Thursday, August 12, 2004

AUSTRALIANS ABANDON LEFT-DOMINATED GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN DROVES

The Leftist influence in Australia's public schools makes them a tolerant, accepting, pleasant, learning environment for kids, right? Australian parents are voting with their feet over that one. And escaping all the Leftist propaganda is only part of it. Parents know the importance of discipline and have this strange idea that their kids should not have their learning disrupted by having behaviour-problem kids thrust into their midst

"A demand for better discipline and a hankering for tradition, smart uniforms and moral values are driving parents out of public education and into private schools, exclusive research for the Herald reveals. School culture - not academic results - is the main reason parents select private schools, according to the study by the Australian Council for Educational Research, based on a national poll of parents of high school students.

"One factor stood out: the extent to which the school embraced traditional values to do with discipline, religious or moral values, the traditions of the school itself, and the requirement that a uniform be worn," the study says. Concern over discipline is the reason a third of the public school parents surveyed would switch their children to private schools if they could afford the fees. "This suggests that if private education was more affordable, the drift away from government schools would continue," concludes the study, Why Parents Choose Private or Public Schools.....

In the 10 years to 2003, enrolments in public schools increased nationally by 1.2 per cent, compared with a growth spurt of 22.3 per cent in private schools. Each year, the NSW public education system loses about 5000 existing or prospective students to private schools.

The fastest growth is in non-government high schools. Every capital city, except Darwin and Hobart, has at least 40 per cent of students in private secondary schools. In Sydney, the rate is 41.7 per cent.....

"Traditional values are probably the best predictor of the people wanting to select a non-government school. That's what they're after." Professor Masters said the mantra of discipline for choosing private schools was often a general comment about the "culture of the school being focused on the core business of learning". Parents do not want their children's study interrupted by disruptive students."

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MORE COMMENTS ON THE "HEDGE CRISIS"

Santa Monica, California, is at it again. The city council recently voted to continue the 42-inch height limit on hedges and fences in residential front yards. The regulations for the back and sides are subject to a more-relaxed eight-foot limit. The purpose of these landscaping regulations, according to Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown is "to maintain the feel of the community." He described his experience passing houses with tall hedges and fences as "driving by a series of compounds....

Why must the residents of Santa Monica be forced to be friendly anyway? Shouldn't people have the liberty to be unsociable or to live as hermits? The Santa Monica city council obviously believes that people have the right to 'friendliness' and 'neighborliness' and an obligation to provide these to others. While it would be nice if everybody were neighborly, violations of property rights are not necessary to achieve this."

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