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THE principal of one of Perth's most exclusive schools has summoned parents to a meeting "of critical importance" following reports of booze-fuelled public sex romps, weekend drug binges and boys employing a stripper whose act involves the use of vegetables.
"Recent events have prompted a number of parents to approach me about initiating a discussion among parents due to the seriousness of some of the activities that have occurred," Scotch College headmaster Reverend Andrew Syme wrote in a letter sent this week to the parents of each Year 11 boy.
"Unfortunately, this year I have heard stories of boys lying to parents about the social events that are occurring; of parents' houses being trashed; alcohol and drugs being accessed; of gangs (from beyond the school) attacking boys; and of sexual behaviour that would be of concern to all parents."
Although better would have been expected from boys whose parents face annual day-pupil fees of about $13,000, "money never has and never will equate to wisdom," Mr Syme said.
And in a move reflecting social issues such as alcohol abuse, drug-taking and sexual promiscuity, he also plans to convene a meeting of fellow principals to discuss what measures could be taken to rein in students whose actions reflected badly on schools.
"We are getting into territory that is not strictly the province of schools, but we know it does wash back on us," he said.
Mr Syme, the father of two adult sons, acknowledged as ambitious his vision of reforming the culture in which privileged teenagers get their kicks.
But he said it was time for him and other private school principals to examine why bouncers had become essential at teen parties in Perth's leafy western suburbs.
Action was also needed to prevent students from gorging on drugs and alcohol and engaging in inappropriate sexual behaviour, he said.
Mr Syme was prompted to take action following reports of out-of-control weekend parties and a student rugby wind-up involving a vegetable-wielding stripper.
Text massaging was largely to blame for attracting swarms of teens to grand homes in some of Perth's most expensive suburbs for under-age parties, where students from a number of schools took illicit drugs and engaged in "inappropriate sexual behaviour in parks and other public places", he said.
While some principals might prefer not to know what their students got up to after hours, Mr Syme used informants to identify the 17-year-olds who organised the stripper for an informal rugby wind-up last term.
"I was pretty angry," he said yesterday. "What is most upsetting is actually not the stripper, it is that things are going on without the knowledge of the parents.
"I said to the boys: 'I know why you didn't tell anyone but if you have to sneak around the place and do things behind people's backs that is a symbol of a lack of integrity and of dishonesty'."
Mr Syme said that he had become "increasingly troubled" by the behaviour of some of the students at Scotch, a school whose old boys include Australia's ambassador to China at the time of the Tiananmen Square massacre, David Sadlier, judge Geoffrey Kennedy, golfer Terry Gale and former AFL star and Brownlow medallist Ross Glendinning.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20617377-2,00.html
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Originally Posted by Evie
