Over the last half-century, we have created a system of publicly funded schools, both private and public, that is unique in the world.
We have given the chronically underfunded public system all the responsibilities and expect it to accept every child, including the most disadvantaged and so most expensive to teach, while starving it of resources. We have given sometimes extravagantly overfunded private schools all the rights, including the right to isolate themselves from the toughest end of education. As a result, we now have one of the most segregated education systems in the OECD: In the decade to 2015, Australia had the second-highest increase in concentration of disadvantaged students in disadvantaged schools, lagging only the Czech Republic. And we are continuing to use public funding to increase that segregation.
For those kids in the so-called “good” schools results have at best flatlined. For those in what are rapidly becoming residualised schools, results have plummeted.
And we haven’t just segregated our kids along class lines. We have sliced and diced them every way we can think of. We put girls with girls; boys with boys (though, as I’ve suggested, that might be changing a little); smart kids with smart kids; rich kids with rich kids; poor kids with poor kids; Christian kids with Christian kids; Muslim kids with Muslim kids; Jewish kids with Jewish kids; Catholic kids with … oh, wait, I’m not so sure most kids in Catholic schools are very Catholic any more; sporty kids with sporty kids; arty kids with arty kids; black kids with black kids; and white kids with white kids. Is this a good idea? Will it build a cohesive society? Does it help our kids to get to know one another and help break down prejudice? Or does it do the opposite?
The Scots College in Sydney’s east. Are private schools helping to build a more cohesive society? Instagram / @jca.architects.au I keep wonderin
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