Bright kids should mix with others at school

Bright kids should mix with others at school

The selective school system is essentially selecting students who have been tutored for often the whole of their primary school careers, as well as those students who are socio-economically advantaged or who come from families and cultural backgrounds which value education as the priority. Gifted and talented students make up a smaller number of these students and many remain unidentified by the single test used in year 6 ('' 'No time to be kids': The students travelling 100km a day for selective schools'', November 17).

Selective schools teach the same curriculum, employ the same teachers and follow the same programs as every comprehensive high school. Given government declarations that no more money will be spent on education, wouldn’t it be more viable to have selective classes in all high schools, enabling schools to implement the full range of distinction and higher level subjects? The loss of egalitarianism, social and cross cultural experience as well as the inequitable division of resources is selecting a distinctively hierarchical and segregated system. - Vanessa Tennent, Oatley

Illustration: Matt Golding

Illustration: Matt GoldingCredit:

Blaming selective schools for the counter productive practise of travelling large distances to school is ridiculous when there are so many more private schools doing the same. - Carol Witt, Boronia Park


Not only are many students travelling for hours to get to the school of their parents’ choice but, under the school transport scheme, it is costing NSW hundreds of millions a year in foregone revenue on the public transport network and in payments to private bus operators. And that cost is increasing as the government privatises the bus network. - Dennis Fardy, Newport

If you are travelling three hours to an out of area school you're are taking up space on the roads or public transport, taking away other assets and taking away a place for someone who could go to a school closer to them. Simply put, someone is paying for your advantage. If you have a selective school in your area, you should go to it and the law should be changed to reflect this. - Allan Kreuiter, Roseville

China learns from Libs

Senior members of government shouldn’t be shocked by the refusal of China to grant visas to Andrew Hastie and James Patterson (“China rebukes MPs it refused entry”, November 17)
They should be proud that China is applying the Liberal Party doctrine “we will decide who’s comes to this country and the circumstances in which the come”. - Paul Spicer, Bundanoon

Biggest dope around

Dope - noun (informal) referring to a person who carries out a backburn, and loses control of same, during a total fire ban in an effort to save their marijuana crop (''Man charged over fire 'to protect his cannabis crop', November 17''). - Stewart Smith, Tea Gardens

Press the mute button

Your columnist Jacqueline Maley’s incisive piece detailing the idiocy level to which our politics has descended should be essential reading for anyone fortunate enough to occupy the green and red benches in our national and state parliaments ("Barnaby and the idiot foghorns: not everyone got the memo about 'quiet Australians’”, November 17). If only our pollies were quiet Australians rather than the ''foghorns'' as she references.  - Bill Young, Greenwich 

Not happy, Jan

For many years it was easy to sing the praises of life in Sydney (''Bringing back Sydney'', November 17). Jobs were plentiful, schools were abundant, houses with gardens for the kids to play in were within reach for most people. Water was plentiful, traffic was at moderate levels and living within an hour of the beach was not just a pipedream and, of course, the weather was magnificent. Few international cities could compete.

Now all that is left is the weather but even that is becoming less desirable. The focus of governments state and federal is to grow the economy and population at all costs regardless of the inadequate infrastructure and the effect it has on our way of life. Must this always be the case? - John Cronly, Turramurra 

The Committee for Sydney largely represents the business sector and its vision for Sydney will relate to the economy and population growth. But the best advertisement for Sydney and NSW is the happiness of its people. Our state government has sold out to developers and large corporates resulting in massive heritage destruction, shoddy high-rises, big tollways and the incremental privatisation of our public transport networks. - Marie Healy, Hurlstone Park

All's well in class

To appoint directors of well-being to schools would be an unnecessary and expensive duplication (''This is why your school needs a wellbeing leader'', November 17) . Most government high schools already have a head teacher of welfare and year advisers. All that is needed is to make that head teacher position a non-teaching position and increase the period allowance given to year advisers and provide proper training. - Ryszard Linkiewicz, Caringbah South

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