The Scholarship - rte Monday

smallerthanyou

Did anyone watch this last night? Just started watching recording now. Seems like just an Irish version of the c4 documentary on harrow a few years back. Interesting so far none the less.

tv3tg4

Is there such a shortage of good public schools in Dublin?

smallerthanyou

I guess the public school they would alternatively attend is good but the belvedere opportunity is excellent. That said the biggest effect on kids education is parents and all five kids had supportive parents so they should be fine either way.

I hope they all get the scholarship. But the child from the travelling community and Tyrick from darndale would especially benefit so hope they get it.

Harry Angstrom

smallerthanyou wrote: »

I hope they all get the scholarship. But the child from the travelling community and Tyrick from darndale would especially benefit so hope they get it.

It sounds like X Factor for posh schools.

smallerthanyou

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

It sounds like X Factor for posh schools.

Pretty much. They're having the hunger games fight to the death next week.

Its interesting enough in a social experiment type way. I'm not too interested in the selection process featured this week but would be interested to see what effect it has on kids who go though the five years.

davy123

Hello all, I have just 2 thoughts on the subject.
1) In all of the public v private school debates and private schools shouldn't be subsidised by public schools etc, one crucial piece of info gets lost every time; private schools do not receive the student capitation grant that public schools receive. Therefore, the cost to the state of students in private schools is substantially less per student than in public schools. If we were to accede to the will of a substantial number of people on these boards and do away altogether with private schools, then the actual cost to the exchequer would be €15m-€20m more per annum. If you want to close private schools just remove all funding (payment of teachers etc) and they will close down themselves because the fees they would then have to charge would be far too excessive. But, as I have already demonstrated, this will end up costing the country's tax payers (me and you) more!
2) During the second programme, the young traveller boy received his report letter and read the first part of this letter to his parents. This outlined his progress to date. What he didn't read was the next section of the letter. Being the curious sort, I rewound and paused. In the next paragraph, the school expressed it's concern at the fact that the boy had missed "almost 3 weeks" that term. In my opinion this was an important point which should have been explored by the programme makers. The boy's parents should have been questioned as to why their son was absent so often. As school absenteeism is an ongoing problem amongst traveller children, this was a glorious opportunity missed to explore the issue.