Sandy's Say: Yuck Cha
"It makes me sad that Australia has such an inequitable schooling system. It is a national disgrace and tragedy that so many young people are prevented, or disengaged, from achieving their full potential in life. We will never be that "clever country" which ex Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, spoke of whilst we offer opportunities to a privileged few and reduce opportunities for others. Allowing private and selective schools to prosper at the expense of government comprehensive schools is blatant academic apartheid,'' declares columnist Sandy James.
When it came to choosing an educational system for our son, here in Sydney, my husband and I were initially quite content to send him to a local, government comprehensive school. Neither of us had been to a private school, back in Zimbabwe and South Africa respectively, and we saw no reason why the same system should not be good enough for our offspring. Besides, we were naive and relatively penniless, so circumstances made the decision for us.
One year in and we received a rude jolt. Our son became so reluctant to attend school that I literally had to drag him up the hill each morning. The seriousness of the problem hit home one day when I said to him, "Oh, you don't need a bathing costume at school today because the bus drivers are on strike so you can't go to the Aquatic Centre."
'I don't need a brain there either," he spat out angrily, tears in his eyes.
My heart fell. He was extremely bored, was being scorned and bullied for making an effort and was rapidly losing his love of learning. He still had another twelve years to go. Twelve years which were suddenly looming like a life sentence.
A couple of the teachers were absolute gems but his latest teacher was miscorrecting his spelling. This worried me as, at the age of six, his mental faculties were like a sponge, absorbing everything he was taught. Once he had learnt something incorrectly then it was twice as hard to erase it from his memory and start again.
I alerted my husband to the depth of this educational crisis and from somewhere he scrimped and scraped and found the funding which enabled our son to join a fee paying, private school.
The transformation in our little boy was instant. He positively blossomed. He was now in an environment where academic, sporting, artistic and musical achievement were encouraged, recognised and heralded. The facilities too were far superior. This school did not rely on reluctant, busy parents to organise sport. There was a full time sports master. Parents were not being begged to help out in gardening bees at the weekend. There was a full time gardener and caretaker. Each child had access to a musical instrument and there were draws and draws of craft items in the art classroom, as opposed to a few blunt pencils and several jars of encrusted paint.
Although I was mightily relieved that we had found a solution to our personal problem, I was far from gloating. It makes me sad that Australia has such an inequitable schooling system. It is a national disgrace and tragedy that so many young people are prevented, or disengaged, from achieving their full potential in life. We will never be that "clever country" which ex Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, spoke of whilst we offer opportunities to a privileged few and reduce opportunities for others. Allowing private and selective schools to prosper at the expense of government comprehensive schools is blatant academic apartheid.
There was one unexpected cultural change which our son had to adapt to. In most private and selective schools in Sydney there are a large number of recently emigrated Asian students. Being a popular new boy, our son was invited to many a 'yum cha' lunch. It is considered an honour to be asked to such an occasion but, as someone who is not too keen on fish, our little fellow was battling to be polite.
One day he arrived home from yet another marathon piscine banquet, He was disgruntled and announced emphatically, "No way am I EVER attending another 'yum cha'. You have to believe me, Mum. I swear that I was forced to swallow squids' testicles today."
