Discrimination in schools

Recently, I found out that public schools and private schools have separate conditions where discrimination is ‘okay’ under the New South Wales (NSW) Anti-Discrimination Act. What is the point of having an anti-discrimination law if it does not apply equally across all educational institutions? The article I will explore is titled Discrimination has no place in schools by Alex Greenwich from the Sydney Morning Herald (2013). It suggests that young people should be protected from any form of discrimination which includes grounds such as race, sex and homosexuality but, the differences in discrimination policies within public and private schools does not allow for equal protection. This article in particular reminded me of Peggy McIntosh’s work ‘White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies’ (1992) as she explores how her ‘white privilege’ allows her to be “protected...from many kinds of hostility, distress and violence” (McIntosh, 1992) in comparison to people of colour. McIntosh’s ‘white privilege’ is similar to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act as the two concepts both reflect a sense of protection. But, the protection that ‘white privilege’ and the Anti-Discrimination Act provides is not equal to everyone as white privilege is only applicable to people who have white skin and the Anti-Discrimination Act is not equally protecting students in private and public schools.

Australia recognises that children and young people are more vulnerable to discrimination and unfair treatment (Greenwich, 2013). Despite our country promoting equal opportunity, acceptance and tolerance, anti-discrimination laws are not equally applicable for educational institutions (Greenwich, 2013). Under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, it makes it illegal for schools to expel, refuse enrolment, and not offer the benefits a school provides and subject a student to any form of discrimination (Greenwich, 2013). Grounds of discrimination can include race, sex and disability (Greenwich, 2013). With no doubt we expect these types of discrimination to not occur within schools but what I have found out is that there are ‘exemptions’. Private schools are ‘allowed’ to do discriminate and carry out discriminative actions towards students which are unlawful for public schools (Greenwich, 2013). But, why is there a difference between private and public schools’ discrimination polices and exemptions under the Anti-Discrimination Act? A better question is: what is the point of an anti-discrimination act if some schools are exempt from the Anti-Discrimination Act?

An amendment bill to the Anti-Discrimination Act has been put into place for private schools and private education institutions to be on equal terms with public schools and TAFEs to make discrimination unlawful (Greenwich, 2013). One of the disadvantages to this amendment is that private schools still cannot escape from discrimination as students from such schools cannot go to the Anti-Discrimination Board (Greenwich, 2013). There are opponents to the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Private Educational Authorities) Bill and they suggest that it is not necessary since private schools has stopped discrimination from occurring and does not tolerate discrimination (Greenwich, 2013). However, Greenwich (2013) states that he has heard different. According to Greenwich (2013) a student who attended an Anglican college had regular appointments to the counsellor for being sick because of his homosexuality.

Similar to the Anti-Discrimination Act is a protection that the colour of your skin provides which can promote a sense of discrimination known as ‘white privilege. McIntosh (1992) defined white privilege as “an invisible package of unearned assets…an invisible knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools…” for people of white skin colour. She realised some conditions that her whiteness has provided her such as seeing people of her race widely and positively represented on television or in the paper and not being judged whether she wears second-hand clothing (McIntosh, 1992). Being white protects you from forms of hostility, distress and violence and white people are oblivious to these ‘protections’ (McIntosh, 1992). If we see these types of ‘white privileges’ it can promote discrimination as we can postulate that students of white colour are less likely to be discriminated against.

Nonetheless, discrimination should be equal whether or not you attend a private or public school. Children and young people are especially vulnerable to discrimination that adversely affects their self-confidence and schooling experience (Greenwich, 2013). Harassment by other students due to a student’s race or sexuality can reinforce such discrimination (Greenwich, 2013).


REFERENCES:

Greenwich, A 2013, 'Discrimination has no place in schools', The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September, accessed 1 October 2013, <http://www.smh.com.au/comment/discrimination-has-no-place-in- schools-20130919-2u13f.html#ixzz2gwlNjg35>.

McIntosh, P (1992), ‘White Privilege and Male Privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women’s studies’, In M. Andersen & P.H. Collins (eds), Race, Class and Gender: An anthology. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing.