Paul1Perth Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 One found himself in a group comprising some kids who could barely speak English Yep had the same experience at Birmingham Uni in the 80's. In fact English speaking on my engineering course was in the minority in the first year. It was when the Iraq, Iran war was on and we had 7 Iranians and 1 Iraqi in the class. All with rich parents who were trying to keep them out of the fight. I was doing a lab with the Iraqi guy (Hadji) and noticed he had a face on his watch. I asked for a better look and it was Saddam Hussein. I didn't know who it was at the time and when I asked he most proudly said It's my president. It would have been like having a watch with Margaret Thatchers face on it.:cry: Started the class with 40 people and 20 failed the first year. They didn't go back to wherever though, just changed courses and tried something else for another year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dermedicus Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I do not have the time to read the entire thread so forgive me if there is repetition. Experiences and opinions about education will vary tremendously from family to family because each child's experience of a school can differ widely. For example, we were vastly happier with the education and culture of the school our children were in back home that we are with their current one here in Australia. Of course we only discovered this in retrospect. Does that mean the school here is bad? Not necessarily, more that it does not suit our children. People back home did not like the school that we did and removed their children. It becomes quite a family specific thing. We are going to remove one of our kids from the current school but leave the other because their differing personalities influence the environment they require for progression. As a generalisation though, looking at the work and standards amongst our children and their peers in the same school and in other local ones, my opinion would be that government primary education here in this part of Victoria is quite poor and that if you want good quality education you will have to pay for it. Australia is a vast country, what applies in Victoria will not apply elsewhere. As for the economy, if you are in WA or Queensland, great. The rest of the country is not doing so well, with large amounts of job losses in Victoria across various industries. Retail is hitting the skids because of online competition (although one could argue that online competition is only winning so well because of the exorbitant prices in traditional stores). Best of luck to the OP with the decision making. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1charlie1 Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 (edited) According to the latest OECD figures, Australian students ranked 6th out of 65 countries in Reading, Maths and Science achievement, while the UK has dropped to 20th, tumbling several places since 2006. Get your children on that plane! Edited May 21, 2012 by 1charlie1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anya Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 (edited) The top ranked #1 and #2 schools in Vic are state schools albeit selective. It is important not to judge a school solely by its ranking. There could be various reasons for a good ranking and not necessarily reflecting the quality of the school or teaching per se. If a particular school attracts all the bright, motivated students then naturally that school will do well in the league tables. Like anywhere else there are good schools and bad schools in Australia. Private schools may offer much better extra-curricular facilities (sports, music, drama etc) and possibly slightly better (academically/quality of teaching) than state schools. You have to research schools and explore various options based on your kids strengths and weaknesses. The other thing to remember is no matter how good a primary school may be you can't leave everything to the school. You have to take an active interest and work with them at home too. Based on my personal experience if you're kids are bright then they will do well in either country. Hope that helps a little Edited May 22, 2012 by Anya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skani Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 According to the latest OECD figures, Australian students ranked 6th out of 65 countries in Reading, Maths and Science achievement, while the UK has dropped to 20th, tumbling several places since 2006. Get your children on that plane! The placings do vary according to each subject but, in all of them, Australia is placed ahead of the UK - 6th, 9th and 7th in Reading, Maths and Science respectively. The UK placings were 20th, 22nd and 11th respectively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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