Recent studies show evidence that
children who attend private primary schools don't perform any better in NAPLAN
tests than their public school counterparts. This essentially destroys the myth
that private schooling actually makes kids more academically successful.
(Mariner, 2013)
It was actually found that the
"children of a healthy birth weight,
who grew up in higher socio-economic circumstances in homes filled with books
and had mothers who didn't work long hours" did the best when it came
to NAPLAN scores. (Mariner, 2013)
This reinforces views of the
Coleman Report stating that schools don’t make as much of a difference as
families do.
….
Yet, other reports show that
white children are flocking towards Private institutions.
In Christina Ho's paper “My
School' and Others: Ethnic segregation and white flight” (2011) Ho finds that the
richest and most elite schools in Sydney also have the lowest levels of
cultural diversity: they are almost exclusively white students. In her analysis of data from the MySchools
website she fouhd an evident mismatch between the ethnic makeup of a school and
the demographic of the local suburb. Turns out, the white children are
abandoning their local area.
....
If Private schools do not make
that much of a difference for educational outcomes, then why are these children
abandoning public schools for private schools?
The answer is simply: social and
racial reasons.
This is reinforced by various
anecdotes from educators.
Dr Reid one of the heads in the
school of education surveyed 350 high school students aged between 14 and 17 in
south-western Sydney. She discovered that principals are losing the last of
their white kids to Catholic schools in the same locality.
A principal in a primarily Middle Eastern part
of Sydney stated he had virtually no white kids present in his school. Another
said: "I'm seen as a Muslim school,
so I don't attract very many non-Muslims, whether Anglo or not. I've worked
hard to raise the school profile and gradually increase enrolments, but the
Muslim label appears to alienate other groups." (Patty, 2008)
Another said said “a de facto apartheid had developed in some
towns in the west and north of NSW…Aboriginal students attend the public school
and whites attend the Catholic school”. (Patty, 2008)
Owen Hasler, the NSW Teachers
Federation organiser for the New England region, said: "There has been a significant movement of
white Anglo students away from quite a few of the schools in the New England
and Western region. It is clearly evidenced by the numbers and proportion of
Aboriginal students in those schools." (Patty, 2008)
….
Promoting social cohesion and strengthening
cultural understanding have been important goals of the Australian education
system for ages. During the 2002 Vinson Inquiry into the Provision of Public
Education in New South Wales Professor Tony Vinson stated that “aspired to be a force for social cohesion,
for building mutual understanding between people of different ethnic,
religious, vocational and socioeconomic backgrounds” and that this promotes
“peaceful co-existence of different
groups and the maintenance of social arrangements and communal services that
help to preserve the dignity of all Australians”. (Ho, 2011)
This de-facto apartheid hurts
this goal. When people are scared to break out of their cultural bubble it
reinforces ethnic segregation.
And furthermore, if schools are a
representation of society what do you think this implies?
Ho, C. (2011). My School’ and others: Segregation and white
flight. Retrieved from Australian Review of Public Affairs:
http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2011/05/ho.html
Ho, C. (2011). Respecting the presence of others: School
micropublics and
everyday multiculturalism. Journal of Intercultural Studies,
32(6), 603-619.
Marriner, C. (2013). Private schools no guarantee of higher
NAPLAN scores, study finds. Retrieved from Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/private-schools-no-guarantee-of-higher-naplan-scores-study-finds-20131012-2vf63.html
Patty, A. (2008). White flight leaves system segregated by
race. Retrieved from Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/white-flight-leaves-system-segregated-by-race/2008/03/09/1204998283744.html?page=fullpage
Schools represent themselves in a multiple of ways; location, socio economic status, ethnicity, public/private, gender and reputation. The way in which a school is represented to the public is all determined on the above categories. Whatever decision is made in relation to which school is appropriate, at the end of the day human assumptions are going to choose the outcomes. The question as to “why are children abandoning public schools for private schools”, as you mentioned social and racial reasons is a question that will be ongoing. There will always be differing opinions and with there being a large pool of decisions to be made in regards to schooling options; resources, choices and your own integrity will be used.
ReplyDeleteI believe that society will always be a representation of that particular area. Whether a school is primarily multicultural or “white flight” the association and “stigma” (if that’s what you want to call it) will shadow. This does not surprise me as to the dominant white population in private schools as to any race or social class would do the same; flock to those of similar or commonalities as themselves. It’s only human instinct that people want to be associated with those that share the same values and associations, as goes for anything we do in life we all want to fit in with society, no one wants to be the minority.
There will always be a division that divides schools in relation to social and racial reasons. But I would also like to note that religious reasons also dominate this division. Not only are there public and private schools, there are Islamic, Catholic, Christian, Greek, Jewish schools and the list would go on. Children who represent these schools would be attending for religious reasons not only for social or racial reasons.
At the end of day people are always going to shy away from the unknown and stay within their comfort zone.