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A review by _rusalka
Quarterly Essay 67: Moral Panic 101: Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal by Benjamin Law
5.0
I think this is one of the most important reads for anyone living in Australia at the moment.
It is a detailed and comprehensive look at the Safe Schools program, it's aims, history, and it's actual syllabus. And then going beyond the program all us "grown ups" are fighting about, to looking at the actual experiences of LGBTIQ kids in Australia in 2017. While most of the mainstream commentary on this program has been Mrs Lovejoy-esq without actually thinking of the children, Ben Law does, having been a kid this program would have benefited, and does so with a huge amount of research and his trademark wit and irreverence.
The Quarterly Essay, for those unfamiliar with the publication, is an essay published four times a year on a current, relevant topic to Australia, usually political in some shape or form. But that could be on the history of a country and our foreign policy towards them, race relations, energy policy, a biography of the new PM, analysis of a rise of a political movement, etc. Pretty broad scope, and a decent analysis of the issue in 25 000 words, instead of the 200 sensational, emotive words usually in the daily papers.
This essay breaks down what Safe Schools aims to do, how they train teachers, what it (and State Governments) asks schools do, and looks at *those* resources that are available. Law then addresses a huge amount of the claims made in News Corp's papers (a good 90 000 words written in the Australian on Safe Schools by the time Law published. News Corp may have inadvertently found the key to perpetual energy, even though they are aren't sold on climate change, and not keen on renewable power), talks to doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, teachers, and *gasp*, queer teenagers.
It is these stories and characters Law portrays so purely and beautifully. The kids whose lives these programs would literally change. The ones who may not have a safe space at all at the moment. That if we made school accepting, open, and safe, this would actually save kids lives. Either now, or in the future.
While we are spending $122 million on a non-binding survey asking people to judge the validity or people's relationships and whether we should extend people different to the norm equality, we are squabbling about a program that would cost $8 million over 3 years. And all it aims to do is to tell kids they are okay, they are accepted, they are safe.
It is a detailed and comprehensive look at the Safe Schools program, it's aims, history, and it's actual syllabus. And then going beyond the program all us "grown ups" are fighting about, to looking at the actual experiences of LGBTIQ kids in Australia in 2017. While most of the mainstream commentary on this program has been Mrs Lovejoy-esq without actually thinking of the children, Ben Law does, having been a kid this program would have benefited, and does so with a huge amount of research and his trademark wit and irreverence.
The Quarterly Essay, for those unfamiliar with the publication, is an essay published four times a year on a current, relevant topic to Australia, usually political in some shape or form. But that could be on the history of a country and our foreign policy towards them, race relations, energy policy, a biography of the new PM, analysis of a rise of a political movement, etc. Pretty broad scope, and a decent analysis of the issue in 25 000 words, instead of the 200 sensational, emotive words usually in the daily papers.
This essay breaks down what Safe Schools aims to do, how they train teachers, what it (and State Governments) asks schools do, and looks at *those* resources that are available. Law then addresses a huge amount of the claims made in News Corp's papers (a good 90 000 words written in the Australian on Safe Schools by the time Law published. News Corp may have inadvertently found the key to perpetual energy, even though they are aren't sold on climate change, and not keen on renewable power), talks to doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, teachers, and *gasp*, queer teenagers.
It is these stories and characters Law portrays so purely and beautifully. The kids whose lives these programs would literally change. The ones who may not have a safe space at all at the moment. That if we made school accepting, open, and safe, this would actually save kids lives. Either now, or in the future.
While we are spending $122 million on a non-binding survey asking people to judge the validity or people's relationships and whether we should extend people different to the norm equality, we are squabbling about a program that would cost $8 million over 3 years. And all it aims to do is to tell kids they are okay, they are accepted, they are safe.