OH in Subiaco - Why the world is going down the crapper
I was wandering around Subiaco today, killing time after a meeting before I had to head off to dinner with friends, when I overhead a conversation between a shop-keeper and a customer.
They were discussing their daughters and the difficulties they had trying to decide which private school to send their girls. One has a year 11 girl at MLC and said that when she and her husband were scouting schools they had considered St Hilda’s and PLC but they got the best vibe from the principal of MLC and the general feel of the school and students/parents they had met.
The shop-keeper had expressed her concerns in deciding on a school as well, but had ended up choosing to send her 10 year old to MLC for the same reasons as her customer “despite the rocky reputation of MLC over the last few years.” And MLC seemed to have a nice distribution of kids from different backgrounds and didn’t appear to have the cliques the other schools had. Gods willing the year group her daughter enters into isn’t filled with little ass-hats (their sentiment in my words).
They started talking about the other schools like PLC and St Hilda’s, and said that St Hilda’s seemed to have a terrible reputation of girls with anorexia problems. Not surprising, St Hilda’s seems to breed them tall and skinny with a penchant for wanting to get into modelling.
One of them had learned that a number of the year 12 girls at a couple of the schools had breast enhancements. She heard from some other parents that the parents at these schools were inclined to bribe their children with nose and boob jobs in exchange for academic performance.
Say what?
So, we used to call the PLC girls “Prostitute’s Last Chance” but who thought they were that keen on ‘developing their assets’ for that career. Seriously, at that age kids haven’t finished growing yet.
What kind of parent uses plastic surgery as an incentive to get their kids to do better in school? My first guess is it’s the new money types and cashed up bogans who are earning a packet working in the mining and resources industry in the state. But wow, way to raise your kid with good values and healthy body image attitudes.
And this is why I am disinclined to send my future kids to private school. At least in this state. I’ve been through the private school system here, and it’s full of manipulation, intrigue and one-upmanship. You’d think all of that is character building, but I think there is such a thing as too much character…
