SES Forums

Bella,

I agree. Perhaps AntonR can sort this one out.

Regardless as to whether this person/persons had a history of mental illness and just happened to be members of the SOP or whether being a member makes the incidence of psychotic episodes more likely, who knows.

Nevertheless, having read some of the other threads the implication is that there does seem to be some kind of connection between the SES/SOP and mental health problems.

Yeah, I'm certainly not precluding the possibility. It seems clear that the abuse some people endured took its toll on their mental health - it's natural that it would. My concern was that some stereotypes and blanket assumptions were being perpetuated without properly examining the circumstances.

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Anyone remember or know anything about the woman who commited suicide by jumping off the the roof at Queensgate?

Maybe MERRY can fill us in about that suicide?

(Or at least try and blame the victim for what happened to her.)

I never met her but a friend of mine was next door at the time she jumped off the roof/out of a window on a Saturday afternoon. She hadn't been in the School very long, I believe.
Unfortunately, there are numbers of unhappy people in this world who, despairingly, take action to end their lives.

1980sstJ wrote:Maybe MERRY can fill us in about that suicide?

(Or at least try and blame the victim for what happened to her.)

Ouch!!!! A tad insensitive?

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It's unfortunate that you're unable to write more specifically about the circumstances and context, Anton, but understandable. Thanks for what you did offer, though.

Back to school and nothing seems to have changed much. I'm just so relieved that my daughter only has one more term left (we have a confirmed exit route established). Still no clarity on what SES stands for and how it might affect my child.

stjparent

stjparent - I suggest you take the time to read the last couple of pages of the thread titled "The Melbourne School" - there are some interesting facts about the primary schools in Australia, and there is also a bit more (from mm) about discipline in the current St James school.

Sjparent & mm

Firstly I would like to wish both your children all the best in their next school and may their nikilam nightmares pass.

I have been at STJ for 14 FREAKING YEARS! I can't quite believe it myself and its all about to end in 4 weeks! There have been many ups and downs to my education there, many if not all educational ones focus on Sanskrit, Maths and English.
I'll put it to you straight, my mathematical education was a WASTE OF TIME! For me, a school boy, trying desperately to grasp the basics of long multiplication and division only to have Mr. Cook shouting NIKILAM HAY-A WHAT SOMMIN OR OTHER in his broad accent really confused matters. I for one, and thanks to my parents received extra lessons throughout the pre-GCSE period and all the way up to the real exams.

For those who have the skill, intelligence, application, self discipline and motivation, Vedic maths is a god send. It discovers patterns, laws and rules of arithmetic and employs them in such a way as to simplify the method. Now as a Vedic scholar, I know very little but this is how I understand it.

I can honestly say Sjparent, that I too remember all too well spending night after night crying my eyes out over my sodding nikilam homework not having a clue about it, totally up shit creek without a paddle.

Sanskrit lessons are another story! OMG!
Firstly the plus side.......errrrr.........oh yeah, it develops beautiful elocution and pronunciation. THATS IT! Well actually lets not forget the endless mental gymnastics of comprising a Sanskrit sentence.......

Choose some random animals, water, elephant...oh and don?t forget the SAGE! nor the talking black bird, translate, jumble up, encrypt, reverse, invert then stick ?em in a forest and HEY PRESTO you have THE RAMAYANA!!!! (mind you that did have some excellent stories of good vs. evil)

I HATED Sanskrit, the best thing I remember about it was being moved from the 'A' set into MRS Stollar?s 'c' set, she was way nicer than Mr. Stollar and we got to watch films. I recall doodling a lot in my roopani books, drawing roller-skates on sages and putting Sita on a flying carpet. JOKES!
So to sum up, my 'classical' STJ education has failed to increase my language skills, failed to give me a grounding in basic grammar and the construction of modern languages that are supposed to have arisen from Sanskrit and I have SODD ALL knowledge of basic grammar, my maths is SHIT! and I would gladly burn Mr. Nikilam at the stake!

All joking aside, no doubt you visited STJ open day and read up on the schools 'quirky' curriculum. So, may I ask, Why did you decide to send your children here if
1)You knew about the maths and nikilam
2)You knew about Sanskrit and
3)You knew about their ethos/principles....the pause blah blah blah


much love
sam xox