Parents say private schools' admission tests aim to exclude

[ponder]

Parents say private schools' admission tests aim to exclude

SA's private schools have been accused of being exclusionary and elitist by using entrance tests to cherry-pick only the most intelligent pupils for enrolment - seemingly to secure good pass rates.

www.timeslive.co.za

Parents say private schools' admission tests aim to exclude

SA's private schools have been accused of being exclusionary and elitist by using entrance tests to cherry-pick only the most intelligent pupils for enrolment - seemingly to secure good pass rates.

Last month, Pretoria West businesswoman Innocentia Mashele, 36, was left bitterly disappointed after Crawford College Pretoria said that her 12-year-old daughter, Ntshuxeko, "did not do well" in the entrance test.

Mashele, who was hoping to enrol Ntshuxeko in grade 8 next year, was asked to call the school in August to set a date for a re-test. "They only want children who are stars yet they are supposed to produce stars in children who are average," she said.

Her daughter, who is in grade 7, is enrolled at the private Loreto School Queenswood in Pretoria.

Mashele said her daughter found some "difficult words" in the English oral test, and struggled with some of the maths questions as she had not been taught them at school.

Responding to Mashele's complaint, Crawford Schools managing director Morag Rees said the tests were used to determine whether a child was ready for a particular grade.

"Applicants who do not meet the requirements for the expected grade have the opportunity to write again later in the year as they may well have matured and mastered skills later."

Pupils who were found to still be not ready were offered a place in a lower grade, he said.

 

[Eniigma]

Parents say private schools' admission tests aim to exclude

SA's private schools have been accused of being exclusionary and elitist by using entrance tests to cherry-pick only the most intelligent pupils for enrolment - seemingly to secure good pass rates.

www.timeslive.co.za

No **** sherlock.
In other news, water is wet.

 

[Acid0]

I cant see anything wrong here, if it is a private school they may have their own criteria to cherry pick children.

This will boost their pass rates and make them more desirable to get your kids in.

Its like saying the universities only cherry pick the children that actually gets accepted by universities because their marks were good enough.

Not every one is out to get you personally

 

[SeRpEnT]

Next thing the guavamint will do their damndest to outlaw admission tests.... "It's discriminatory!!!"

 

[biena]

Up next: Job interviews to be ruled unconstitutional

 

[ShaunSA]

I thought that was the whole point?

 

[Binary_Bark]

I would not want idiots in my school either

 

[Nicodeamus]

so what? It is a good thing to teach your kid that he or she might not be an academic.

 

[santaman202]

Send them to curro ?

 

[Tokolotshe]

The National Donkey Association said the the Horse Racing Association's entrance requirements are unfair.

 

[RaptorSA]

With a name like "Innocentia" I'm going to assume they're not exactly on the mensa branch of the genetic tree.

"Mashele said her daughter found some "difficult words" in the English oral test,"
Hard to believe, if my name was Ntshuxeko every other word would seem simple in comparison.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

shampies, life is unfair,

was probably wanting everything to be handed to her kids due to them being black.
AA, and BEE and all of that "readjustment"

 

[Zoomzoom]

I think that if you are a parent seeking a better standard of education for your child, regardless of their ability, you should be able to access that if you can pay for it. Even the lesser abled child can still achieve more of their potential if given a proper education. The school offering to start the applicants who don't do well in test at a lower grade seems like a reasonable solution to me.

 

[3WA]

Now here's someone with more money than brains. This looks like a business opportunity to me.

 

[Kornhub]

tests were used to determine whether a child was ready for a particular grade.

Wish they actually did this for me :/

 

[porchrat]

I don't see anything wrong with the way Crawford handled this.

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

admission tests may exclude, but some of the teachers at Bishops are VERY inclusive I'll have you know!

 

[Nerfherder]

I cant see anything wrong here, if it is a private school they may have their own criteria to cherry pick children.

This will boost their pass rates and make them more desirable to get your kids in.

Its like saying the universities only cherry pick the children that actually gets accepted by universities because their marks were good enough.

Not every one is out to get you personally

So I think its a good thing for people to hear that private schools have good results because they have high admissions requirements, not because they are good at education.

So there is little value in sending your kid to one of these schools for the "best education", they will just kick your kid out if they don't perform.

This is not what a school is supposed to be. This is why I say people should know and understand this.
Its a private school so they can accept who they want.

I don't think comparing to universities is a good example either. They serve a different purpose, they create a pool of skills and research for the country, they are government funded. They are not private schools.

 

[EADC]

Mike Russell, principal of Bridge House in Cape Town, where the school fee for matrics this year is R113,950, said the school has never administered entrance tests.

Cause your entrance test is $$$$$$$

 

[thestaggy]

Private - PRIVATE - schools deciding who gets in and how? I'm so shook right now.