YOUR opinion about Selective Schools (1 Viewer)

[jadenmaccas]

Hey! Share your thoughts on Selective schools now...
If you attend a Selective school, share your experiences of the teachers and the quality of learning taken place in your school. Also, tell us which school you are from.

 

[LightXT]

Hey! Share your thoughts on Selective schools now...
If you attend a Selective school, share your experiences of the teachers and the quality of learning taken place in your school. Also, tell us which school you are from.

I'm from Sydney Boys High. You heard of it?
It's been a great experience over the last five years ;D And not because it's filled with Azn nerds. It's the extracurricular activities plus the academic strength of my school that has made it so awesome for me ^__^
GPS sport every Saturday has been a great bonding experience between me and my friends and I've met some really interesting peeps.
No one pays much attention to the teachers anyway so the quality of teaching is irrelevant. People are willing to spend time doing independent study and that's why we perform alright in the HSC each year. But not many people take their studies too seriously, as you might expect. We do have lives and that's why I've enjoyed my time at High from the moment I've been here

BTW, you should have put this thread in another section. Not many people visit the SC section :/

 

[slyhunter]

I'm from Sydney Boys High. You heard of it?
It's been a great experience over the last five years ;D And not because it's filled with Azn nerds. It's the extracurricular activities plus the academic strength of my school that has made it so awesome for me ^__^
GPS sport every Saturday has been a great bonding experience between me and my friends and I've met some really interesting peeps.
No one pays much attention to the teachers anyway so the quality of teaching is irrelevant. People are willing to spend time doing independent study and that's why we perform alright in the HSC each year. But not many people take their studies too seriously, as you might expect. We do have lives and that's why I've enjoyed my time at High from the moment I've been here

How much did they pay you to say this?

 

[Hermes1]

How much did they pay you to say this?

lol. it did sound like a rehearsed speech from the headmaster.

 

[jnney]

I wish I went to one, that's all I have to say. Lol. More competition.

 

[kev-kun]

I wish I went to one, that's all I have to say. Lol. More competition.

Isn't it too much competition?

 

[SpiralFlex]

I use to attend a selective school. One of those "partial" ones. It started out great, then our teachers became lazy and 0.5 of the selective stream migrated to NSBHS, SBHS, St George, Sydney Technical. Hence they let mainstreamers and wrecked our asian classrooms.

 

[Alkanes]

Smart move indeed.

 

[LightXT]

lol. it did sound like a rehearsed speech from the headmaster.

I wrote it myself I'm glad you like it ^___^
But seriously I do love the school and I believe it's one of the best if not THE best schools in NSW and perhaps even Australia.

"Proud to be a High Boy!"

 

[SpiralFlex]

Smart move indeed.

Spiral was too much of a baby robot to realise back then.

 

[LightXT]

Isn't it too much competition?

If you don't get in Year 7, but transfer in later you might have some trouble. Depends how high up the academic rankings it is. At High, the boys are always willing to help each other out so if you fall behind by any chance, your mates will help you get back to speed again But for most, the competition is constructive.

Again...sorry for the hyperbole.

However, one of my friends who was ranked 1st in the selective stream of his old partially selective (Alexandria Park) is now ranked 105th at High and has an estimated ATAR of only 95.7. He's pretty disappointed, but he's gotten a lot better recently

 

[Gigacube]

I think it's good to have Selective schools as it gives those who are academically gifted more opportunities & more competition. It seems like they have heaps of extra curricular activities offered to them too. I wish my school offered stuff like that.

 

[aya-chan]

I did the selective test in year 6 and I was very lucky to have gotten into Baulkham Hills. I think selective schools are great. Everyone talks about competition in selective schools, and I think that in most cases, that is a very healthy thing.

In primary school, I was easily one of the best (not to gloat or anything ...). There was a small group of us doing advanced math work, while the teacher taught the rest of my class that 10/4 = 2.2 (What can I say? She wasn't a very good teacher.) I loved maths ever since I was little and in year 5 I beat all of the year 6's in the maths olympiad. I thought I was the best (slight exaggeration). I didn't have to try very hard at all.

So, it is with this mindset that I walked into year 7 at Baulkham Hills. I was pretty shocked. I hated my maths teacher, I got detentions often in maths, and for my first report card ever for my year 7 half-yearly, I got 64% in maths. I guess my first reaction to being thrown into a school with a bunch of amazingly smart people, was just to give up and my parents were disappointed in me. As a little year 7 kid, I didn't want to disappoint my parents, so I tried a LOT harder after half-yearlies, and I managed to bump my yearly mark up to somewhere in the 80's. So really, the competition really pushed me to do better.

They say the best games are very challenging, but seem do-able. They push us to play it over and over, try harder and harder, and do better and better until we defeat the huge boss monster at the end. I think that selective schools present exactly that. They challenge us, by placing us in an environment filled with amazingly smart people and you have to truly work your ass off to do the best you can, if you want to beat them all. At the same time, it's definitely do-able. YOU gained entry into that school just like every other kid - you're not just some dumb kid thrown into the mix. This is why smart people belong in selective schools. Now this may be mean, but by the same logic, it shows why people that aren't smart enough to gain entry, shouldn't go to selective schools. Unless you're exceptionally determined and have amazing motivation, being thrown in with crazily smart people that you feel you can never match, you'd ragequit (using that game analogy). I think the selective school system is effective here, in that from school rankings and preferences, etc., students tend to gain entry into schools that are similar to them in terms of academic strength. The very best students would generally be found at James Ruse, and then you get everyone else distributed down the rankings, until you run out of selective schools.

