Canadian Diana Patchett the new principal of Christchurch's St Margaret's College

A rather jaundiced and ill-informed view of private education if I may say. Not everybody who attends private schools come fromprivileged backgrounds and certainly dont have the preconceptions that you appear to have. And no, I am not a parent with kids at private school, but I taught in a private school for several years and I had a wide range of students from all kinds of backgrounds; some wealthy, some whose parents had to scrimp and save to send their children there and some on scholarships. Your belief that all private school students were born with âsilver spoons❠in their mouths is just not the reality.

There are always exceptions that disprove the rules. Most, not all, children at these schools come from privileged white families with wealthy grandparents or parents. These children get a sanitised version of an education where they dont have to overcome the challenges that children in public schools have to deal with - overcrowded classrooms, disruptive children, children from poverty and lack of resources. My husband and I are wealthy and so are our parents but we wont take money from our parents at our age to fund our childrens education and we dont want our children to be educated in a sugar coated and sanitised school system where they are protected and given the best of everything. We want them to learn humility and that they are not special, not entitled to more, and that they have to pull up their own bootstraps to make it in life. We looked at sending them to St Margarets and St Andrews but the thought of our kids being educated in a bubble was not what we wanted for them. We want our kids to learn how to make it in a world that is not perfectly curated for their success, that way, when they do succeed, they did it without being wrapped in cotton wool.

Surely a New Zealander should have been given this position. Why did it go to someone from overseas? I am sure she has all the qualifications for the job but Kiwis should come first.

Are there really no New Zealanders capable of filling these top positions? Do our capable people have to go overseas for their skills to be appreciated?

Look out gender bashing education for your children. Take a look at what that has don for Canadian education.

Big shoes to fill - it will be interesting to watch how she stamps her unique mark on the school.

Even if I was worth $10million I wouldnt send my kids to a private school. I want my children to be able to relate to their peers from all walks of life, to have humility and to establish their own networks and way in the world. Private schools raise kids with silver spoons in their mouths and a narrow view of the world.

LOL at the people commenting saying the job should have gone to a New Zealander. She was the principal at Kristin which is a school on Aucklands North Shore, how do you know shes not a NZ citizen/PR?