Trawling the letters page again.

You know, I never thought about it this way before:

Sara Conde, you almost had me until you described the expenditure by parents on private school fees as a "huge sacrificial cost" ("The learned, too, have far to go", Herald, April 5). I had always thought it was merely a choice by parents (including me, if you are also referring to the local Catholic primary school) to redirect expenditure into their child's education rather than paying off the mortgage more quickly or acquiring another income-producing asset or, as an extreme example, flying business- instead of first-class on the next overseas holiday. No element of sacrifice is involved in this process; it is simply a cost-benefit analysis - that is, what will it cost me and what benefits (be they real or illusory) will accrue as a result to my child? And that is a choice most of the parents of your students are unable to exercise. To confuse such choices with the notion that it involves some sacrifice is misleading.

Julia Lines Ashfield

Letters, Sydney Morning Herald, April 6 2005. (Emphasis added by me)

Choice: the neo-liberalist sacred cow. Howard, Nelson et al claim that the mass public funding of private institutions is all about giving parents choice. Fuck off. I'm not saying that choice is a bad thing. Yes, people should and do have the prerogative to choose. But what good is choice when it puts people at a disadvantage?

And Ms Lines makes a valid point. Is flying Business class instead of First really a sacrifice? If indeed one is finding it hard to put food on the table while one is also pouring thousands of dollars into an education, then how silly must that 'choice' be, considering how free and secular public education is of equivalent, or even superior value and quality (see below).


In other things public/private education related, apparently yet another study - this time from Monash University - shows that independent and private schools artificially inflate the true capabilities of their students. Again, a study has shown that although kids from the better resourced and much exalted private schools get higher university entrance rankings, students from the down trodden public schools generally do better at uni (Uni easier if the old school tie is public, Linda Doherty. Sydney Morning Herald, April 6 2005).

Seriously people, what good does a fancy blazer and tie do? Nothing, evidently. So what if your kid gets a slightly bigger number on his or her certificate when he or she leaves school. But in the end those numbers mean nothing at all.

Parents could do better to save their money, send their kids to the great institution that is public education and demand better resourcing for it. They can even use the cash they've saved and spend it on whatever fad the aspirational class seems to be going through at that moment if they so please.


Listening to:
Title: Tainted Love [live]
Artist: The Living End
Album/station: ?
Length: 4.00