Beerly Believable

I was more than  little embarassed to read that a local primary school in my former home town had applied to erect a "beer tent" on their school grounds during their upcoming school fair. Seriously, opening a bar at a kids' fair ? What were these people thinking ? Thankfully (although a little surprisingly) the local council rightfully decided that this was not a suitable activity for an event at which young children were supposed to be the focus. Elmgrove Primary School's OFFICIAL reason behind the request was, wait for it, that fathers would come to the fair if there was beer available. I nearly fell out of my chair when I read that. If I was a father with a child at Elmgrove School, my child wouldn't be continuing at that school come Monday. Was that really how the school authorities viewed the male parents of their children ? Apparently.

 

The core of the issue runs deeper than just the mere mindblowing stupidity of the beer tent proposal. Primary and secondary education in New Zealand is supposedly free, and is proudly globally trumpeted as being so. The reality is very different. Schools do receive annual funding from central government. It is supposed to cover the basics of building maintenance, basic teaching supplies, and a base core of teaching staff. But the schools do not receive enough money to operate efficiently nor practically. They are required to make up the shortfall themselves. The first step is that schools charge each child a fee for attending. Now, strictly speaking they can't do that as education is free in New Zealand. Remember ? So they dress it up in a nice frock and call it an "Activity Fee". What is an activity ? Well, you would think it would be something like a school outing, camping trip, something like that. But no, the students get charged an addidtional fee for those things. An Activity Fee covers everything that doesn't involve siting at a desk and reading a book. Photocopying is an activity which needs to be paid for by each student. as is watching a video in class, drawing with coloured pencils, or using coloured paper. Central government doesn't provide enough money for luxuries like that. So the parents pay.

 

There is a limit to how much you can squeeze into an Activity Fee without it looking to blatant. To make up the shortfall between central government funding, activity fees, and the actual cost of our children's Free Education, the schools need more money. They rely heavily on fundraising for this, often in the form of hosting a school fair a couple of times a year. And what is one sure-fire way of guaranteeing a good income ? Sell alcohol. People might not buy raffle tickets, but they will buy a glass of beer if they see someone waving one at them.

 

Ethically and morally, bringing the sale of alcohol into a child specific environment was dumb. No getting around that one. Dumb. Let's kick the school's desperate defence out of the park straight away. This is not an attempt by the city council to ban alcohol at any event where kids may be present. As much as the school authorities may like us to be, we are not that stupid. We are not talking about a football match or a hockey match where the prime attendees, and the prime focus, is on adults. We are talking about a school fair, on school property, where the prime focus is on children. In one situation, children may be present because of adults. In the other situation, adults are only present because of children.  Elmgrove School can't tell the difference. I can.

Financially it was a smart move with a potential high return which, in turn, could be argued that the end justified the means. But there are limitations to that argument and, in my opinion, this school crossed that line. Find another way to get money, start banging collectively on the doors of central government for sufficient funding. Do something to fix the situation and to make the government accountable for what they say. But don't sell booze at a childrens' school fair. Most families don't have a problem with alcohol. But some families do. For some children, school is the one sanctuary they have away from an alcohol induced disfunctional family. Should responsible people suffer for the sake of irresponsible people ? Of course not, that wouldn't be fair. But the protection of those people who are unable to make the right decisions are the reasons why we have rules and laws in society which at times irritates us sensible people. Think about it, if we could all make the right decisions all the times then we wouldn't need rules or laws. Sadly we don't live in such a world. The laws exist for those who can't make the right decisions. For whatever reason. Some people need to be told what is right and what is wrong. Would all the fathers in Mosgiel head straight for the beer tent at Elmgrove Primary School and get pissed ? Of course they wouldn't. But what do you say to the young child who stands there while their father does get plastered in front of their friends and peers ? Did the end justify the means for that child ? The answer is No.