悉尼地区公立中学入学程序中的欺诈越来越严重

patrickzhu

今天在大悉尼地区，除了私校和精英中学之外，所谓好的普通公立中学越来越成为广大家长眼中的“香饽饽”。
说到底大部分孩子是无法去私立学校和精英中学的，你们那些普通公立中学中的佼佼者，就成了成为大家的目标，因为其入学没有考试，在其学区里买房或者租房就行了，由此带来了一系列的问题。

今天The Sun Herald有一篇报道　

Ｔｈｅ　Ｇｒｅａｔ　Ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　Ｓｃａｍ

http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-great-school-scam-20090314-8yfk.html?page=-1

请大家原谅我的非专业翻译和烂英文,原文我还是放在第二楼。


Lucky... (from left) Taylor Dighton, 13, Dominic Dighton, Ashley Dighton, 10, Chris Westacott, Nicole Westacott, 16, Jocelyn Davison, 10, Charlotte Davison, 12, and Stephanie Davison outside Cheltenham Girls High School
Photo: Jacky Ghossein


在悉尼的一些竞争激烈的地方，家长们正在通过住房share，提供住房虚假地址，租房和购买物业，以确保他们的孩子能够入学本地的一些顶级普通公立高中。

这些学校包括CheltenhamGirls，Burwood Girls， Epping Boys， Killara 和1Cherrybrook High，他们被认为是普通公立中学中的佼佼者，现在正被数量巨大的入学申请所困扰。

在 Beecroft区的Cheltenham Girls High School的校长Susan Bridge说，她收到了大约450个申请名额，但是本校Year 7今年只有210个名额。

家庭居住地点最接近学校的申请将优先考虑，这意味着，很多人即使家是在学校的学区内（catchment area）也有可能无法入学。

Bridge女士说，每年她总是被迫撤销一个或两个入学名额，就是因为家长未能提供证据证明他们住在该地区。

在210名入学名额中，约10至12名学生在入学后的第一年改变自己的家庭住址。

当申请入学时，家长们必须提供原始租房合同，水费和煤气费的账单以证实其住址。电话帐单或驾驶执照是不能接受的。

她说，我们意识到，很多人们在这个区买房和租房就是为了打算让子女入学本地高中。我们知道有人试图伪造文件，但是对学校来说很难因此向警方报案。

Chris Westacott和他的妻子Amal，1998年在Beecroft买了一栋房子，这样他们就能让女儿Nicole和Danielle去Cheltenham Girl High。

这个家庭决定将他们的钱投资在房地产和海外旅游上，而不是花在每年大概20000刀私立学校的学费上。

Mr.Westacott说，来这里买房子是一个非常英明的决定。
我已经在早上Burwood火车站看到了穿Cheltenham Girl High School校服的学生，在下午Burwood周围的购物中心也有在Beecroft上学的学生。

Stephanie Davison说，17年前她与丈夫在Epping买了一个小木屋。后来有了两个女儿，他们决定因此迁出该地区购买更大的房子。

但是她说，我们已经重建，，让我们继续住在Epping的唯一的原因是因为Cheltenham Girl High School就在路那边。

Louise和Dominic Dighton在他们女儿4个月大的时候（现在他们的女儿13岁了），从Leichhardt搬到了Epping，就是为了让他们的孩子在入学年龄的时候能够进入附近的好学校。

Cherrybrook Technology High School的校长Gary Johnson说，他听到零星报告说一些家长正在为本地的一些家庭支付公用事业费的账单，以确保他们的孩子能够入学Cherrybrook Technology High。然而他说，这是不是学校责任来验证这些事情。

“我们没有能力和这个责任对我们所有1954名学生进行居住地点的调查。”他说。

“我们有一个相当严格的入学政策。如果人们在该地区的租房，他们得用租赁合同和公用事业费账单来证明。

来自于房产中介Louis Carr Real Estate Group的Patrick Carr说，他们公司的经营覆盖了整个Cherrybrook，其在一个星期里房屋销售的三分之一比例，是那些为了搬入此地以进入这个高中为目的的家庭。

Killara High School的校长Mark Carter说，很多家长拼命想在本区有一个住址来满足本地高中的入学要求。
家长们迫切地希望他们的孩子入学的一所所谓的好学校，这是可以理解的。不过，特别是在执行其入学政策的公平性方面，给学校带来了非常大的压力。

[ 本帖最后由 patrickzhu 于 2009-3-15 21:30 编辑 ]

patrickzhu

The great school scam

Anna Patty

March 15, 2009

PARENTS are sharing houses, providing false addresses, renting and buying property in a fierce competition to secure a place for their children at some of Sydney's top comprehensive high schools.

