.: The lessons of shame

The lessons of shame

Posted by Chazz Wednesday 7 February 2007

Children shamed on unpaid school fees

Now this pisses me off. Its one thing if they were high school students getting this treatment (they are angsty little bastards anyway) but these are primary school students!
I don't think there are many primary school kids who actually realise the relevance of fees, nor would they simply go home and tell mum and dad to pay them. With this treatment they would go home crying to mum and dad at how they were humiliated in front of the whole class and board from not being allowed to do anything all day long. Its just cruel!
I STILL remember being told by one teacher (I'm pretty sure it was in 1st grade) that if I got nits I would have to have my gorgeous long hair shaved off! Right in front of the whole class! This kind of shit scars little kiddies for life.
From what I understand about the curriculum for becoming a primary school teacher you need to know at least something on childhood and developmental psychology. I have a good friend who is studying towards her dip. ed. in primary teaching and there is tons of psych stuff in there.
Obviously these teachers missed or failed that bit of the course or they wouldn't have done this to small children!
Its just great to know what idiots we have to shape and mould the future of this nation isn't it.

16 Insights or Insults:

Caz 8 February 2007 at 8:25 pm: Shameful, absolutely shameful. Disgusting - teachers should lose their jobs for pulling crap like that. It's NOT their JOB to enforce any type of school payment, and certainly not via school children, who let's face it, are not responsible payments that could or should be made.

Which part of "VOLUNTARY FEES" do schools STILL not understand?

Twas the same when you were just a little 'un starting primary school ... "voluntary" was deeply misunderstood by government schools way back then too.
Kathy Farrelly 8 February 2007 at 10:36 pm: I certainly disagree with the method..

Fact is though, Caz, fees are around 40.00 per year per child .

Not a lot really.

And if you can afford
to buy take- a -way ,Billabong shirts and I pods..

Then you can afford these paltry fees.

Whilst they may be termed " voluntary" Truth is , schools need every bit of help they can get..
And they most often do it themselves by fundraising, Quiz nights raffles etc..

Children should, however not be shamed! They are the meat in the sandwich...
James Waterton 9 February 2007 at 10:45 am: Lots of these particular kids (ie. children of parents who won't stump up the $40 school "fee") are going to grow old hanging off the welfare teat, just like Mummy and Daddy.

Or maybe just Mummy - Daddy perhaps didn't bother hanging around.

With role models like that, it's no wonder so many of the little'uns end up on the scrapheap.

However, we need more! Baby bonus, anyone?
James Waterton 9 February 2007 at 10:47 am: ahh, that's better...bile levels back to normal. Meltdown averted.
Chazz 9 February 2007 at 10:43 pm: Some of the "voluntary fees" are more than $40. A friend of ours has twins and her so called "voluntary fees" were $600 for the two kids to start school.
Not easy when your a single mum of twins!

But this was also a school that does all but force parents to fill in a bunch of forms on their background (the parents upbringing/their job history/religious afilliations etc) so that if there were any "problem" children they could look at the parents background and basically just throw all blame on them.
Caz 11 February 2007 at 1:49 pm: Wow Kath - what are they doing over in Perth?

I was paying way more than that just at kindy when The Princess was at school.
Caz 11 February 2007 at 1:54 pm: Yes - $600 for a couple of kids sounds more the "average" at gov't schools now.

This is not small stuff for families, and comes on top of having just paid out many hundreds of dollars for books, stationery, new school bags, shoes, uniforms, and other miscellaneous stuff that kids need to be appropriately equipped for the beginning of the new school year. Dump a minimum of $500 on top of that little lot, for voluntary fees, and many families would be finding it hard. It's not as though bills and food stop being necessities at the start of the school year.

The cheapest gov't kindies over here (that's only around 15 hrs a week, I think) are $2000 a year.

I'm boggled that you're only up for $40 per child Kath! You must have a better state government than we have. Voluntary fees haven't been that low for decades on this side of the country.
James Waterton 11 February 2007 at 1:57 pm: By the way, I don't think the fee is "voluntary" as such - parents are expected to pay it - it's just that the consequences of not paying it aren't particularly severe.

Dunno what you're doing over east, Caz, but here the fee isn't very onerous at all.
James Waterton 11 February 2007 at 2:16 pm: Car rego is cheaper here too, I believe - about $450 per year for a family car.
Chazz 11 February 2007 at 3:16 pm: Car rego here is about $470 so not too much more than what your paying James... Although where we live it was only $180 two years ago!!!
James Waterton 11 February 2007 at 4:53 pm: It's freakin' expensive in NSW, according to my friend who lives in Sydney...
Caz 11 February 2007 at 7:01 pm: Historically government schooling is FREE.

