DECIDING where to send their children to school is one of the most daunting questions faced by thousands of parents every year in the Ballarat region.
Even more daunting when its your first time (like me) and you know your decision could alter the direction forever of the life of one of your most cherished.
It was timely this week that a new report shed some statistical certainly on the anecdotal evidence that has influenced opinion and educational decision making for decades.
The report, submitted as part of the independent Gonski review into education funding, showed that poor performing students in the Ballarat region were more likely to attend public schools.
Not scintillating news in isolation be, if nothing else,cause modern society has taught us that success breeds success and possibly more pertinently trained us to believe that the more you pay the more you get. Such generalisations are never more evident than in the education sector.
At this point I should admit to a severe conflict of interest. I was educated at a public primary and secondary school. I never attended university or TAFE. Yes, the state system has a lot to answer for in this case.
What confused me about the report from Melbourne University professor of education Richard Teese was not the quantification of the divide between high and low achievers, or the prevalence of the performance parallels between rich and poor but moreso the pressures which parents now face to assess education options for their children and how seriously the need to compete or succeed has become.
This is the serious issue.
How many parents in Ballarat are choosing to pay for education which is outside their means just to give their children the best opportunity to succeed? Even more challenging, how many parents are choosing to pay for an unaffordable education for their children just for the perception attached to attending a school outside the public system?
Have we reached the tipping point where the attainment of a tertiary entry score at a non-government school is worth more than exactly the same score at a government school?
It is challenging for parents but much more challenging for students.
It's why the federal government's reaction to the review of school funding will be interesting. The system of funding, according to Professor Teese clearly disadvantages those attending state schools.
"Australia does not fund them (government schools) as if the intention were to enable them to produce results that are not simply 'good for who the students are' but good in comparison with the performance expected of schools serving socially advantaged families," Teese wrote in his report.
What do you think? Have your say below
What the Gonski review shouldn't be used for is to deride, or undermine, the role of independent or private schools in the education system. A major fault of our nations's "tall poppy" attitude is counterproductive to our ongoing prosperity.
A more equitable model of education funding which provides opportunities for children taking no account of economic or other factors of disadvantage will provide a greater chance for sustainable growth in thinking and achievement which the nation craves.
This week and next thousands of Ballarat parents (including me) will send a child to school for the first time. How many will be entirely comfortable with their decision?
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