Talk:Auckland Grammar School

Edits

In the name of "Simple English" this is really bad editting, because it has been made to mean something entirely different to the original meaning. The only way to discover what is now correct is for some recent student or teacher at the school to fix it.

What is even worse, the simplifying editor has made a grammatical error which is quite disgraceful on the site of a school which encourages excellence. I do hope that the person who wrote this is not and never has been a pupil at A.G.S.

To deal with the easy thing first:-

"The school tries to get all of the students to do very good in all educational areas..."

This should read:-

"The school tries to get all the students to do very well in all educational areas..."

The second, more difficult problem

This is what it said originally:-

The school's rules also noted that people of all classes or racial background who inhabit the colony of new Zealand are all to be equally admitted. The school deed also stressed the need for the widespread teaching of different languages and, in particular, 'the instructing in Latin.'

The school motivates its students to excel in all educational areas, especially Academic, Sporting and Cultural fields.

This is what it now says:-

People of all classes or racial background who live in New Zealand are all the same when it comes to being allowed to go to the school. The school believes it is very important to teach many different languages and, in particular, 'the instructing in Latin.' The school tries to get all of the students to do very good in all educational areas, for example, Academic, Sporting and Cultural fields.

Looking at the first version, I see that it said "The school's rules also note..." and "The school deed also stressed...". In both these case the writer has used to past tense. In other words, this is referring to the "rules" and the "deed" in the way they were first written.

The editor who has tried to make it simple has not used the past tense but the present tense. "People of all classes or racial background who live in New Zealand are all the same when it comes to being allowed to go to the school."

The two questions that I have to ask about this are:-

• Is this now a paying school?
• Do boys from poor families have the same opportunity to go there as richer ones?

In the 19th century, class and colour were important factors in discrimination. Nowadays in New Zealand, money is a much bigger factor.

What is the current situation? Because the original writer was not writing about the current situation, but the foundation rules.

Another comment- "People ... are all the same when it comes to being allowed to go to the school." This is the most horribly messy bit of English expression that I have read on Simple Wikipedia for quite a long time.

"The school believes it is very important to teach many different languages and, in particular, 'the instructing in Latin.'"

My comment here is- this is from the original deed. The editor has put this sentence in the present tense. Question

• Does the school still teach Latin? Does the school still see teaching Latin as "particularly important"?

Can someone who knows about these things, please fix them if necessary? --Amandajm 06:51, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

OK! Done some research.

Confusion has been caused by a small change. From "public school" to "public school". Secondary schools in UK, Australia and NZ are not called "public schools" unless they are, in fact "rather private".

This school is not, it would appear from my reading, a "public school" but is a "state school" which is run very much along "public school" lines.

Yes, they do take boys of all colours and classes, as the rules said, and this is still mentioned on the website. But one feels that mention of colours and classes is quite redundant, if the school is, in fact, a state school. I recommend the removal of the sentence, except in reference to the history of the school, because in today's terms, it goes without saying that no child in New Zealand could be barred from a state school on grounds of class or race.

Yes, Latin is still taught.

The article needs to give more attention to the academic achievement of the school. It is the premier boys school in NZ.

The area from which boys are drawn is closely controlled, although there are some boarding places. It was very hard to find out how a boy went about getting a boarding place at the school. There are 120 boarders. --Amandajm 07:46, 24 August 2007 (UTC)