Principal Of Privileged Private School Falls On Sword
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They say the pen is mightier than the sword, well, they used to anyway. In this case, Sampson was brought down by the ABC’s Four Corners. The Cranbrook Headmaster was undone by the revelations exposed by the national broadcaster’s flagship current affair program. Protecting paedophiles and a teacher bragging about looking up student’s dresses at a former school were, in the end, too much for the board of trustees. They had toughed out the many complaints by female teachers about their treatment by male staff and students at the exclusive private boy’s school in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Principal of privileged private school falls on sword in resignation at bad form exposed over decades.
Highly Paid Headmaster Of Cranbrook Resigns Following Shocking Revelations
Nicholas Sampson had been the highest paid headmaster in Australia by all accounts, as is only befitting at such an elite school. He was charged with looking after the welfare of the sons of the rich and powerful downunder. Sampson had done an earlier stint as head honcho at Geelong Grammar, another private school for the wealthy and influential. It was at Geelong that Four Corners revealed his preferential relationship with a soon to be convicted paedophile, then, teaching at the school. He gave this chap a golden handshake despite being aware of his sexual proclivities with a student at the time.
School Principal Protects Institution Over Student Welfare In Sydney
Protecting the reputation of the school! This is what it comes down to in these cases. Headmasters looking out for the institution over the individual. Who pays my wages? This question must come into it for these highly paid heads. A bit like bishops in the church these chaps become politicians rather than pastoral carers for their charges. It is all about the big knobs and their endowments to the school. It seems that there was a bit of a cultural problem at Cranbrook. Entitlement, perhaps, at this bastion of male privilege in the exclusive eastern suburbs of Sydney. Females were treated as sex objects by some of the boys and, apparently, by some of the male staff as well.
“In the school’s response to the Human Rights Commission, Nicholas Sampson said the school was “not aware” of issues Ms Hyde reported “regarding extremely inappropriate noises, gifts and comments made by students to female teachers”.
“If these had been escalated to a member of the Senior Leadership Team they would have been dealt with appropriately as such behaviour is totally unacceptable,” he said.
The ‘toxic culture’
But Cranbrook was aware of these and other problems its female staff were having years before Ms Hyde made her official complaint.
The PowerPoint slides of a seminar designed to educate boys on the experiences of female teachers at Cranbrook were emailed to all senior school staff in 2020.
The seminar’s slides contained a series of anecdotes about boys disrespecting female teachers.”
Older White Men & Their Idea Of Humour At The Expense Of The Vulnerable
The rebuff from Sampson and Meakin is a common one by those defending these kinds of things. The refrain to humour and that it was all a bit of fun, normalises inappropriate behaviour. You get this, also, when accusations of racism are made – that the intention was not to harm and that it was only a bit of fun. Those in the dominant cohort just don’t get it, that it is all about how it strikes the target and nothing to do with the level of intent by the perpetrator of the abuse. Of course, it is not going to bother the white person as much because they don’t live in a persecuted world. Similarly, a male teacher or administrator at a boy’s school is not going to know what it is like to be sexually harassed as a woman in this environment – they have no bloody idea. Leaders like Sampson have defended this culture to the detriment of all those who have been there. The boys will grow up thinking that they can get away with this stuff, which perpetuates sexual abuse and harassment in our communities going forward. The male teachers and staff should know better and shouldn’t be working in education if they are complicit in this kind of behaviour. Principal of privileged private school falls on sword and finally does the right thing.
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