Academic extension in non-selective schools (1 Viewer)

[kini mini]

SMH article

This posed pic sets a terrible example to chem students .

What do people from comprehensive schools think about this idea?

 

[Generator]

It's a good idea, and I can't see any real problem with it, especially when most comprehensive highs that I know of already grade their classes in this way.

 

[Twintip]

My school, which is non-selective (but private) has a number of academic extension options. There is a program called the "Da Vinci" program which caters for gifted students, as well as the streaming/banding of pretty much all classes where suitable around time tables (English and Maths always). We also had about 60 students accelerate something in my year last year and there is a similar thing happening with year 11 this year. The school also provides tutorials for subjects like maths, which is awesome because coaching (for me in 4u) can be very expensive!

 

[bobo123]

i reckon it will just isolate those people that are selected from the mainstream. kinda like OC

 

[AGB]

Originally posted by Twintip
My school, which is non-selective (but private) has a number of academic extension options. There is a program called the "Da Vinci" program which caters for gifted students, as well as the streaming/banding of pretty much all classes where suitable around time tables (English and Maths always). We also had about 60 students accelerate something in my year last year and there is a similar thing happening with year 11 this year. The school also provides tutorials for subjects like maths, which is awesome because coaching (for me in 4u) can be very expensive!

da vinci isnt actually for gifted student (well in theory it is, but reality no). its just a marketing ploy for us to get brighter students coming to the school (i.e. ones that would hav originally gone to grammar or sumthing)...i mean, half the year in year 7 is in a bloody da vinci class

 

[McLake]

As an '02 selective high student, I agree that it will isolate the talented students, they will be labled "geeks", "nerds" an all the other things usually reserved for those who go to selective schools ...

 

[kini mini]

I've idly wondered sometimes what people really thought about streaming, as opposed to the opposition from some teachers' groups. Of course, the argument goes that it 1) lowers the self-esteem of those left out of advanced classes and 2) leads to isolation of the gifted & talented

1) Ridiculous IMO - surely it's the job of parents and teachers to tell kids that not everyone is the same. It should be used as an incentive to work harder IMO.

2) True, I wonder how much of a problem it is though - those people might well get picked on anyway as the smartest people in their classes.

 

[pinkbella]

I am so unbelievably against academic extension...the isolation thing is just really hard to deal with - trust me
I mean, you get over it, but it's kinda cruel in year 7-9, when everyone is just nasty and cruel...

But yeah, I reckon mainstream is good for all. Very few of these talented kids are "bored" anyway...just greatful they finish their work sooner!

 

[bobo123]

i reckon, if you get to be labeled "gifted and talented", you would be in selective anyway.
If they are that good, then they wont be satisfied in a comprehensive high school irrespective of these extension classess.
just sounds like more election rabble

 

[Generator]

Ummm...
People tend to be satisfied when they are comfortable with their environment, and you will find a very large number of bright students at regular high schools as that was where they wanted to go...
A bright student who puts in the effort will achieve their goals no matter the location.


Edit: Location, not loaction.

 

[Slice of heaven]

Originally posted by Generator
Ummm...
People tend to be satisfied when they are comfortable with their environment, and you will find a very large number of bright students at regular high schools as that was where they wanted to go...
A bright student who puts in the effort will achieve their goals no matter the location.


Edit: Location, not loaction.

yes very true indeed i know a number of people from local public non selective comprehensive high schools that probably didn't have the choice to go to a better school, ie jennifer li from cabramatta got 99.9 and barry and another guy from canley vale got 99.4 and 99.6 respectively and linda vough from livo girls got 99.2 and linda from st johns got 98.9, and for the record my school is probably goin backwards, they tried to deter me from doin 4 unit mths, very despicable indeed.

 

[Twintip]

Originally posted by AGB
da vinci isnt actually for gifted student (well in theory it is, but reality no). its just a marketing ploy for us to get brighter students coming to the school (i.e. ones that would hav originally gone to grammar or sumthing)...i mean, half the year in year 7 is in a bloody da vinci class

Really? I had no idea. It doesn't happen as much in our years. It was introduced when I was in year 10 and our science class was part of it and then again last year and this year accelerant students are in it. It's just a name really, but the mass-accelerations only really started with the program.

