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Kathy, an Aboriginal girl of approximately fifteen years of age, arrived at Great Central Secondary College accompanied by her mother for enrolment in Year 9. It was five months into the academic year, but such enrolments were not unusual. The Year 9 Co-ordinator duly completed the paper work and Kathy’s classes were organised. At the time it seemed rather odd that the home address given was located on the other side of town. To attend Great Central, it would be necessary to catch three different buses each way. When asked why Kathy had not enrolled at Flowering Fields, Great Central’s sister state secondary college, which was located within one block from her home, the mother replied that the school authorities had informed her that Year 9 was totally full. There was no place for even one additional student. Kathy’s mother accepted the school’s refusal to enrol her daughter and as a consequence had approached Great Central, even though daily travel was obviously going to be a problem.
Some students in Kathy’s group were approached and asked to look after her and help with the settling-in process. This was standard practice for every new enrolment, but in this case the practice did not work. Why didn’t it work? The students’ answers were simply:
“She’s black.”
“We don’t want boongs hanging around.”
A few weeks later at an inter-school meeting, the Year 9 Co-ordinator was approached by the person who occupied the same position at Flowering Fields where Kathy had originally tried to enrol. The following conversation ensued:
Year 9 Co-ordinator Flowering Fields: “We pulled a swifty on you (chortle, chortle).”
Year 9 Co-ordinator Great Central: “What do you mean?”
Year 9 Co-ordinator Flowering Fields: “We palmed that boong off onto you. As soon as I saw her I rushed straight to the principal and we worked out that the only way to keep her out of the place was to say we were full.. Sent her off to you and you took her. We don’t want boongs in our place; nothing but trouble. You’ve really been sucked in this time.”
Kathy’s attendance at great Central gradually started to decline. When her teachers were asked if they would provide additional assistance, their common response was couched in terms of “What does it matter anyway? She is only a boong who is being paid to come to school.”
Three months later, Kathy simply stopped attending Great Central. Neither she nor her mother could be contacted.
Walking Together, Building Better Relationships, Chapter 1.
This material has been produced by UNITEC Institute of Technology
under contract to the Ministry of Education.
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