If I could gather the leaders of all boys’ schools in one room, this would be my sincere plea to them. Your leadership of these students is pivotal in shaping our country.
As your school websites advertise, your boys go on to be leaders in society, shaping policy and legislation. The way they are socialised in formative years affects us all. Australia has had only one female prime minister; it has had three male PMs emerge from Sydney Grammar alone.
A message for the schools raising future leaders. Credit:
Elite all-boys schools in particular have become the focus of public interest, not because there is a co-ordinated vendetta against privileged men but because, by design, these schools are exclusionary. This is not only by sex but by class and often race. These overlapping powers amplify the effects of each other to reinforce various inequalities.
Accountability is not a “hit job”.
I was hesitant to be interviewed for the recent episode of Four Corners, which related to the leadership of Nicholas Sampson at Cranbrook School. I rejected the request until days before when details were revealed to me. I had no interest in being involved when I thought it was an exposé on the behaviour of boys at a specific institution because I am well aware this is a larger societal challenge. If you put a microscope on any space dominated by young men today, you will find stories worthy of news headlines.
I do not blame anyone, let alone the people who merely went to these schools and became a direct product of their environment. But I do believe everyone bears the responsibility, particularly the leaders of schools, to have a zero-tolerance policy towards acts that enable violence, no matter how insignificant they seem in isolation.
Eradicating misogyny and sexual violence will never be achieved by singling out institutions, but accountability does deter others. Too many times have I heard about schools around the country sweeping abuse under the rug in an attempt to maintain their reputations. I understand why accountability feels so targeted. As the adage goes, “equality feels like oppression to the privileged”.
A piece of information that should not be news to you is that there are predators at your school. When I posted 6400 testimonies of sexual assault largely submitted by young women on teachusconsent.com in 2021, almost every boys’ school in Sydney was named in reference to a former or current student there being a perpetrator of sexual assault. Most of them in the dozens, some of them in the hundreds. “Toxic” may not be the word you want to use, but this is reflective of a significantly detrimental cultural problem, and should remain a wake-up call to everyone in the community.
If I could gather all the leaders of boys’ schools in one room, here’s what I would tell them
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21.03.2024
If I could gather the leaders of all boys’ schools in one room, this would be my sincere plea to them. Your leadership of these students is pivotal in shaping our country.
As your school websites advertise, your boys go on to be leaders in society, shaping policy and legislation. The way they are socialised in formative years affects us all. Australia has had only one female prime minister; it has had three male PMs emerge from Sydney Grammar alone.
A message for the schools raising future leaders. Credit:
Elite all-boys schools in particular have become the focus of public interest, not because there is a co-ordinated vendetta against privileged men but because, by........
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