Summary : Selective schools help students reach their full potential.

 

[Rythen]

I go to SBHS as well, and agree with most of the stuff that Sir_R_Role has said; however I do perceive a lot of bullying (well 'teasing') within the school sometimes. Also the students rebel against the teachers a lot (and they always blame it on the quality of the teacher, without any self-reflection). Though really some teachers are just awful =.=. Though, the extracurricular activities are pretty good and varied, except a slight emphasis on GPS sport! Not that it's a bad thing (sometimes).

And peoples should stop throwing toilet paper around the toilets, flush their toilets, and stop bleeding all over the seats. It's horrible. And stop pushing in the canteen lines.

And stop the 'white people', 'asian people' segregation.

 

[LightXT]

I go to SBHS as well, and agree with most of the stuff that Sir_R_Role has said; however I do perceive a lot of bullying (well 'teasing') within the school sometimes. Also the students rebel against the teachers a lot (and they always blame it on the quality of the teacher, without any self-reflection). Though really some teachers are just awful =.=. Though, the extracurricular activities are pretty good and varied, except a slight emphasis on GPS sport! Not that it's a bad thing (sometimes).

And peoples should stop throwing toilet paper around the toilets, flush their toilets, and stop bleeding all over the seats. It's horrible. And stop pushing in the canteen lines.

And stop the 'white people', 'asian people' segregation.

I'm curry and I hang out with the azns :/. Bullying exists in every school, but you'd be surprised how much worse it is in some other schools compared to ours. And those toilet / toilet paper misdemeanours are expected...we're still a government school :/ Bleeding on toilet seats? Haven't seen that. And rebelling against the teachers...most of us turn up to class, that already puts us ahead of most of the state
Be proud to wear the colours of sky blue and brown...we're the best all round government school in NSW, you should be proud of that.

 

[SpiralFlex]

I'm curry and I hang out with the azns :/. Bullying exists in every school, but you'd be surprised how much worse it is in some other schools compared to ours. And those toilet / toilet paper misdemeanours are expected...we're still a government school :/ Bleeding on toilet seats? Haven't seen that. And rebelling against the teachers...most of us turn up to class, that already puts us ahead of most of the state
Be proud to wear the colours of sky blue and brown...we're the best all round government school in NSW, you should be proud of that.

I thought you would have toilets made out of gold.

 

[LightXT]

;/

 

[LightXT]

I thought you would have toilets made out of gold.

That's Grammar you're thinking of. We're your typical, low budget, goverment school. We don't charge 25K p.a.

 

[SpreadTheWord]

I did the selective test in year 6 and I was very lucky to have gotten into Baulkham Hills. I think selective schools are great. Everyone talks about competition in selective schools, and I think that in most cases, that is a very healthy thing.

In primary school, I was easily one of the best (not to gloat or anything ...). There was a small group of us doing advanced math work, while the teacher taught the rest of my class that 10/4 = 2.2 (What can I say? She wasn't a very good teacher.) I loved maths ever since I was little and in year 5 I beat all of the year 6's in the maths olympiad. I thought I was the best (slight exaggeration). I didn't have to try very hard at all.

So, it is with this mindset that I walked into year 7 at Baulkham Hills. I was pretty shocked. I hated my maths teacher, I got detentions often in maths, and for my first report card ever for my year 7 half-yearly, I got 64% in maths. I guess my first reaction to being thrown into a school with a bunch of amazingly smart people, was just to give up and my parents were disappointed in me. As a little year 7 kid, I didn't want to disappoint my parents, so I tried a LOT harder after half-yearlies, and I managed to bump my yearly mark up to somewhere in the 80's. So really, the competition really pushed me to do better.

They say the best games are very challenging, but seem do-able. They push us to play it over and over, try harder and harder, and do better and better until we defeat the huge boss monster at the end. I think that selective schools present exactly that. They challenge us, by placing us in an environment filled with amazingly smart people and you have to truly work your ass off to do the best you can, if you want to beat them all. At the same time, it's definitely do-able. YOU gained entry into that school just like every other kid - you're not just some dumb kid thrown into the mix. This is why smart people belong in selective schools. Now this may be mean, but by the same logic, it shows why people that aren't smart enough to gain entry, shouldn't go to selective schools. Unless you're exceptionally determined and have amazing motivation, being thrown in with crazily smart people that you feel you can never match, you'd ragequit (using that game analogy). I think the selective school system is effective here, in that from school rankings and preferences, etc., students tend to gain entry into schools that are similar to them in terms of academic strength. The very best students would generally be found at James Ruse, and then you get everyone else distributed down the rankings, until you run out of selective schools.

Summary : Selective schools help students reach their full potential.

That's true, but there are some smart students in other non-selective schools. It's just that the opportunity to attend one of these isn't practical sometimes because they live far from these places. Also as for private schools (i know you didn't mention them), not every person can afford the fees. I would begrudge travelling 30-40kms just to attend a selective school, when i have a normal school 2 km walkable distance. I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond, as they say.

But i agree, OP if you can and have the ability, try to attend a selective school so you don't have to put up with the excessive amount of 'disruptive' people populating non-selective public schools.

 

[Bored_of_HSC]

It depends on the individual. They're very good learning environments for people who thrive under pressure (though it may be demotivating). I guess they're also offer a wider range of extra-curricular activities.

But you can get both of these at most gov and private schools wherever you go. I don't think i would be much different if i went to a selective school.

As i said before it's the individual not the school that determines success in the end.