AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
PRESS RELEASE 625#
ELITES AND ‘POVOS’
AND THE VCE FACEBOOK PAGE
The truth will out!
Private schools are not about ‘freedom’ to give children a ‘religious’ or even a ‘values’ education. Remember those mythical ‘poor’ parish Catholic schools of the 1960?s Not to mention the wealthy religious schools that cashed in on the ‘Needs’ Policy?
Schools that select – and reject- children are not and cannot even be about the production of ‘Christian gentlemen’.
They are about elitism, privilege and class distinction.
Everyone knows about this. But public school parents are the canny ones. They are one step ahead, knowing that public schools give their children a realistic, rounded education.
Aristocratic pretensions might begin at home, but they are fostered by selective schools extracting dollars from the insecure middle class. Some such parents feel so confident that they are prepared to be brutally frank. Zara, a private school parent rang Neil Mitchell’s talk back program in the last week and told him:
Zara: I’m surprised that you’re so naïve… Half the reason we send our children to private schools is to make them part of an elite group… obviously they are more privileged it gets them through life realising that they are more privileged.
I am quite happy for my children to walk around with their nose in their air… and they will always have money. That is our job as a parent…I don’t want my children to be factory workers.
When Neil Mitchell pointed out that ‘somebody had to work in the bloody factory’, she responded, ‘That’s right. It’s just not going to be MY children.’
When questioned about what would happen if either she or her children might not have enough money, she replied.. We will always have money…that is why we work hard.
To hear it go to http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/xavier-college-bully-schooled-in-vce-facebook-slapdown-20151028-gkldby.html
Zara should be congratulated for her honesty.But DOGS pity any of her children who do not live up to her expectations.
It should be noted that this 3AW talkback conversation took place in the context of a very revealing internet spat between privileged Xavier College VCE students and public school students.
The night before this year’s VCE English exam, one Xavier College student called state school students "povo f---s" on a popular VCE discussion page on Facebook. The 18-year-old said he was "eternally grateful" that his parents had sent him to a good, private school instead of a "poverty stricken s---hole in Pakenham".
"People often say that paying to send your kids to a private school is not worth it but when [I] read what you povo f---- post on this page I'm eternally grateful to my parents," he wrote.
"You give me hope because [I] know there are so many more retards like you out there that I will easily beat tomorrow and over the next two weeks. I hope you all f--- up really bad so [I] can see your posts tomorrow."
He signed off his post by saying: "Remember to say hi to me when I'm your boss one day."
Girls who replied to the post were reportedly told to shut up and "let the men handle business".
Not only did the public school students vigorously defend their education, one even took a red pen to the Xavier College student's comment.
The state school student highlighted the Xavier student's poor punctuation, spelling errors and use of offensive words and colloquial language.
He then marked the private school teen's post, giving it a D+.
"Please take time to proof read next time ... have some decency too please. See me after class," he added.
Xavier went into risk management . The offending student apologised. It was too little too late on many fronts.
Reports of the exchange have prompted discussions about elitism in the wider community. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/xavier-college-bully-schooled-in-vce-facebook-slapdown-20151028-gkldby?rand=1446121124500#ixzz3qNf7clGp
But public school supporters offer condolences to parents like Zara who have been sold a myth. The truth of the matter is that no private school is in the same class as a public school when it comes to providing an academic, vocational, or community education.
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