It’s that time of year. Parents all over Australia are agonising over the best school for their child. Advertisements for private schools abound. They picture pretty children in old-style hats – I’m sure you’ve seen them – girls and boys with straight white teeth smile down at us from billboards in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and beyond.
As a parent, I know how difficult it is to choose a school – that is, if you’re lucky enough to have a choice.
Many regional families and families living on low incomes have only one option and, bafflingly, it is the most disadvantaged public schools in Australia that are the most underfunded.
Schools are more unequal now than they were in 2013 when the Gonski report called for better funding for public schools. The Guardian reports that over the last decade ‘private school funding increased twice as much as public schools’.
My younger child will go to Indooroopilly State High School next year and she’s excited, but because of its popularity the school is over-capacity by about 700 students. More than 40 per cent of students live out of area. Families here, as in many cities in Australia, often rent a unit for six months, enroll their child in the desired school, then move somewhere affordable. Who can blame them? But this means that the areas they live in are leached of the best students and the ‘good’ public schools are overcrowded. At Indooroopilly, girls spend half their lunch break waiting in line for the toilet because there aren’t enough amenities. Students no longer do science experiments because the science lab is needed as another classroom. It’s hard to find a place in the shade – away from the blazing Queensland sun – to eat lunch.
Meanwhile, next door, St. Peters Lutheran College has fewer students and is nearly twice the size – a ‘leafy 21 hectares’. This private school has ‘state-of-the-art music facilities, comprehensive sports programs’, two swimming pools and plans for a third.
St. Peters costs nearly $20,000 for year 7. That’s nothing compared to the Anglican school, Geelong Grammar. They’ve just announced that school fees for years 10-12 will go up to $49,720 a year.
'According to 2018 findings by the OECD, once the differences in ‘economic, social and cultural status’ are accounted for, public school students outperform private school students in Australia.'
Why is the taxpayer funding these schools?
The Australian government spends more money on private schools than the U.S. or the U.K. We also have a higher percentage of kids enrolled in private schools – in the U.S. 91 per cent of kids are in public school, in the U.K. it’s 93 per cent. In Australia only 64.5 per cent of kids attend public school. Private school enrollments in Australia increase as kids get older: 42 per cent of secondary students go to private school.
I did an informal survey of the parents I know, asking about their school choice. The ones who’ve chosen private school told me that their childrens’ school is safe, quiet and there is more support than in the public system.
But this isn’t the case for children with disabilities. 75 per cent of children with disabilities (including my own elder daughter) go to public school. And it’s not true for kids with behavioral issues, who are kicked out of private school or not accepted in the first place.
One friend took her daughter out of the public system in year 8 and sent her to a private school until ‘it became clear that the attention was really going to be given to the high achievers . . . and once again she was falling through the cracks. This time at a cost we could barely afford. She’s back at the big public school now and doing better socially and emotionally.’
Interestingly, another friend, a devout Christian, eschewed a religious education in favour of the local state school for her four boys. When asked why, she explained that she wants her kids ‘to be in the world, to have tenderness and compassion and love just like Jesus for all types of people, even when we might have different values’.
I must admit that when my younger child was having a hard time, I considered the local Montessori. I love how their approach to learning is child-led. Their classrooms are quiet, there are no kids with behavioral issues and the grounds are beautiful, shaded by giant fig trees.
My child is easily distracted and if I sent her to school in Fig Tree Pocket (even the suburb sounds magical!) she might have an easier time. But she’d miss out on the diversity of children from different backgrounds. And it would cost nearly half my yearly income.
And school isn’t meant to be easy, is it? Sometimes it’s hard, just like the rest of life. That can be a good thing.
Education expert, Jane Caro cites research showing that ‘graduates of public schools who go to university outperform both their selective school and their private school peers by an average of five marks. They’re more likely to stay; they’re more likely to graduate.’ I see this in the classroom at the University of Queensland, where I teach. It’s often the students coming from private schools who become overwhelmed and drop out.
According to 2018 findings by the OECD, once the differences in ‘economic, social and cultural status’ are accounted for, public school students outperform private school students in Australia.
All evidence points to private schools not offering a superior education, just a more luxurious one. Surely it’s time for the taxpayer to stop subsidising swimming pools at private schools, and put that money into the most underfunded public schools.
Sarah Klenbort is a writer and sesional academic at Queensland University, where she teaches creative writing. She also teaches memoir at the Queensland Writers Centre. Sarah's work has appeared in Eureka Street, The Guardian, Best Australian Stories, Overland and other publications here and overseas.
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