The principal of a $40,000-a-year school has slammed recent criticism of elite private boys’ schools and their culture of misogyny.
In the journal of the King’s School Institute, ChiefTony George has argued that “wokeness” has evolved into the “age of victimhood” and “cancel culture.”
He added that private school students are “increasingly targeted and ridiculed” by the media.
“Single-sex government schools appear to be avoiding criticism, as are single-sex girls’ schools,” he wrote in a scathing article for the school in North Parramatta, in western Sydney.
“However, the underlying anti-straw man agenda of privileged white men fueled the creation of the term toxic masculinity and the religious fervor it subsequently generates.”
Writing in the King’s School Institute journal, Leader, Tony George argued that “wokeness” has evolved into “the age of victimhood” and “cancel culture.”
“The concept of identity abuse, where individuals are misrepresented and objectified for sensationalism, is a worrying trend, with children attending non-government schools increasingly being targeted and ridiculed.”
Mr George’s comments come after questions were raised about the existence of a toxic culture of sexism and misogyny at some of Australia’s leading private schools.
A viral petition circulated in 2021 brought the issue into the spotlight, with up to 3,000 girls claiming to have been sexually assaulted during their school years.
This month, Cranbrook School, in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill, came under increased scrutiny after an episode of ABC Four Corners alleged that a teacher who admitted to seeking out girls’ skirts and sent sinister emails had been promoted.
Cranbrook, like Newington in the central west, is set to become fully co-educational in coming years, but other headteachers have reiterated their commitment to single-sex education.
Mr. George also attacked the media, which he said too often focuses on the price of tuition fees instead of prioritizing other major issues.
“Instead of recognizing and celebrating the significant achievements and contribution of independent schools to society, sections of the government and the press seem determined to ridicule independent boys’ schools with every story they can concoct, invariably making “referring to the types of clickbait memes that tickle memetic clichés, like toxic masculinity, linked to stories about single-sex schooling, or elitism linked to stories about tuition and funding,” he said .
“Consider, for example, the tabloid craze for tuition fees for the richest 1 percent of schools instead of the brain drain that affects more than 90 percent of New South Wales public schools through their own selective schools.”
Mr. George told the Sydney Morning Herald that other states have moved to a more comprehensive assessment of achievement by focusing on median ATAR rather than the proportion of students achieving results in the top range in their subject.
Mr George also took aim at contemporary media, which he said too often focus on the price of tuition instead of prioritizing other major issues.
He said he couldn’t help but think the Greiner government’s commitment to expanding the NSW state’s selective school system was a response to the tabloid’s fascination with the results of top students of each school.
It remains unclear how well enrollments are tracking this year at single-sex private schools in Sydney’s inner-west and south-west.
Last year, the NSW Department of Education commissioned public relations firm SEC Newgate to assess community attitudes towards co-education. The study found that 76 percent of parents of primary school-aged children wanted their child to go to a co-ed secondary school.
A major overhaul of 20 catchment areas in the inner west and south suburbs this year has given thousands more families access to co-educational schools.
