huangker said:
Look every school has is pros and cons. People with school pride talk up the good but can be critical as well. Snobs can’t see anything but the pros.
Thats what you are bookie, an elitist, ignorant snob. I know enoch personally and he was perfectly justified in changing schools. He didn’t fail High. High, its administration, its community failed him and is failing lots of other good people.
Bookie, you’re so blind! Look around you, look at the class of 2005. There is so much fragmentation, polarization, alienation. There are two groups at high, kids to conform to the school’s values and people who don’t. Obviously you are in the first group. You get the respect of teachers, get to be prefects and all sorts of other perks.
Have you even stopped to think abt the people who don’t conform? It’s not their fault. Most are from migrant families who just don’t understand High’s values. Life is so much harder for them.
High is a great school, but it has is problems, don’t be a snob, see both the good and bad.
ok i was at kings...kings was militaristic had a culture much akin to the american type of hazing of new students, performing tasks which could be paralleled to slavery, behavior which could be described as assault (i.e. pulling down of kids pants in change rooms, bashings, and midnight dorm raids were all to common) which was usually dismissed with a well known doctrine that 'boys will be boys', this is not just kings. I believe kings is just a microcosm for a much far-ranging issue prevalent in lots of these private boarding schools.
At kings and other private schools that i have attended, the culture was much worse speaking from experience where segregation, bullying were far more frequent even though there may be a sense of being insular at high and being left-out and 'alienated' it is far better to be in a state of alienation than in a perpetual state of fear, mate, at high i do not see people being bashed frequently, severe suspensions and expulsions being carried out and general attacks. out of curiosity huangker have u been to many private and public schools how many schools have u been to? your experience was not obvious in your comments, once institutionalized within a school it is hard to ignore the culture. I have been at high and was new and did feel alienated *surprise* but it was nothing compared to the fear and external alienation you can experience at the other schools. both my father and my uncle are teachers so i do get a lot of feedback about different schools. i have been to 5 schools, 3 private: (6 years) and 2 public: (8years) (yes I repeated)
Look there are not two clear-cut groups at high, if anything it is very mixed. I have conformed to the schools values teachers and whatever and do not receive perks or crap like prefecture, the respect of your peers is not like bought through conforming it is gained simply due to a persons individual disposition towards the community around him and how his personality is considered by others, the persons consideration for others, and sporting/academic prowess...these are all determinants of respect that leads to the perks, clearly any 'losers' can conform to the rules yet still feel left out and many of the 'outsiders' who do not conform to the rules of the institution do find there own niche within the school and are accepted in general.
The worst things about high for me are
a) the english department and general resources.
b) the schools rich history being forgotten in the quest for a higher UAI ranking and the school being viewed as a hothouse churning out members into society with an imbalance in values towards the importance of an index and a 'win at all costs' attitude.
until the school receives more funding i cannot foresee a resolution to these problems.
my grandfather and all of my uncles went to high...as its namesake suggests it "SYDNEY HIGH" makes up a cornerstone of public high school system in Sydney...being the oldest chs boys school it should be respected in its own right as well as having the unique links with the AAGPS. (i must note that kings was the first(?) high school founded in 1831?)
i am sorry i have digressed but this is entirely based upon the attack by huangker on high and his pigeonholing of students and demeaning of the school.
im not sure why u are bitter about high (maybe it failed you?) as you stated "see both the good and bad" through your embittered response you did not outline one pro, is high an exception to your rule? is high the only school in NSW that has no good things about it...if not say something positive man back up your words instead of ranting on about the "fragmentation, polarization, alienation"
“Enoch took the scholarship so he could get out of the low socio economic niche that he is part of..”
And silkevo your deduction is flawed about taking scholarships to ‘get out’ of the low socio economic niche…how does that work?…going to a private school does not automatically translate to higher socio-economic status…at high I believe you just have as much for me more opportunity of rising in class than going to kings or other private schools and I saw that when I took up my scholarship at kings (no not a ‘sports’ one in fact I was shit at sports I did not make the aths team , I was in the rugby ‘f’s’ as well) that it does not automatically lead to higher status or being considered of higher socio-economic status if you attend kings, you may be surprised there was much segregation and people of higher socio-economic class were actually targeted more than those of lower-socio economic classes as they were generally stuck up ‘snobs’ who many referred to as “rich bitches” (I am not a ‘rich bitch’ myself I come from a long strain of middle class parentage) so I sacrificed my scholarship and then went to a more conducive learning environment-high.
Have you guys been to kings and other private schools silkevo and huangker?