I don’t know much about Oliver Curtis, except what has been in the newspapers.
One thing I do know about him, however, is the school he went to.
I know this because those same newspapers seem to feel there is something noteworthy about the fact that this alleged insider trader is a St Ignatius Riverview ‘old boy’, as was his partner in (alleged) crime. They met on its exclusive (yet paradoxically tax payer-subsidised) playing fields.
I have noticed this frequently when the graduates of supposedly prestigious schools get themselves publicly shamed on the pages of the newspapers. Journalists feel compelled to note their glittering alumnus. I doubt that if I was to get myself into some kind of trouble (heaven forfend) those same journos would bother to describe me as ‘Forest High old girl Jane Caro’.
Why is this? Is it schadenfreude? Or surprise? Or a bit of both?
It is hard to escape the thought that many of us remain astonished when those who were exposed to the (ahem) superior ‘values’ of expensive private schools fall by the wayside. The attitude seems to be ‘how can this be, when they went to such a good school?’
On the latest episode of Mamamia OutLoud, we discuss all things Oliver and Roxy
This shock appears immovable, despite the fact it is not uncommon for alumni of such salubrious schools to have their day of ignominy on the front pages of our less salubrious newspapers.
Indeed, I remember the same incomprehension when I gently suggested to a friend about to hock herself to the eyeballs to pay for what she called ‘better peers’ that I doubted the triad or organised crime bosses sent their kids to the local public school.
L-R: Oliver Curtis pictured in a Riverview yearbook photo; author Jane Caro.
Indeed, I remember chuckling (schadenfreude — guilty, Your Honour) quietly to myself when an episode of Underbelly, Channel Nine's series about Australia's criminal underworld, made this abundantly clear.
Egalitarian (hah!) Australia appears to have swallowed whole the idea that privilege equals virtue and lack-thereof equals vice. If a kid from Bog Standard High comes a public cropper, it is no more than we expected all along.
I have long (though fruitlessly) argued that sending your kids to a public school is a win/win for parents, while going private is a lose/lose.
Let me explain; if you send your kids to a public school and they do badly (exams, behaviour, front-page-of-newspaper) the world thinks 'oh well, what can you expect? It's such a crap school'. If they do well in any way at all, the world thinks 'wow, you must be great parents because it's such a crap school.'
Despite a minimum of effort or expense, public school parents get the credit while the school cops the blame.
Watch Mia Freedman and Leigh Sales reveal the most lasting lessons they learnt at school (post continues...)
With private schools it's the opposite.
If your kid does badly (see categories above) the world thinks 'shit, they must have crap parents because it's such a great school.' And if they succeed the world is all 'well, of course they did — it's such a great school.'
Poor private school parents. They cop the blame while the school gets the credit — and they pay good money for this!
In fact, maybe that is one reason why we still seem to find it relevant to reference the prestigious school some of our bad boys and bad girls once attended — so we can be sure to blame their parents and not the school.
Another reason may be that we still get a subversive thrill out of seeing how the mighty have fallen, and journos know this.
The public shaming of those who we suspected were a little too sure of their own superiority (an occupational hazard of attending a premium brand school) gives us a not-very-nice-but-still-very-human moment of pleasure.
Most of us didn't attend prestigious private schools ourselves and won't send our kids to them. Indeed, they are designed to keep most of us out — that's why they continue to charge such jaw-dropping fees, despite their generous public subsidies. Such premium brand schools actually educate roughly five per cent of Australians. (Ninety per cent* of our politicians, though, and isn't that an achievement?)
How could it be otherwise? You can't be elite or exclusive unless you keep the riff-raff out.
Given such schools accept the taxes of all of us while retaining the unfettered right to keep almost all of us at arm's length (while holding their nose), I think us riff-raff may be forgiven for taking a little comfort whenever the tables get turned.
*completely unscientific figure
Featured image: Instagram/@roxyjacenko
Top Comments
I attended a small regional private school in Tasmania which was nothing like the exclusive private schools in Sydney and Melbourne. They offer a lot of wonderful things to students (as do many public schools) not only that but Private school education actually decreases the overall cost of education to federal and state government (if those same students were to be in the public system vs the cost if they attend a private school). My own school had to fund raise a lot of it's own funding via parents and Old Boys/Girls etc. I find Jane Caro mean spirited in her account of private schools - assuming it is privilege and snobbery that encourages parents to send their child to a private school. My own experience was that in early (public) high school a wing at my school was burnt down along with all my school work and personal effects that were locked in the building over lunch. This was the final straw for my parents after other issues such as bullying (that was swept under the rug by the school) and the school policy of removing the teacher from a classroom when one or two students caused distraction (intended to discourage the behaviour but in fact made it worse - I had a whole fortnight on one occasion where I had no classes - learnt nothing). My parents made a decision at the time to send me to a school that they had heard good things about from friends and I was in a much better environment because of their decision to move me. Coming from year 8 to year 9 at my new school it quickly became very clear that my 'A' grades at my previous school were of a 'C' standard at my new school. I hadn't been taught how to write/structure an essay, had no science background (except a memory of two science lab classes - one we made sherbet, the other a student set fire to the edge of his school uniform and we had to be evacuated). My new school provided me with one on one tutoring with teachers after school to catch me up to my peers. I have no doubt my own experience could have been reversed (moving from a bad private school to a good public school) but the private school I attended gave me the best education I could have hoped for at the time. My parents were not wealthy and had to sacrifice things in order to send me there - but again, their decision. Shame on Jane Caro for making this debate about some deep seated inferiority complex she obviously harbours. Parents should find the school that best suits their child - their only 'entitlement' should be to find a safe and nurturing school for their individual child's needs.
Understood - I suppose my response comes after reading a few of Jane's opinion pieces on the same topic and not specifically on this article. May have been better to preface this. Her writing however is with a clear undertone of deep seated anger towards the private system.
Just another opportunity for Jane Caro to dish out some crap against private schools. It's a little embarrassing for her to appear so desperate to attack private education.
No it's not embarrassing. You may be embarrassed but I support her.
It is also time to stop the middle class welfare also known as funding high fee schools. No where else in the world do so called " private schools " receive government funding! How can they consider themselves elite & private if they operate on taxpayer's dollars!