Professor says GSAT system is ‘a Ponzi Scheme’
A university professor has said they believe the Grade Six Achievement Test to be a ‘Ponzi’ scheme that prefers those children whose parents have superior spending power and influence.
Carolyn Cooper is a professor of literary and cultural studies. She writes that, "the test is a clear sign of the failure of our educational system to make adequate provisions for all children to access high-quality secondary education".
Her complaints are centered on the GSAT system which the Ministry of Education recently admitted was part of a serious problem. In a report from the Ministry of Education they state, 'the ministry's ability to place students in their preferred schools is dependent on the number of places available in each school, as well as the number of students selecting that school.’
Cooper states that last month there was approximately 44,000 students who took the GSAT and they are battling for 45,324 secondary school places. This suggests that there are more than enough places for secondary school pupils.
The issue becomes clear when Cooper states that of 19,000 students who entered their first choice of secondary school, only 15 schools were ‘preferred’. In order to succeed students must not only go to school but increasingly extra lessons are needed, potentially by distance learning. Students with wealthy parents may be better placed to afford the tuition and might well have the connections and influence to, "manipulate the system".
As Ponzi schemes provide the illusion of getting rich, the GSAT system, according to Cooper provides the illusion that, "all students who achieve can get into ‘good’ secondary schools".
"We should abolish the GSAT and assign places to secondary school purely by lottery. If luck goes the other way, so be it. The playing field would finally by level."
