This is very sad and I am quite gutted on behalf of those children who wanted to continue at Montessori. Our son Robert attended for three years and it presented a much needed alternative to Hutt High and other conservative private schools. Last year we became one of the families that were looking at other options only because Robert had decided it was time to move on, as had many of his other friends. But the decision he made was the result of learning to think independently, and take control. He also now has the confidence I am not at all sure he would have developed in a very large state school.
The government's refusal to assist the school is also highly questionable. Before you yell, "subsidy", the state is now going to have to educate quite probably all of the ex-pupils. During Robert's time 100 pupils were off the state books. That around $8-900,000 annually. The type of child attending Montessori is not your candidate for Scots or Wellesley or Marsden. A few had special needs, were even somewhat fragile, if I can use that word. All the ex-students I know of, bar one, has gone into a state secondary school.
The final 30 at closure are now going to cost the state $240,000 to $270,000 to educate instead of the $50,000 that would have seen the school survive another year. It's bloody sad and bloody stupid.
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3 comments:
This is a much needed commentary on the value to the country of non-State education.
Twenty odd years ago the amount of Government assistance to private schools was less than the amount of GST on the fees paid by parents. Scarcely robbing the public purse by filthy capitalists.
Those parents who opt for non-State education for their children are paying taxes to educate other peoples children on top of their private fees.
Governments seem oblivious to the value these parents contribute to the overall cost of education.
Hutt Valley High, that brings back memories of 1963-4. All bad.
my parents were told by the very pompous headmaster of the day "Dirk is naturally dumb and has no academic potential" It was suggested a college with less demanding educational criterea would suit better.
Was finally told to leave after I smacked the english teacher in the head with a coal shovel. The man knew how to torture a young mind in a hundred different ways using only his tongue.
To suggest my years in the state school system had an undermining effect on my self esteem would be an understatement!
Dirk
Very sad indeed, and heart-breaking to the school's owners and founders.
With all the licensing and regulation and NZQA bullshit to open such a school -- let alone the ongoing and almost impossible task of finding suitable teachers whom the state deems suitably qualified -- my hat was off to everyone running such a school.
So sad both the country's Montessori High Schools have ended this way.
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