Parents claim Scotch College ignoring violent ‘fight club culture’

Last week it was misogyny and issues of consent, now fuming parents claim Scotch is allowing “a fight club” culture and breeding sexist thugs.

Distressed parents of boys at Hawthorn’s exclusive Scotch College claim the school is ignoring a violent ‘fight club culture’ at the school.

‘THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB IS DON’T TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB’

Scotch College may need to look up its Latin to replace the school motto.

Deo Patriae Litteris translates as For God, For Country, For Learning. But some Scotch families are sadly shaking their heads at what has been described as a “misogynistic, homophobic and violent culture” playing out in the locker room and on the sports oval of the exclusive old school.

“That doesn’t happen at my school,” has turned into, “That didn’t happen in my day,” but more of that later.

Great Scot, we really did stumble on a Hawthorn hornet’s nest last week when Page 13 revealed how a “cuppa and a talk” about the meaning of “consent” went horribly wrong and no disciplinary action was taken against the senior boys involved.

The big boys, the kings, the jocks.

Let’s just pause there for a moment: “No disciplinary action taken.”

Some parents say they are too frightened to speak up, scared stiff might be a better term, for fear of been branded “a snitch”.

Parents, as well as students, have a fear of “dobbing in.”

Many say a culture of silence has become entrenched at the school.

Some Scotch parents say they’re too frightened to speak up about the violent and misogynistic culture at the school.

‘THE SECOND RULE OF FIGHT CLUB IS YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB’

Meeting in a Malvern cafe for fear of being seen by other well-heeled parents anywhere around the bowels of the Eastern suburbs, one distressed mother of a boy at the school told Page 13 there is a “pack mentality” and the “fight club culture” is prevalent.

She and other parents say up to four to five brawls can break out on the school oval at any time during lunch.

Boys have been kicked in the face, punched in the stomach, had bones broken. Others cower in bushes or hide in toilets waiting for recess and the lunch break to end.

“There is a pack mentality that happens,” says this mother. “What these groups of boys do is circle the individual. It’s not one or two or three boys, more like five.

“They circle the individual until they are forced to defend themselves, which opens the door to more violence.”

Another parent said there was talk this year of an ambulance being called to the school after a “fight club” broke out and a boy in the year below her son was seriously injured.

Angry, upset, confused and mostly scared, the parent said you sit in one of two camps at the school: “You either perpetrate the violence and be a thug, or be on the receiving end of it.

“There are the inciters sitting on the periphery, spreading rumours and saying nasty stuff.

Scotch is quick to shut the imposing wrought-iron gate when asked about the consequences of boys behaving badly.

‘WE HAVEN’T TAKEN DISCIPLINARY ACTION’

Scotch is quick to shut its imposing wrought-iron gate when asked what consequences boys face when behaving in a bullying or misogynistic manner.

“We would continue to encourage anyone who has experienced any form of sexual harassment or assault to report the abuse to the police,” said a statement.

“Like all schools, Scotch College is continuing to review and update its programs and curriculum relating to consent and respectful relationships with women.”

A parent later told Page 13 this is all to “preserve the reputation of the school”.

When a pupil is badly beaten and the parents come looking for answers they rarely get a meeting with the school.

Several students told their parents a boy’s locker was defaced with the word “fag”.

Before you ask, yes, we are in the year 2021, not 1980, or even when Scotch was formed in 1851.

When Page 13 reached out to the boy’s family they too politely refused to comment.

If nothing is reported, silence is golden. But a few stains are starting to appear on the well-pressed school blazer.

“The school takes a very formal stance. There are layers to the hierarchy of the faculty,” one parent said.

“Our feeling is the school is so big and so out of touch with what happens in the playground, the onus falls back on the children to speak up. But when they are fearful they are not going to.

“There is a real avoidance by the school. There is a feeling the school authorities don’t have the strength to correct a culture of violence, misogyny and homophobia.

Some parents claim the school is out of touch. Picture: Tony Gough

“It’s almost like the school is purposefully out of touch. It’s like if we don’t see it, don’t hear it, we can’t deal with it.”

“We don’t believe the school wants to know what is happening.”

One family said the school believed they needed to be sympathetic to the families whose boys might be labelled as bullies.

The defence is that young men have the opportunity to be moulded and shaped and learn from these opportunities through “restorative justice.”

This is where the bully talks to the victim, but the feeling among some of the parents is that “discipline is disproportionate to the actions of the children, they are getting away with it because they know nothing will happen.”

Page 13 was told some boys within the senior school had quietly left the school. When called, they too failed to give comment.

Cripes, the alleged victims’ parents seem too scared to speak up.

Last weekend Scotch sent a letter to parents commenting on the Page 13 article and doubling down on their stance “in relation to consent”:

“The voice of boys is increasingly at the heart of what we do, and was at the fore in their involvement in last week’s Denim Day, as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.”

Page 13 this week asked Scotch College a series of questions, including what actions were being taken by the school stop “fight clubs” breaking out on the school premises, if restorative justice was the best way to discipline students, and what formal complaints had been made to the school.

Scotch responded with the following statement:

“The school’s culture is not one of violence, homophobia or misogyny. All such behaviour is unacceptable, whether at Scotch College or in the community.

“We take all matters of misbehaviour seriously and follow rigorous, appropriate processes. We prioritise the health, safety and wellbeing of students, staff and the community.”

While others claim that if you complain your son is seen as “weak” and there’s “a sense of shame if you can’t cut it”.

‘BOYS WILL BE BOYS’

To be fair to Scotch, some students just don’t cut the mustard. Not everyone can fit in. It happens at all schools.

The well-worn lines are trotted out by parents at class dinners and the alumni at old boys’ dinners.

And when we say “old boys” there are plenty in the ranks who have attended Scotch and gone on to do wonderful things for the country.

Politicians are aplenty, such as former state premiers Jeff Kennett and John Cain, late and Liberal federal opposition leader Andrew Peacock.

As one parent said: “The school offers so much opportunity.”

“I bought into the marketing machine, the grandeur and the prestige. You are constantly reminded how fortunate you are to get a position there. No one wants to jeopardise that position by tarnishing the school.”

An alumni said Scotch boys “see themselves as the top dogs – 100 per cent.”

“It’s all about the uniform and wearing the cardinal red. The pride in being a Scotch boy. So there is a sense of shame if you can’t cut it.

“You instantly are made to feel your son is different or God forbid, dare I say, weak.”

A mother says her proud husband has no problem standing up and saying this is not what was happening when he was at school.

“But there are bad things happening. This is not good enough. Act on it.”

Sadly, no one wants to be that parent. Until, perhaps, now.

The waitlist to be a Scotch boy still grows, but so does the list of those parents who say the school must move with more modern times.