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Common Application System ... again

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Comments

  • #32
    Delphi91
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭Delphi91


    mcbuffalo wrote: »
    ...I think you will find that the pactice of poaching students and of excluding students because of their address etc is still very much alive and well in the same schools that were infamous for these practices in the past. One look at their roll books would confirm this.
    The common application system was very necessary at the time,but it now needs a serious overhaul. Putting 12 year old children through hell every year benifits nobody.

    I didn't say that the practice was gone, I said that it had reduced enormously. I am aware of situations where the practice goes on. I think however what you will now find is happening is that some schools are actively discouraging students from applying to them. This can be done on open nights and on visits to the various primary schools. It may not be explicitly stated, but if you read between the lines, the message is obvious and blunt - "we're a very academic school and we place great emphasis on exam results and study, etc, so if you are not strong in this area, then maybe this school is not for you". Or "we don't do practical subjects in the school like woodwork or metalwork, so you'll have to look elsewhere if you want to do those subjects". You'll find that what is done doesn't go against the school's admissions policy, in the sense that a pupil hasn't been denied a place, it just discourages them from applying to the school in the first place. It's "positive discrimination". The school gets the students it wants, nobody is refused a place, and there are no section 29's taken against the school. It's a win-win situation for the school.


  • #33
    Taceom
    Registered Users Posts: 209 ✭✭Taceom


    Delphi91 wrote: »
    .......actively discouraging students from applying to them. This can be done on open nights and on visits to the various primary schools. It may not be explicitly stated, but if you read between the lines, the message is obvious and blunt - "we're a very academic school and we place great emphasis on exam results and study, etc, so if you are not strong in this area, then maybe this school is not for you". Or "we don't do practical subjects in the school like woodwork or metalwork, so you'll have to look elsewhere if you want to do those subjects".........

    Actively discouraging applicants in this way isn't necessarily a bad thing. Speaking for myself when I went around to open nights I was happy for a school to point out certain subjects not being taken in that school as then I could cross that school off my list. And as for very academic schools - isn't it best to know this in advance especially if your child would struggle in such an environment.


  • #34
    Delphi91
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,501 ✭✭✭Delphi91


    Taceom wrote: »
    Actively discouraging applicants in this way isn't necessarily a bad thing. Speaking for myself when I went around to open nights I was happy for a school to point out certain subjects not being taken in that school as then I could cross that school off my list...

    It depends on the reasons for actively discouraging them! If it's being done for the benefit of the students, then fine. If on the other hand it's being done to actively discourage students from certain areas coming to the relevant school, then that's a whole different scenario. Please don't tell me it's always the former, because I know of cases where it's not. Let's not kid ourselves here, there is educational apartheid in Limerick.


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