KEY POINTS:
Bright students with top marks could be held back a year if they have a bad attitude, under a new scheme introduced by an Auckland high school.
Westlake Boys High School is introducing a scheme this year in which junior students will be held back if they don't do their homework, get to school on time or bring the right equipment to class, the Sunday Star-Times reported.
Headmaster Craig Monaghan said the "graduation system" was about "core work ethics" not academic ability.
It will affect students in years 9 and 10, formerly known as third and fourth form.
He said he would have no qualms holding back even academically brilliant students.
Ivan Snook, emeritus professor of education at Massey University, said the scheme was unethical and a breach of natural justice which could not be tolerated in a New Zealand school.
Mr Monaghan said a student would have to be "destructive" to fail to graduate.
A similar scheme is used at Nelson's Waimea College and was introduced at Shirley Boys High School in Christchurch when Mr Monaghan was deputy head in 2003 and is still in place.
About nine Shirley boys had faced being held back and many were removed from the school by parents rather than repeating a year.
- NZPA