When the government introduced mandatory schooling - commencement and leaving ages - they couldn't force people to comply with that (thus ending child labor too) and then have the audacity to charge parents for this state-provided and mandatory schooling.

The fees are in fact voluntary James, that is, it would be illegal for any government school to force any parent to pay fees - that's not how the legislation was established, nor has it ever been amended to allow gov't schools to raise money by compulsion. This is the law.

Government schools are all too adept at extracting money from parents, all year around, on top of the normal school expenses.

It's a vicious little circle and gov'ts and schools sit around pointing the finger at each other.

There are solutions to this, but of course, none will ever be implemented. We rarely have gov'ts that reform anything - they tinker about at the edges, but are too wimpy to reform things that are broken, or for the future benefit of all.
Kathy Farrelly 11 February 2007 at 10:35 pm: Someone's gotta do something though Caz!
I know at my kids school the fees are $40.00 per year.

But still... there are parents who will not even pay that..

Look there is no excuse. I am intimately acquainted with the parents!
In my area they are mostly well off .. no excuses. Yet some won't fuckin
cough up that 40.00 dollars

Fuck that gets right up my craw!!
Caz 12 February 2007 at 9:21 am: Heck, yes – agree with you on the $40 donation Kath, and can well imagine it would get your goat when people are comfortably off yet won’t pay up. It’s often the better off who take the free ride though; those with less are the ones who try to do the right thing. Not just with school fees; extends into all types of spheres. Always strikes me as being very peculiar: the stingy well-off, versus the less well-off who pay their own way.
Kathy Farrelly 12 February 2007 at 11:27 am: Caz, I get rather passionate and vocal( lucky you can't hear me eh!) when I've had a few drinks.

Fancy having voluntary fees of $600.00 . No wonder people can't afford to pay.
Can't understand why there is such a discrepancy between the states mate( Kath scratches head.)

I do know though that our school receives stuff all from the government!

Hence a lot of money is raised by the P&C.
Just last year new computers were installed for the kids due to funds raised by the P&C

If we had waited for government assistance who knows when we would have gotten them.

If all parents paid their voluntary fees, it would help to provide much needed equipment, books , software etc..Which will benefit their kids.

The teachers at the school are a great bunch. Many have spent their own money or brought things from home to provide extras for the kids.

In a perfect world the government would be completely funding schools.

IN a perfect world........

Ps THIS f**KIN' government SUCKS( See.... I toned it down a leetle bit!)
Kathy Farrelly 12 February 2007 at 4:15 pm: Spoke too soon!

Just got the school newsletter.

The P&C have decided to raise voluntary school fees to $60 per child.

Still I'm not complaining.

Damn sight better than $600!

16 comments:

On 8 February 2007 at 8:25 pm , Caz said...: Shameful, absolutely shameful. Disgusting - teachers should lose their jobs for pulling crap like that. It's NOT their JOB to enforce any type of school payment, and certainly not via school children, who let's face it, are not responsible payments that could or should be made.

Which part of "VOLUNTARY FEES" do schools STILL not understand?

Twas the same when you were just a little 'un starting primary school ... "voluntary" was deeply misunderstood by government schools way back then too.
On 8 February 2007 at 10:36 pm , Kathy Farrelly said...: I certainly disagree with the method..

Fact is though, Caz, fees are around 40.00 per year per child .

Not a lot really.

And if you can afford
to buy take- a -way ,Billabong shirts and I pods..

Then you can afford these paltry fees.

Whilst they may be termed " voluntary" Truth is , schools need every bit of help they can get..
And they most often do it themselves by fundraising, Quiz nights raffles etc..

Children should, however not be shamed! They are the meat in the sandwich...
On 9 February 2007 at 10:45 am , James Waterton said...: Lots of these particular kids (ie. children of parents who won't stump up the $40 school "fee") are going to grow old hanging off the welfare teat, just like Mummy and Daddy.

Or maybe just Mummy - Daddy perhaps didn't bother hanging around.

With role models like that, it's no wonder so many of the little'uns end up on the scrapheap.

However, we need more! Baby bonus, anyone?
On 9 February 2007 at 10:47 am , James Waterton said...: ahh, that's better...bile levels back to normal. Meltdown averted.
On 9 February 2007 at 10:43 pm , Chazz said...: Some of the "voluntary fees" are more than $40. A friend of ours has twins and her so called "voluntary fees" were $600 for the two kids to start school.
Not easy when your a single mum of twins!

