A reflection on a current educational issue in Sydney relating to culture and identity

A reflection on a current educational issue in Sydney relating to culture and identity

School as an essential part of development should not be a place where discrimination and unfair treatment exists. In NSW, the Anti-Discrimination Act makes them unlawful to expel, refuse to enrol, limit access to benefits provided by a school. It will now make private schools and private education institutions subject to the same laws that make discrimination unlawful in public schools and TAFEs. The discrimination includes race, sex, transgender, homosexuality etc. The current issue is that it is claimed that discrimination no longer exists in private schools, however through some personal experiences of the students who are homosexual from private schools, verifies the existence of discrimination.

How harmful is the discrimination if it still cannot be eliminated in private schools? Bellmore (2012) indicated that students experience the peer discrimination report lower self-esteem and higher levels of depressive symptoms. As mentioned before, private schools may have more discrimination than public schools and in addition, some of them allow the discrimination. The victims suffer from the schools and dare not reflect their situations as they know they may be expelled from the school, which is allowed in some of the private schools but actually is unlawful. The lack of sense of belonging makes them feel isolated and desperate and less likely to perform well. Minikel-Lacocque (2013) suggested a term which is called “microaggression”. It mentioned the power of words as the aggression. Although this can be considered as “micro”, the harm to these students might be ten times or hundreds of times greater as they are sensitive about other’s words or behaviours.

In my opinion, eliminating the discrimination in private schools is the priority. Although it is made unlawful, it is still not sufficient. I have some suggestions to help reduce the occurrence of discrimination. Firstly, we have to know that which schools the discrimination exist. It is efficient to ask all schools, if possible, to take a survey about the discrimination, anonymously. This is the way that allows the victims who usually keep silence to speak up and protect them in the case of expulsion. Then, it’s better to let the staffs from the Anti-Discrimination Act in NSW have a speech about the discrimination in these schools, including the harm to young children, clearly states that now it’s unlawful in private schools as well, and appeal the victims or those who are in potential to report their experience of being discriminated. Even though we couldn't eliminate all discrimination, at least we could minimise it.

Undeniably, education is important to both individuals and the countries, while discrimination is a sword that reduces the quality or even causes the disruption of education. The current educational issue may not be solved completely and immediately in private schools, however, with the development of one’s moral concepts, the discrimination would be decreased gradually.

Reference:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/discrimination-has-no-place-in-schools-20130919-2u13f.html

Bellmore, Adrienne. (2012). School Context Protective Factors Against Peer Ethnic Discrimination Across the High School Years. American journal of community psychology, 49(1), 98-111.

Minikel-Lacocque, Julie. (2013). Racism, College, and the Power of Words: Racial Microaggressions Reconsidered. American Educational Research Journal, 50(3), 432-465.