Schools including Cheltenham Girls, Burwood Girls, Epping Boys, Killara and Cherrybrook high schools perform well educationally and are being swamped with enrolment applications.

Susan Bridge, principal of Cheltenham Girls High School in Beecroft, said she received about 450 applications for just 210 places available in year 7 each year.

Families who live closest to the school are given priority, which means others can miss out even if their home lies within the catchment area.

Mrs Bridge said she had been forced to withdraw one or two enrolment offers each year to parents unable to provide evidence they lived in the area.

Of the 210 new enrolments, about 10 to 12 students change their home address during their first year at the school.

When applying for enrolment, parents are required to provide original rates or lease notices, and water and gas bills as evidence of their residential address. Phone bills or driver's licences are not accepted.

"We are aware that people buy houses and rent in this area specifically with the intention of attending the high school," she said.

"We are aware there are occasions when people try to falsify their documentation. It is a very hard for the school to police."

Chris Westacott and his wife, Amal, bought a house in Beecroft in 1998 so they could send their daughters Nicole and Danielle to the school.

The family decided they would invest their money in property and overseas travel instead of spending about $20,000 a year on private school fees.

"It was a very deliberate strategy to buy a house here," Mr Westacott said.

"I've seen the Cheltenham uniform at Burwood station in the morning and around the shopping centre there."

Stephanie Davison said she and her husband bought a small fibro house in Epping 17 years ago. After having two daughters, they decided against moving out of the area to buy a larger house.

"We have rebuilt," she said. "The only reason we stayed in Epping is because Cheltenham was down the road."

Louise and Dominic Dighton moved from Leichhardt to Epping when their daughter Taylor, now 13, was four months old so they would be near good schools when their children reached school age.

Cherrybrook Technology High School principal Gary Johnson said he had heard anecdotal reports of families paying utilities bills for families in the area to secure an enrolment place at his school. However, he said this was not something schools were in a position to verify.

"We are not in a position to investigate the place of residence of all 1954 of our students," he said.

"We have a fairly stringent enrolment policy. If people are leasing in the area, they have to bring in a signed lease and utilities bill.

Patrick Carr from Louis Carr Real Estate group, which covers the Cherrybrook area, said about a third of house sales - about one a week - were to families moving to the area to gain access to the school.

Mark Carter, the principal of Killara High School, said parents were going to lengths to establish an address in the area to meet enrolment requirements.

"We are seeing an emerging trend of multiple family occupancies of properties that have local addresses," Dr Carter said.

"It is understandable that parents have a desire to enrol their child in a school where they would see some advantage. However, it does place extraordinary pressure on the school to be fair in the administration of its enrolment policy.

patrickzhu

文中提到的一些中学的名字，放一些我了解的情况给大家看看。

这些中学都是普通公立中学中，无论是academic成绩还是家长的口碑，都是佼佼者。

看看他们的HSC成绩都是在普通公立中学里能够排入NSW里前一百名，因为本来就没几所普通公立中学能进这个排名，所以他们就变得很出众了

School                                                                                                          Ranking
                                                                2008          2007          2006       2005         2004            2003          2002          2001

Killara High                                                66               55             42            49             57                44                                 67
Cherrybrook Technology High                   62               61             76            64             75                74              82               69
Burwood Girl                                              100             63             90            66             63                59              76               75
Cheltenham Girl High                                 59               64             74            52             44                56              34               45
Epping Boys High                                                          90                             99             72                92              73               82

西关少爷

大概中国人，印度人居多

老陶

我也觉得是。

pal

cherrybrook tech high...

