Leaving
behind my humbly small public school (of around 200 students from years
kindergarten to year six) to a relatively large, Anglican-based private school
was both something I took on with utter nervousness as well as complete
thankfulness. When I had received a scholarship to one of the most
respected (and as a result, expensive) High School’s in my area, my parents
threw a party for me and showered me with kisses and Swarovski treasures.
However, what I did not understand at this time was that whilst they were
undoubtedly impressed and proud of me for receiving such a reward, this was
more of a celebration for my parents, who having both come from public schools
in the same area, were determined for me to attend this private school – but
only under the condition that it wouldn’t be putting them too out of the
pocket.
This subtle snobbery of public vs. private school ideals that my parents exhibited was
echoed throughout my time at my new High School. The constant threat of sending
me to ‘that dirty public school down the road’ was used whenever I refused to
do my homework or failed an exam because of lack of effort. However, this
snobbery was not purely based upon my parent’s own views and opinions. Year
after year the top private schools in the area would compete in every possible
manor to gain a better reputation as well as image, be it our ridiculously
expensive (and extensive) uniform’s - including optional school-branded
sunglasses, mugs, baseball hats and umbrellas – or pouring the fee’s into area’s
of the school that would out-do that of others – such as our agricultural
facilities. However, it was the majority of full-fee paying parents that really
exhibited this snobbery. If a brand new Audi passed you by in the area, you
could be sure to see the School logo plasted on their back window.
It seemed
to me that because parents were paying a lot more for their children to attend
this school, less focus was made by parents into what the school actually
excelled in when compared to others, with the clean-cut image being a main
drawing point. This view of a superior reputation as characteristic of Private school students was felt when outside the school, where due to my Uniform, people's perceptions and actions towards me were quite different to my friends from local public schools. When I entered and left stores I was never asked for a bag search, followed suspiciously or watched by store workers like my public school friends often were. Simply because of my uniform and emblem, I was suddenly a more respectable and trustworthy individual, an obvious appeal for parents wishing to send their students to Private schools.
This view is one becoming more popular with parent's today,
where University of Sydney lecturer Helen Proctor writes that due to anxieties
about unwanted pressures and dangers that teenagers face today, parent's feel
that there is a sort of "social cachet attached to some of the [private]
schools'', reflecting the perception that paid education would have to have
superior benefit's for students, because why else would you pay so much for
something that could be virtually free?
Statistically, the shift of students from public
schools to private schools is perfectly illustrated in an interactive pie chart
on Josephine Tovey's article 'Public primary school numbers up but it tends to
get private after that', where it reveals that the 23 percent of students
attending Private schools in 1981 has been boosted up to 34 per cent in 2012,
public schools revealing their lowest percentage recorded since federation.
(Josephine Tovey)
However, whilst still an important distinguishing factor in a parent's choice of schooling for their child, parent's choosing to send their children to Private schools will almost always believe that such a choice would provide their children with better facilities, a better reputation as well as better results.
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