At the risk of sounding like I'm from one of the marxist instances, I think it's a vehicle for cultural hegemony. If that just means everyone learns the same stuff it's not much of a problem - though it's relevant to the kind of society we build.

The problems arise when the primary and secondary sectors are discriminatory. An extreme example is the old UK system where 11-year-olds would sit an exam that determined what kind of high school they went to. The schools for future factory workers taught very different subjects to the ones for white collar class. I know some people who are casualties of that system. They spent half a day a week practicing setting tables and writing menus.

We don't have anything like that codified in law of course but there are definitely shadows of it in the decile system.

[–] absGeekNZ 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The decile system is weird.

The idea seems sound, as some schools need more funding than others based on the communities they serve. I know in Taupo there is quite a difference between the schools, and converse to expectations the lower decile school is in worse condition then the higher one....when the system is supposed to have higher funding for the lower decide school.

Now is it purely because the community surrounding the higher decile school is able to give that much more money....I don't know.

Maybe a funding model based on each individual student would be better....much higher administration requirement, but it could be done. I don't know exactly how a school is funded, but the I know at least some of the budget is based on number of students. Is there a base amount to maintain buildings and grounds with an allowance for each student added on top...not sure.

[–] liv 2 points 1 year ago

It's definitely because of community funding and maybe a bit because of Board of Trustee skillsets and education levels which affect choices and access to funding streams. High decile schools have entire buildings, theatres, swimming pools etc built from donations.

Iirc the literal decile system got an overhaul and is called something else now, but it looks like the same basic principles.