exodus of teachers. They became an employment pool for grossly over-resourced taxpayer-funded 'private schools'.
Small wonder that more students have become alienated from education and more easily attracted into the world of theft, violence, drugs etc.
Even if our politicians knew what's needed to turn this tide it'd take decades to return to the pre-Howard days. They're not only clueless they're complicit -almost all of them do NOT send their kids to public schools which they refuse to properly resource.
So it's a case of we stuffed up - no other country on earth funds 'private schools' like we do!. Now we're all going to pay the price for segregating our kids - education apartheid will exact a huge toll from Australia for the foreseeable future.