 

[bobo123]

Originally posted by Generator
Ummm...
People tend to be satisfied when they are comfortable with their environment, and you will find a very large number of bright students at regular high schools as that was where they wanted to go...
A bright student who puts in the effort will achieve their goals no matter the location.


Edit: Location, not loaction.

that might be true, although i doubt it would be "a very large number". A genius will do good anywhere but i think "gifted and talented" extends to the top 10%, and i would think that i could make the broad generalisation that selective schools offer a better academic atmosphere than normal schools. Afterall, selective schools are suppose to house the top 10% anyway?

 

[flyin']

Originally posted by McLake
As an '02 selective high student, I agree that it will isolate the talented students, they will be labled "geeks", "nerds" an all the other things usually reserved for those who go to selective schools ...

i wonder what the "geeks" or "smart" people at selective schools are labelled as then

 

[Minai]

Originally posted by flyin'

i wonder what the "geeks" or "smart" people at selective schools are labelled as then

freaks !
that was the word of choice at my school

 

[kini mini]

"Tech" was the word at my school, never heard it anywhere else

 

[timmii]

Originally posted by kini mini
"Tech" was the word at my school, never heard it anywhere else

tech was used at our school in like yr 7-8, but i haven't heard it since...soooooo passe kini!

as for the selective classes, i'm all for it. People can choose not to participate if they are *that* protective of their social standing, and from my experiences in yr 11-12, when selectiveness developed to a certain extent by virtue of there being standard, advanced, extension1-2 english and the maths equivalents, more people who might be considered "smart", "academic" or at the very least "motivated" started to socialise with one another more anyway so that a minor chasm began to develop within the year.

It also has some advantages of an external economy of scale as well, in that the "gifted" students tend to learn more from each other and push themselves more. At the same time, its not healthy to completely segregate the "gifted" from their mere mortal classmates people have different qualities that should be valued and are even smart in different ways that are sometimes not appreciated enough by the conventional schooling systems. Thats kind of the purpose of a comprehensive rather than all-out selective school.

 

[kini mini]

Originally posted by timmii


tech was used at our school in like yr 7-8, but i haven't heard it since...soooooo passe kini!

You probably haven't heard it since because you never talked to the animals . Didn't you ever get new year 7s coming up to you in the library and asking if you were a tech? .

from my experiences in yr 11-12, when selectiveness developed to a certain extent by virtue of there being standard, advanced, extension1-2 english and the maths equivalents, more people who might be considered "smart", "academic" or at the very least "motivated" started to socialise with one another more anyway so that a minor chasm began to develop within the year.

It was the opposite for me, there were huge chasms in year 7 but most healed as we all got more mature, except for the really fundamental differences between the guys who just fell out of the trees and the academic people .

At the same time, it's not healthy to completely segregate the "gifted" from their mere mortal classmates people have different qualities that should be valued and are even smart in different ways that are sometimes not appreciated enough by the conventional schooling systems. Thats kind of the purpose of a comprehensive rather than all-out selective school.

I agree, comprehensive schools are supposed to be more inclusive.

 

[timmii]

Originally posted by kini mini


You probably haven't heard it since because you never talked to the animals . Didn't you ever get new year 7s coming up to you in the library and asking if you were a tech? .

Nahhh, i was good mates with the year 7s I had the dubious pleasure of being placed as a "supervisor" of their locker areas. I saw more of them during year 12, and was more "in" with their gossip than with that occuring within my own year. Mind you, they had a lot more exciting stuff happening than we did. Year 12 conversation topics ranged from assessments to formal dresses/dates back to assessments and then back to formal dresses/dates ad nauseum


[/B][/QUOTE]It was the opposite for me, there were huge chasms in year 7 but most healed as we all got more mature, except for the really fundamental differences between the guys who just fell out of the trees and the academic people . [/B][/QUOTE]

I think you may have misconstrued slightly what i meant before. Our grade was pretty fragmented in the younger years, and although we coalesced to a significant extent yr 11/12, by virtue of certain people being the same ones you saw in your classes and with whom you had the common conversation topic of assessments (see above) a minor distinction did develop. 1 more very succinctly summarised it by remarking that we never really/saw spoke to anyone who did standard english. It wasn't a conscious thing on the part of us nor of the standard ppl - it just happened.

 

[babydoll_]

Isn't this whole thing sorta like the OC program thing in primary school??