But this was also a school that does all but force parents to fill in a bunch of forms on their background (the parents upbringing/their job history/religious afilliations etc) so that if there were any "problem" children they could look at the parents background and basically just throw all blame on them.
On 11 February 2007 at 1:49 pm , Caz said...: Wow Kath - what are they doing over in Perth?

I was paying way more than that just at kindy when The Princess was at school.
On 11 February 2007 at 1:54 pm , Caz said...: Yes - $600 for a couple of kids sounds more the "average" at gov't schools now.

This is not small stuff for families, and comes on top of having just paid out many hundreds of dollars for books, stationery, new school bags, shoes, uniforms, and other miscellaneous stuff that kids need to be appropriately equipped for the beginning of the new school year. Dump a minimum of $500 on top of that little lot, for voluntary fees, and many families would be finding it hard. It's not as though bills and food stop being necessities at the start of the school year.

The cheapest gov't kindies over here (that's only around 15 hrs a week, I think) are $2000 a year.

I'm boggled that you're only up for $40 per child Kath! You must have a better state government than we have. Voluntary fees haven't been that low for decades on this side of the country.
On 11 February 2007 at 1:57 pm , James Waterton said...: By the way, I don't think the fee is "voluntary" as such - parents are expected to pay it - it's just that the consequences of not paying it aren't particularly severe.

Dunno what you're doing over east, Caz, but here the fee isn't very onerous at all.
On 11 February 2007 at 2:16 pm , James Waterton said...: Car rego is cheaper here too, I believe - about $450 per year for a family car.
On 11 February 2007 at 3:16 pm , Chazz said...: Car rego here is about $470 so not too much more than what your paying James... Although where we live it was only $180 two years ago!!!
On 11 February 2007 at 4:53 pm , James Waterton said...: It's freakin' expensive in NSW, according to my friend who lives in Sydney...
On 11 February 2007 at 7:01 pm , Caz said...: Historically government schooling is FREE.

When the government introduced mandatory schooling - commencement and leaving ages - they couldn't force people to comply with that (thus ending child labor too) and then have the audacity to charge parents for this state-provided and mandatory schooling.

The fees are in fact voluntary James, that is, it would be illegal for any government school to force any parent to pay fees - that's not how the legislation was established, nor has it ever been amended to allow gov't schools to raise money by compulsion. This is the law.

Government schools are all too adept at extracting money from parents, all year around, on top of the normal school expenses.

It's a vicious little circle and gov'ts and schools sit around pointing the finger at each other.

There are solutions to this, but of course, none will ever be implemented. We rarely have gov'ts that reform anything - they tinker about at the edges, but are too wimpy to reform things that are broken, or for the future benefit of all.
On 11 February 2007 at 10:35 pm , Kathy Farrelly said...: Someone's gotta do something though Caz!
I know at my kids school the fees are $40.00 per year.

But still... there are parents who will not even pay that..

Look there is no excuse. I am intimately acquainted with the parents!
In my area they are mostly well off .. no excuses. Yet some won't fuckin
cough up that 40.00 dollars

Fuck that gets right up my craw!!
On 12 February 2007 at 9:21 am , Caz said...: Heck, yes – agree with you on the $40 donation Kath, and can well imagine it would get your goat when people are comfortably off yet won’t pay up. It’s often the better off who take the free ride though; those with less are the ones who try to do the right thing. Not just with school fees; extends into all types of spheres. Always strikes me as being very peculiar: the stingy well-off, versus the less well-off who pay their own way.
On 12 February 2007 at 11:27 am , Kathy Farrelly said...: Caz, I get rather passionate and vocal( lucky you can't hear me eh!) when I've had a few drinks.

Fancy having voluntary fees of $600.00 . No wonder people can't afford to pay.
Can't understand why there is such a discrepancy between the states mate( Kath scratches head.)

I do know though that our school receives stuff all from the government!

Hence a lot of money is raised by the P&C.
Just last year new computers were installed for the kids due to funds raised by the P&C

If we had waited for government assistance who knows when we would have gotten them.

If all parents paid their voluntary fees, it would help to provide much needed equipment, books , software etc..Which will benefit their kids.

The teachers at the school are a great bunch. Many have spent their own money or brought things from home to provide extras for the kids.

In a perfect world the government would be completely funding schools.

IN a perfect world........

Ps THIS f**KIN' government SUCKS( See.... I toned it down a leetle bit!)
On 12 February 2007 at 4:15 pm , Kathy Farrelly said...: Spoke too soon!

Just got the school newsletter.

The P&C have decided to raise voluntary school fees to $60 per child.

Still I'm not complaining.

Damn sight better than $600!