Big Brother in Schools
Herald Sun Monday, December 01, 2003
John Robertson's article "Private schools need a public probe", (November 25), shows a scary tendency towards Big Brother control of private lives. As usual, envy causes blindness to basic facts.
If there were a productivity probe, state-run schools would have more to fear. The outcome and value-adding differences are already well known.
As for "anti-competitive tactics", it is the state school industry that holds lower-income families prisoner, denying equal funding and equal access to independent schools that cost no more to run.
The fact that a small section of independent schools spend more than the state system on each pupil, and charge large fees, represents a choice by certan parents.
But how can you condemn people for spending their own income on their kids rather than a new car?
You can express the opinion that big-spending private school parents are wasting their money, but in a free country, it's up to them to decide.
Philip O'Carroll