Education Minister Paula Cox's vision of a public school system which is the first choice of the community and equal to or better than the private schools is both laudable and correct.

It is the Government's obligation to ensure that public schools provide an education which will put its graduates on an equal footing with those coming from private schools.

But saying that and doing it are two different things. The difficulties associated with school restructuring combined with the move away from selective secondary schools to comprehensive education, while done with the best of intentions, removed some of the assurance that talented students attending Government schools would come away with the qualifications and education they needed to compete in the "new economy".

And educational choices are too risky and the decisions made along the way are too crucial for parents to take the chance of enrolling in a system which may fail them.

That in turn hurts public schools further, because those parents who care enough about education to spend thousands of dollars a year on education are the same ones who would attend PTA meetings, go to parent-teacher meetings and hold educators accountable if their children were in public schools. That is not to say that there are no parents who care about education in the public system - but imagine of their numbers were doubled or tripled. What a force for excellence that would be.

In their absence, the onus falls on the Ministry of Education and the teachers to do more to restore confidence in Government schools. It can be done, but it requires dedication, desire and discipline.

As Ms Cox and her Ministry staff and teachers tackle this problem, they could do worse than to look at the private schools to see what they are doing right.

This is not an admission of defeat. If the Government is prepared to go around the world looking for "best practices", there is no reason why we it cannot do so at home.

And it must be asked how it is that, as Shadow Minister Tim Smith pointed out a year ago, the private schools can provide an often excellent education for between $6,300 and $9,100 and the Government system often cannot for almost $12,000 a year. Even allowing for the need for Government to provide overall support for all schools and for special education, something is wrong here.