So we now have desperate parents attempting to bribe teachers to get their children into a selective high school. What a sad indictment of our education policies, the holy grail of which is parental choice.
Julia Gillard, the federal education minister, is about to enshrine such choice in her brave new era of transparency and accountability, allowing parents to "vote with their feet" if they do not like the way their child's school is performing. The trouble with choice, as anyone who has worked in advertising as long as I have can tell you, is everybody tends to "choose" the same thing; in this case, the same "prestigious" schools. This leads anxious parents to go to desperate lengths to get their child into the "right" school. The competition becomes intense, giving some schools choice over students, rather than many parents choice over schools.
As marketers have long understood, nothing is more desirable than the hard-to-get, and nothing is less desirable than that open to everyone. This bears no relation to quality, it is simply how clever marketers drive and manipulate human desire.
Imagine where this leaves average comprehensive public schools, open to any child of school age. The herd mentality among parents has always existed but it is shocking that government policy supports and enhances the choice of some parents, while ignoring the effects on the educational opportunities of some children, particularly those from less fortunate families.
We can see the results in Britain, much further down the accountability/transparency road than Australia. Recently police were called when 1500 students and parents turned up at Wallington County Grammar School to compete for 126 year 7 places. In Sydney's eastern suburbs, out-of-area parents camp overnight in the playgrounds of desirable public primary schools to get their children an advantageous spot on the waiting list. As the economic downturn bites, expect this to get worse. Combine high demand with limited supply of "desirable" schools, and choice can only increase anxiety. With a generation of parents more obsessed and neurotic about their children's future than any before, bribery is likely to be the least of it.
As it is government policy to subsidise and extol parents who purchase an educational advantage for their children, it is not surprising that the bribing parents became confused about the acceptability of one action versus the criminal nature of the other.
Worse, government policy exacerbates a growing trend in modern parenting. Parents now have fewer children and more money to spend on them. The resulting narcissism that passes for much parenting is disturbing. It seems every child is gifted and talented these days, a little genius. No doubt some children really are gifted and talented and good luck to them. They will need it, as their parents are often already madly fantasising about their future achievements and their own (reflected) glory. We used to call such parents pushy, or stage mothers, and rather sensibly disapproved of them. Now it's almost considered irresponsible to assume your kids are just kids, no better and no worse than any other. It's almost as if, in this achievement-oriented culture, you couldn't possibly love just an ordinary child.
No wonder, when it comes to education, an ordinary public school just doesn't cut it anymore. If the children are special, the school must be special too. If not selective, then the most expensive private school the family can afford, all in the name of choice. It's easy to understand how those who have little choice, because their child is not as gifted as they had hoped and they can't afford to buy specialness, could be led into temptation.
In the push for academic achievement, tragically, we seem to have lost our common sense. There is something pitiable about parents desperate enough to offer bribes just so their child doesn't have to go to the local school, particularly as evidence suggests it is unnecessary. Repeated studies have shown students from comprehensive public schools outperform both their selective and private school peers by the end of their first year at university. Ordinary schools - despite the propaganda - must be doing something right.
After more than 20 years as a parent, there are only two things I know for sure. Your children, no matter how gifted and talented, will disappoint you. And you, no matter how devoted a parent you may be, will disappoint your children. So can we all just relax, and love one another, warts, ordinary old public schools, and all?
Jane Caro is co-author of The Stupid Country: How Australia Is Dismantling Public Education.
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