06 July 2005

A Guide to Choosing Secondary Schools and Olympic Games Venues.

I think that choosing the best venue for the games has got to be like choosing a school for your children. I’m a Dad and we are fortunate enough to live in an area where in my analysis there only good schools – here lies a problem. How to choose the best school from a set of good schools?

So parents worry that one school has 0.7 of a child more per class than another, this school does more homework, that school is a Beacon school for maths and another is for languages, and another builds robots and yet another has a headmaster that smiles nicely.

Of course, when you stand back you realise that it doesn’t actually matter. No matter what choice the parents make, they’ve made the right one because the school is ultimately a good school. So what is the Jenks method of choice (particularly relevant for secondary schools)?

1) Is the school close and your child get there without a parent? If ‘no’ then forget it – you will harm the environment, your sanity, your time, your health, your wealth and your child. Children need independence and so do parents.
2) Has the school got a good name, and I mean ‘name’. You want a name that looks good on a CV.
3) Does the school look good?

And that’s it – forget everything else. One or two extra kids in a class really does not matter. Any homework is always too much homework for a teenager. Beacon schools always worry me as I’m always a bit concerned about the other subjects. The school that builds robots will probably loose interest and switch to needle work. And the headmaster that smiles nicely is probably leaving the school anyway.

No, just follow the Jenks method. Whatever you do, do not ask your child – rather present the evidence in a way that guides your child to the right choice ;-)

So choosing schools is like choosing Olympic Games venues and I expect confused IOC members are already using the Jenks method and will no doubt arrive at the only correct answer – London :-)

(for non Brits: Secondary Schools = High Schools)

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