[Marxism] Remarkable speech to elite school boys

["Tom O'Lincoln" <suarsos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This speech was given by Australian crime writer (and outspoken public
education activist) Shane Maloney to an assembly of boys at Scotch
College, an elite school

Address to Scotch College by Shane Maloney

When I first received an enquiry about my availability to come and talk
at this school, I was naturally reluctant. After all, this school has
little to recommend it in the eyes of the wider community. Historically
it has been simply a machine for the transmission of inherited
privilege. (At the height of the Great Depression, for example, when
many Australian families hardly knew where their next meal was coming
from, Scotch College was the largest private school in the British
Empire).

It is a place where boys from middle class backgrounds are sent to
improve their material prospects and to reproduce the values of their
class, or where the boys of insecure parents are sent to fulfil the
distorted ambitions of their fathers.

When I think of Scotch College, what comes immediately to mind are the
values and actions of its most prominent Old Boys. I think of the scene
I saw on television after Scotch Old Boy Jeff Kennett used his power and
his philosophy to close down the only high school in the state
specifically dedicated to the education of young Aboriginal people. How
students from that school came here and stood at the gates and how your
Principal went out and told them to go away.

I think of your old boy, David Kemp, the federal education minister,
giving millions of dollars of public money to enhance the marketability
of schools like this one justifying his actions with statistics and
arguments that he refuses to apply to the needs of the 70% of Australian
families who CHOOSE to educate their children in the democratic and
equitable environment of government schools.

I think, too, of the newspaper reports of the violent behaviour of some
of your students and the quick readiness with which these boys were
defended and excused in the courts by their adult class allies.

For these reasons, I was initially reluctant to come here. On the other
hand, I thought 'Well, all this is hardly the fault of the current crop
of students'.

It is not your fault, after all, that your families decided to
institutionalise you.

It is not your fault that your mothers and fathers elected to place you
in the emotionally distorting and educationally deficient environment of
an all-boys school.

It is not your fault that your parents lacked sufficient confidence in
your personal maturity and ability to respond to the opportunities
offered by government school education, and Australia has one of the
best systems in the world, by the way, despite the relentless propaganda
to the contrary by the vested interest of the private school lobby.

Right now, you are the victims. Later, of course, society will be your
victim, and will suffer from the attitudes with which you are
indoctrinated here.

But who knows? Just as prison does not always break the spirit of all
who are incarcerated there, perhaps you will not turn out to be a burden
to society.

Perhaps when you leave here, some of you will even manage to contribute
to the wellbeing of this country.

I certainly hope so.

But just to hedge my bets, I will be donating part of my fee today to
the campaign for public education.

Good luck with your studies and thanks for having me.
Address to Scotch College by Shane Maloney

When I first received an enquiry about my availability to come and talk
at this school, I was naturally reluctant. After all, this school has
little to recommend it in the eyes of the wider community. Historically
it has been simply a machine for the transmission of inherited
privilege. (At the height of the Great Depression, for example, when
many Australian families hardly knew where their next meal was coming
from, Scotch College was the largest private school in the British
Empire).

It is a place where boys from middle class backgrounds are sent to
improve their material prospects and to reproduce the values of their
class, or where the boys of insecure parents are sent to fulfil the
distorted ambitions of their fathers.

When I think of Scotch College, what comes immediately to mind are the
values and actions of its most prominent Old Boys. I think of the scene
I saw on television after Scotch Old Boy Jeff Kennett used his power and
his philosophy to close down the only high school in the state
specifically dedicated to the education of young Aboriginal people. How
students from that school came here and stood at the gates and how your
Principal went out and told them to go away.

I think of your old boy, David Kemp, the federal education minister,
giving millions of dollars of public money to enhance the marketability
of schools like this one justifying his actions with statistics and
arguments that he refuses to apply to the needs of the 70% of Australian
families who CHOOSE to educate their children in the democratic and
equitable environment of government schools.

I think, too, of the newspaper reports of the violent behaviour of some
of your students and the quick readiness with which these boys were
defended and excused in the courts by their adult class allies.

For these reasons, I was initially reluctant to come here. On the other
hand, I thought 'Well, all this is hardly the fault of the current crop
of students'.

It is not your fault, after all, that your families decided to
institutionalise you.

It is not your fault that your mothers and fathers elected to place you
in the emotionally distorting and educationally deficient environment of
an all-boys school.

It is not your fault that your parents lacked sufficient confidence in
your personal maturity and ability to respond to the opportunities
offered by government school education, and Australia has one of the
best systems in the world, by the way, despite the relentless propaganda
to the contrary by the vested interest of the private school lobby.

Right now, you are the victims. Later, of course, society will be your
victim, and will suffer from the attitudes with which you are
indoctrinated here.

But who knows? Just as prison does not always break the spirit of all
who are incarcerated there, perhaps you will not turn out to be a burden
to society.

Perhaps when you leave here, some of you will even manage to contribute
to the wellbeing of this country.

I certainly hope so.

But just to hedge my bets, I will be donating part of my fee today to
the campaign for public education.

Good luck with your studies and thanks for having me.


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