The headmaster of a $40,000-a-year school has lashed out at recent criticism surrounding elite private boys’ schools and their perceived culture of misogyny.
In the King’s School Institute journal, Leader, Tony George argued that ‘wokeness’ has evolved into the ‘age of victimhood’ and ‘cancel culture’.
He later went on to say that private school students are being ‘increasingly targeted and ridiculed’ by media reports.
‘Government single-sex schools have seemed to avoid criticism, as have single-sex girls’ schools,’ he wrote in the scathing article for the North Parramatta school in Sydney’s west.
‘However, the underlying agenda against the straw man of white privileged males has fuelled the creation of the term toxic masculinity and the religious fervour it subsequently generates.’
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 disturbing trend with children attending non-government schools being increasingly targeted and ridiculed.’
Mr George’s comments come after questions were raised about whether there is 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 3000 girls claiming to have been sexually assaulted during their school years.
This month, Cranbrook School in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill came under more scrutiny after an ABC Four Corners episode alleged that a teacher who admitted to looking up girls’ skirts and sending lurid emails was promoted.
Cranbrook, along with Newington in the inner west, are set to become fully co-ed in the coming years, but other principals have restated their commitment to single-sex education.
Mr George also took aim at the media, which he believes is too often focused on the price of school fees instead of prioritising other major issues.
‘Instead of acknowledging and celebrating the significant achievement and contribution of independent schools to society, sections of government and the press seem intent on deriding independent boys’ schools with any story they can concoct, invariably referencing the kinds of clickbait memes that tantalise memetic cliches, such as toxic masculinity, linked to stories on single-sex schooling, or elitism linked to stories on school fees and funding,’ he said.
‘Consider, for example, the tabloid infatuation with the school fees of the top 1 per cent of schools instead of the brain drain affecting more than 90 per cent of NSW government schools by their own selective schools.’
Mr George told the Sydney Morning Herald that other states have moved to a more comprehensive assessment of success by focusing on median ATAR instead of the proportion of students scoring in the top band in their subject.
Mr George also took aim at contemporary media, which he believes is too often focused on the price of school fees instead of prioritising other major issues
He said he cannot help but think that the Greiner government’s commitment to expanding the NSW state selective school system was in response to the tabloid’s fascination with the performance of the top student at each school.
It remains unclear how well enrolments are tracking at private single-sex schools in the inner west and Sydney’s southwest this year.
Last year, the NSW Department of Education commissioned PR firm SEC Newgate to gauge community attitudes towards co-ed schooling. It found that 76 per cent of parents of primary school-aged children wanted their child to go to a co-ed high school.
A major overhaul of 20 catchment areas across the inner west and southern suburbs this year has given thousands more families access to co-ed schools.
