Innate Ability Of The Child
If you look at the List of Top 100 schools published each year you will scarcely behold a non - selective government school in Sydney ' s western suburbs listed. Why is this? It cannot be as all the State ' s brightest children vivacity to private schools although manifold are indeed tempted with the lure of successful scholarships. The private schools glom these scholarships as a type of advertising cost as they need high rankings in the HSC to draw parents eager to remuneration a lot of money for an education that will give their children a high classifying. To a degree private schools buy bright children.
Although government selective schools, vanished a question, draw an blessing group of students as shown by the consistent top rankings, year in and year out, of James Move Agricultural High School, Baulkham Hills High School, North Sydney Boys High School, North Sydney Girls High School and Sydney Boys High School, I buy that it is onerous to accept that each child in these schools is naturally the brightest of the bright and outranks the children in the government schools in Sydney ' s western suburbs. If we assume that there must be equally bright students in these schools the question is why do they not perform as well?
To bias why the State ' s private schools and selective schools do so much better than the state ' s government schools in Sydney ' s western suburbs I think it is important to dig submerged, as it is more than trustworthy the brains of the child.
Focus On Education
If you listen to the principals of the selective schools you will thought that they are careful to place a lot of attention on the extra - curriculum activities undertaken by the students in their schools in an deed to draw attention away from the fact that a large majority of students in their schools attend coaching colleges so they perform well in the Entrance Examinations and continue to attend coaching classes throughout high school to maintain grades.
Similarly with the private schools many of the students who win the coveted scholarships have been coached from a very young age.
The majority of parents of children at private schools, without a scholarship, also place the same high priority on education as their selective school cohorts as evidenced by the sacrifices they make to pay fees upward of $25, 000. 00 per year plus books and other incidentals, per child. You may say, ' they are rich and can afford it ' and I say ' they are not '. The majority of parents with children at private schools both work long hours, or the father works in a job that keeps him away from home for many weeks each year and they go without holidays and many other luxuries to pay the fees.
What is clear is that children at selective schools and private schools generally come from families where education is the number one priority and where performance expectations are high from a young age. The children are taught that getting a good education and excelling at school is their job and failure will attract dire consequences.
Whether this is wrong or right is another question, but it is a fact.
The Western Suburbs Government Schools
If you take a look at the government schools in western Sydney such as Rooty Hill, Doonside, Mt Druitt, Blacktown and Glenwood you will see that they are extraordinarily well resourced with an amazing array of opportunities available to the students.
A percentage of government school students make use of what is available and excel. A greater percentage take it all for granted and adopt a laissez - faire attitude of doing the minimum expected, if that and being disruptive. We have all heard the stories of passionate, new teachers dissolving into tears when it takes them twenty minutes to settle the class so that they can begin to teach. When asked to speak to their children about their behaviour the parents do not want to be involved.
The teachers lose heart and interest and gradually their initial passion dies. They become mediocre and mediocrity does not breed excellence. You will find that you rarely have mediocre in the selective and private school systems as the parents and students themselves demand the best and quickly complain if they feel that they are getting anything less. These schools also reward performance which is something that government schools must be able to do if they hope to secure and retain teachers of the highest calibre.
Mindset
It seems that a major difference between government schools in the western suburbs and selective and private schools is the mindset of the parents and students.
Mind Quest - a programme for gifted and talented primary school students - runs one weekend a term at Glenwood High School and hundreds and hundreds of children attend. You will see, however, that the percentage attending from Sydney ' s western suburb government schools is far less than from private and selective schools. Why is this?
Also, there seems to be less of a partnership between the parents and the government schools in the western suburbs and a belief that education is the role of the schools and that parents should have to contribute very little financially or in terms of time. In reality the primary educator of any child is the parent and unless there is a partnership and consistency between what is taught and expected at home and what is taught and expected at school, it will be difficult for children to achieve their full potential as there will be confusion.
It may be very difficult to change the values of the parents of those children already in our high schools because our values are driven by our beliefs and based on the teachings of Dr John Demartini, our voids. If we are to bridge the gap between the educational results of students in western suburbs government schools and NSW selective and private schools we need to start working now on the current students so that a new set of values sits with them for themselves and their children, in relation to education.
How Do We Change The Values Of Children In Western Suburbs Government Schools?
Dr John Demartini teaches that our values are driven by our voids ie. we focus on what we think was, or is, missing in our life and try and plug the gap. In relation to the parents of children in western suburbs government schools many do not see a void in terms of the education of themselves or their children as they are resigned to their lives and satisfied simply with the fact that their children are going to school. Many of them are on welfare and find it difficult to make ends meet and they expect the same life for their children. Their children grow up with limiting beliefs in relation to what they can achieve and the options available to them. They are not told from birth that they will be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a politician and there are no dinner time discussions about the best university to attend.
The parents of children in selective schools and private schools, however, often see a void in terms of their own education and are determined to fill it by ensuring their children have the best education available. They may also live hard lives but they focus constantly on a different life for their children, with the result being that the children grow up in a different environment, with different expectations. These parents are not resigned to maintaining the status quo and are determined that their children will have unlimited opportunities.
I believe that the key to bridging the current educational gap is to develop programmes for the western suburbs students that require them to:
( a ) Ask their parents what they would have loved to have done with their lives;
( b ) Ask their parents what stopped them from achieving their dreams;
( c ) Look deep within themselves at what they would truly love to do with their lives;
( d ) Write down any factors that could stop them achieving their goals;
( e ) Work out strategies to overcome those obstacles;
( f ) Visualise themselves living the life of their dreams;
( g ) Visualise themselves helping their friends and families with the money they make from living their
passion; and
( h ) Appreciate that success comes from hard work and perseverance.
If a child does not see a life different to that which their parents and friends is living they cannot focus on such a life and attract it to them based on the universal laws of attraction. You get what you think about and expect in all aspects of your life.
