原文链接
https://www.smh.com.au/national/ ... 0210821-p58kqf.html
It’s topped the HSC for 25 years, so why are students rejecting James Ruse?
By Jordan Baker
August 22, 2021 — 12.00am
Almost a third of the students offered a place at the state’s highest-achieving school, James Ruse Agricultural High, turn it down.
In its 2021-24 improvement plan, the Carlingford school – which has topped NSW in the HSC for 25 years – has set itself a goal of having 75 per cent of its placement offers accepted by 2024. This year, its goal is to have 68 per cent of students accepting their offer.
So far this year, 27 year 6 students have rejected offers for spots at Ruse, compared with just 10 for Baulkham Hills High, which has two more 30-strong year 7 classes than Ruse’s four, and just seven for Penrith High, which has one more class than Ruse.
Billie Lane received a selective school offer but took a private school scholarship instead.
Billie Lane received a selective school offer but took a private school scholarship instead.CREDIT:EDWINA PICKLES
James Ruse’s principal, Rachel Powell, said she was unsure why the refusal rate is relatively higher for Ruse - families don’t have to provide a reason - but suspects it is partly due to misconceptions that the school is a high-pressure ATAR factory.
Another potential factor is that private schools offer their scholarships, which must be locked in with a deposit, before selective school offers are released. Students who gain entry to James Ruse are also likely to have done well in the private school scholarship exams.
Ms Powell said she started at the school three years ago. “When I got the figures, I was absolutely dumbfounded. I just assumed everyone would take their places,” she said.
She talked to students, parents and teachers to try to find out why - people who refuse their place don’t have to give a reason - “and we came to the conclusion that people don’t really understand Ruse,” Ms Powell said.
“They have an image and stereotype that Ruse is an ATAR [Australian Tertiary Entrance Rank] factory, and it’s so much more than that. It was a desire for us as a school to really put the real side of Ruse out there, so people are making a decision based on fact rather than fiction.”
The school has an extensive co-curricular program, cadets and a proud sporting record, Ms Powell said. Agriculture is compulsory, a subject many graduates remember with fondness from their time at the school.
Transport can also put parents off - the school is in a traffic-logged suburban street in Carlingford - so Ms Powell has published transport routes on the school website.
“I meet with the year 7s every year, in term three, and ask them in small groups what they like about coming to Ruse,” she said. “It’s very strong that they love the other students, they feel they have people who understand them.”
Every year, James Ruse sends out 140 offers for a year group of 120 students, to factor in the refusals.
Under the selection process run by the NSW Department of Education, students can name three selective schools in their application in order of preference, and receive an offer to the highest one for which they qualify.
James Ruse usually has the highest minimum-entry score. It also offers fewer year 7 places than most selective schools; there are four classes of 30, compared with six at Sydney Boys High, five at Fort Street and five at Sydney Tech.
If they refuse their offer, they do not get another offer for a lower-preference school.
This year the NSW Department of Education is publishing a reserve list for each school. So far this year, the refusal rate is highest in partially selective schools, and lowest - at about five per cent - at North Sydney Boys’, Penrith and Baulkham Hills.
Billie Lane, a sporty, academic student at Turramurra Public, sat for the selective school test in March. But she was also offered a full scholarship at Barker College. Her parents paid the $5000 deposit - refundable at the end of her schooling - before Billie was offered a place in the selective stream at Chatswood High and a place on the Hornsby Girls’ reserve list.
“I felt that the selective schools seem to have kind of a reputation for being quite high pressure environments, students being coached outside the classroom, and I’m not sure how healthy that would be for me,” she said.
“I also love soccer and running and exercising, and I wanted to attend a school where sport was valued as much as academic work.”
A spokeswoman for the NSW Department of Education said the number of enrolment offers at selective schools was specific to the school and based on the pattern of past declines, so some made no extra offers and others up to 20.
“The simple tally of declination of offers does not mean that the school is less popular than schools with fewer declines,” she said. “The number of declination of offers for NSW selective high schools with 120-plus Year 7 intake range from 12 to 47.”
The spokeswoman also said that the later the offer is made, the more likely it is that parents have already organised their children’s high schooling and so turn the place down.
评论
今天老公才说起这事。他说：看吧，jr也没有那么好，你不用惦记了。我接一句：好的，我们多报几家私校吧。
评论
文章下面的评论:
Chip1小时前
My child was offered a spot at a good selective for 2022 but we opted for the local high which has a good reputation and is co-ed. When children are academically gifted they can set very high standards for themselves - often to their own detriment. I don’t want to see that fostered. My child will excel wherever she goes. Better to focus on a well rounded education, exposure to children from all economic backgrounds then academic results at all costs.
赞9
simoni1小时前
I think that if you looked at most of the really high achieving individuals across a broad sector of Australian professions and industries, the vast majority of them would have attended a pretty ordinary public high school. In the end, talent, brains, ambition and character will prevail- attending James Ruse is simply a status symbol, nothing more.
赞8
Lex1小时前
Some parents & students just don't want the incredibly high pressure, ATAR focused environment James Ruse offers with the overwhelming majority off its students undergoing intensive academic coaching for most of their school life & even earlier. There is an epidemic of anxiety among Australian teenagers & twenty-somethings & more parents are worrying about the potential impact of 6 years in a relentlessly competitive environment.
赞6
Jim Morrison1小时前
The sooner these selective schools are shut down, the better for our society as a whole.
赞9
Mumu1小时前
Lets address the elephant in the room.
Cultural fit.
I didn’t have my high achieving kids sit the selective school exam because I wanted them to have local friends and go to high school with kids they had things in common with. Our local selective school has up to 75% non local students, some travelling long distances from outer Sydney to attend.
赞10
Ms Fiesty2小时前
I went there. It was an ATAR Factory. And I travelled more than 3 hours a day to get there.... couldn't wait to leave, have never looked back....
赞12
Fortran6小时前
If the top 1 percent of students gain a position at James Ruse then the expectation is that anyone finishing with an ATAR less than 99 has declined in performance.
Any of theses students at a comprehensive school would be in the leadership academically and probably represent the school in such things as debating etc… Could it be that attending a Selective School actually means more students miss the opportunities that they would have experienced in the Comprehensive system?
赞10
Steve of Kenso11小时前
A well round education doesnt come from just one institution
赞7
评论
西人娃收到offer一般都不会去，就是作为私校奖学金的敲门砖，或者测试一下自己的水平。比起学业压力，他们更怕97%非英语为母语的环境无法融入。但是这么政治不正确的话校长和媒体不能公开说
评论
ATAR Factory，澳洲的毛坦厂中学？
评论
"Every year, James Ruse sends out 140 offers for a year group of 120 students, to factor in the refusals."
每年，James Ruse 都会为7年级发出 140 份录取通知书(实招120人），以将拒绝的因素考虑在内。打破了不少的（20个）预留位置的传闻。
评论
前50名放弃Jr去私校奖学金，早在这里讨论烂大街了。没有jr offer的老外们操心些啥？还需要上新闻。
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这些评论也是搞笑，好像他们有jr offer似的。
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用隐晦的方式向社会传递JR不够Aussie的密语
评论
jr 不是好例子，毕竟能考上的locals屈指可数。应该去看排名十名以后的精英中学，那些学校里的鬼佬才相对多一点。
评论
jr 不是好例子，毕竟能考上的locals屈指可数。应该去看排名十名以后的精英中学，那些学校里的鬼佬才相对多一点。
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