I read a great article by Wendy Harmer in The Hoopla "Second Class, Public School Love", which
impressed me so much that I tweeted how money should not be spent
on Private Schools. Then the conversation went off...
Unfortunately, I just felt that I was not smart enough, educated
enough, knowledgable enough to contribute to it. 24 hours
later, I have changed my mind. I may not be an education
expert but I am a mum who cares about the future of this country,
particularly the future of the kids in this country and I am sick
of hearing the mantra of ‘choice’ when it comes to Schooling in
this country. The fact is the vast majority of
parents in this country do not have a choice at all, they cannot
afford a private school and have to send their kids to the
closest State School. Many people forget that
until the John Howard years Private schools did not get anywhere
near the funding that they get today and this amount of money
needs to be dialled back and seriously invested into our State
Schools.
One of the wonderful things about this country is that getting an
education is actually a ‘right’. Compared to a
lot of the rest of the world, it is something to be very proud
of. This is the taxpayer contributing to the
future of this country with their investment in
education. They should not be investing in the
future of private educated kids. The fact is,
every child has a right to an education in our State School
system, IF you as a parent ‘CHOOSE’ not to avail yourself of that
schooling system, well, the taxpayer should not fund your
‘choice’.
There are many reasons to stop subsidizing Private
Schools. People far smarter than me have the
facts & figures at hand, I am just a mum who has had
experience with State Schools, Catholic Schools and exclusive
Private Schools and I can tell you now, in regional Queensland
our State Schools are seriously underfunded and it is hurting our
future.
As a mum it hurts to see your kids in a band competing at an
Eisteddfod, putting in all the hours of effort, yet slumping when
they go on stage after seeing the private school kids in their
stunning band uniforms with their shiny new instruments and your
kids are in the ‘black’ top & pants from target (all various
shades of course) with the 2nd hand
instruments. You see the defeat in their eyes
before they take the stage. The only
difference with these kids is money and as a parent, it grates on
my nerves, knowing that some of my taxpayer funds have probably
helped to give those private school kids their spick sparkly
uniforms & instruments. I know from P&C
that this feeling is a common occurrence felt by State School
parents when it comes to all sorts of schooling opportunities,
from academic to sport to facilities. That
taxpayer funds are given to a Private School to make their school
‘nicer’ while we struggle to get the amount of ‘necessities’ for
our State School is offensive.
Private schools by there very nature are not
inclusive. Ideologically I do not think that
taxpayer funding should go to any organisations that are not
inclusive. Though schools in particular in
recent years are really suffering. IF Private
Schools were to receive taxpayer funds for the likes of
scholarships for excellence, music etc., that were offered to the
community for children who cannot afford to pay fees; Theatres
that can then be used by community organisations when not in use
by the school, Sporting amenities, again that
can be used by the community when not in school use, then that is
appropriate, as that funding is not just for the school but the
community at large.
Unfortunately that is not what happens. Private
Schools not only receive money from the Government to help them
operate, they often also have fulltime staff who’s only job is to
access other forms of grants as well to improve the school
further, all this money subsidizing a system that only the more
affluent will benefit from, at taxpayer expense?
I can understand the scream if we suddenly remove all funding,
though there should be a plan in place to reduce the amount of
funding over say the next decade. As in times
past, private schools will always be attractive to many for a
variety of reasons, the price will be paid to attend them by
those that choose them. We follow the USA down
too many paths already, we do not want to go further down this
path of only the rich can afford a decent
education. Putting the funds that currently go
to Private Schools into the likes of Gonski to build a better and fairer system of
education for the majority of the population would increase the
standards in ALL schools for ALL kids in Australia to be given
the opportunity for a first class
education.
Think about it... Every taxpayer is contributing to funding
the NBN, giving internet access to all Australians as an
important nation building infrastructure programme. We are
funding availability to every household for 1 point of high speed
Internet access. You choose to spend further money on
extending that cabling with having a new point in every room of
your house (home office, media room, theatre, lounge, bedrooms
etc...), this is Your Choice, and Your Cost. There is no
expectation that the Tax Payer should fund your desire to have
start of the art infrastructure wired to every room in your
house, just to a room (single point) to your house the same as
all other houses. The similar thinking should be applied to
education.
Every child deserves the right to a decent education, not just
the kids whose parents can afford it. No child deserves to
feel ashamed that they went to a State School!
Cheers,
Noely @YaThinkN
Mum of an 18 year old, State Educated, now 2nd year University
Student.
