Results from Education Survey.
q The more rural or geographically distant or isolated the schools became, the less facilities, support, and extra curricular activities there were. In particular the rural schools had very limited libraries and resources, and very few computers with access to the Internet.
q The people that went to those schools, seemed to be least satisfied with the time spent at school, in terms of academic endeavours, in comparison to others who were in more urbanised areas. However it is interesting to note that the social side of school for people in rural areas seemed to be enjoyed.
q It is interesting to see the differences between a top private school in Sydney and a small rural public school. The comparison is an eye opener.
Eg. Pymble Ladies College & Yeoval High School.
Pymble Ladies College had every facility imaginable. From a gymnasium to a pool, as well as diving pools, turf hockey field, computers in all classrooms and the list went on.
Yeoval High school only had three of the items from the list, an oval, a library, and computer classrooms. This was considerably less than many other schools that were mentioned in the survey.
q To some extent it demonstrates a common ideology, which is "you get what you pay for". Which that statement in itself raises an issue of educational inequality. Just because some people perhaps cannot afford to send their child to a private school, why should they have fewer opportunities in education? This is an essay in itself, so I won't continue with that point.
The above findings support Greatz & McAllister's idea that if your parents are situated in a higher socio-economic group and live in area of a similar category, the more likely that children will be successful at school, have access to all the facilities they need, stay and finish school, and move on to tertiary education or acquire professional qualifications (1994, p.185). However it is important to note that is a generalisation and does not apply to all.