jingsun

对学区内的住户很不公平。。。

澳洲桉树

这个问题世界上也只有日本算是解决得比较好。

狄仁杰

中国人抱怨：到处都是印度人。
印度人抱怨：到处都是中国人。

nilnil

上次遇到一个 JAMES RUSS AGRICULTURE 里的老师，无可奈何说现在学生 99% 是亚裔，他们也没办法，不过她说 JAMES RUSS 包揽了 NSW 四分之一的 law & doctor in uni

starbaby2008

晕倒！看来悉尼好区以后要和上海浦西一样了，家长削尖脑袋弄个学区房就为了小孩能进中心小学重点初中。

zxart

没有其它更好的办法解决升学问题吗？

patrickzhu

原帖由 starbaby2008 于 2009-3-16 00:36 发表
晕倒！看来悉尼好区以后要和上海浦西一样了，家长削尖脑袋弄个学区房就为了小孩能进中心小学重点初中。

这个不是什么新鲜事。

传统上，有精英中学的学区，因为是跨区考试招生，所以这样的问题不严重，响应的本地房产市场并没有很热。
但是私校就不同了，因为很多家长让孩子从KINDY到高中毕业，时间跨度很长，在私校所在区买房就很意义了，所以好的私校所在的区就不会差。

这篇报道里揭示另外一种“热点”：
显然，不能进入精英中学（因为成绩）和私校（因为钱）的孩子占了大半，所以家长们在寻找相对永久的居住地的时候就会综合考虑小学和中学的因素，区里要有一个优秀的普通公立高中作为BACKUP是至关重要的。

chinara

可怜天下父母心。。。我们能说这些做父母的是错的吗，从为人父母的角度？

缓缓

非常理解这样的父母。这种现象，在小学阶段就有了吧。

mytian

原帖由 澳洲桉树 于 2009-3-15 22:23 发表
这个问题世界上也只有日本算是解决得比较好。

Just curious, do you mind to let us know how they did it?

zn7726

这种事情, 真是难免落入俗套呀... 有机会也往cherrybrook搬吧. 一个朋友大前年买在那里.

旋木

很不厚道的心里小高兴了一把， 虽然目前还没有女儿准备上Cheltenham Girls

sinosydneysider

原帖由 patrickzhu 于 2009-3-16 09:05 发表

这个不是什么新鲜事。

传统上，有精英中学的学区，因为是跨区考试招生，所以这样的问题不严重，响应的本地房产市场并没有很热。
但是私校就不同了，因为很多家长让孩子从KINDY到高中毕业，时间跨度很长，在私校 ...

you're quite right!

kieren

今天跟办公室的同事（本地人）也聊到教育问题，他已经决定把女儿转去私校了，现在level 5，因为觉得现在的那家公立学校越来越不好了。
以前也听他们说，这十几年来，因为执政党对教育的投入比较少，所以公立学校的质量逐步下降。据说20年前，公立学校甚至比私立的更好呢。

Nik

The main reason why these things happen is that everyone (mainly asians) wants to push their kids to selective schools etc. There are lots of oppotunities in Australia for career. So, why try to push kids to just study academics only? I have heard that chinese and indians force their kids to only study books and not take sports or other activities seriosuly! Why? All round development is important than just text book. Look at what's happened to the jobs? Do you think is it wise to just let kids learn books and books?

Its better to give them freedom to choose career -- if they want to become sportsperson or take up music as career or chef or whatever. Let them be.

Back at home (in Asia) academics are important because life is much more difficult. Not here in Australia. We should learn to change. That is the only way to avoid overcrowding in some suburbs because of "good" schools!

Its pathetic that people are cheating and telling lies to get kids into some schools. What are the kids learning from these parents? Cheating and Lies? :o

degra

do not generalise , academic achievements are important here too, you don't know how much European descents are joining the "crowd". The fact is Chinese & Indian are the minorities in these "suburbs"

patrickzhu

原帖由 Nik 于 2009-3-17 00:51 发表
The main reason why these things happen is that everyone (mainly asians) wants to push their kids to selective schools etc. There are lots of oppotunities in Australia for career. So, why try to push  ...

这个要更正下，这样的现象不是因为大家要进Selective High， Selective High是要凭实力考的，和居住的catchment zone无关，所以没有这样的问题。

这篇报道说的是另外一件事，
就是在悉尼地区几百所（？）普通公立高中（Public High School）中，有那么10-20所的排名（比如HSC成绩）和口碑都相对很好，相较于凭学术实力说话的Selective High和凭钱说话的Private School来说，这些普通公立高中的“性价比”很高，最关键的是提供一个相对简单花费也不多的“捷径”给这些家长，对小学阶段各方面表现平平的孩子是一个好选择。

所以要投资的，找找这样学校的区也很好，房子会涨:)

贝贝妈妈