Western Chances Ceremony 2017
Last night I attended this year's presentation and celebration of new Western Chances scholars, to cheer on my two beautiful students, Priyanka and Genna. They both deserved their scholarships and Priyanka assured me that hers had come in very handy so far when I spoke to her.
It's a wonderful scholarship, aimed at students who have talent but no money. And once you're in, you get all sorts of goodies as well as the money - engineering camps(one of my former students is now a mentor), leadership seminars, etc.
And the alumni remain loyal. Last night's MC was a former scholarship recipient. He has just graduated medicine. His entire manner suggested someone who had attended an exclusive private school or even a selective state school. But if he had been either of those, he couldn't have had the scholarship. You have to attend a state school in the western suburbs(there is an Eastern Chances scholarship for kids on my side of town)and you have to come from a family with very little money. So this young doctor will be hanging out with others who did go to expensive schools and had parents in the trade. I cheered silently for him.
Then we had a speech from another alumnus who is now doing social community work and has become a member of the WC board. Her speech was meant to be inspiring and to a certain extent it was. Her parents had come to Australia as refugees, on a boat, in the days before they started imprisoning boat arrivals. She had grown up in poverty, as her parents had got what work they could. She had not even had enough money to buy pens, let alone textbooks... Hang on, not enough money for pens? The last time I looked, you could get a packet of ten for about a dollar if you know where to look. Enough to last the year. And if, by some chance, you really can't buy them, there's a welfare teacher to help you. And when she was at school, there was a fund for kids like her, especially for that sort of thing, before a Tory government scrapped it and the next Labor government handed it to the school for camps and excursions. Textbooks? Okay, but again, there's a welfare teacher to help with secondhand, but no matter. It was when she started telling us about how she would photocopy bits while her friends distracted the librarian that I really began to wonder.
Did she think the librarian would object to a few pages photocopied from a book? Even if she did, she might also have pointed out that at ten cents a page, it might be better just to borrow it. Not to mention that this was the girl who couldn't afford to buy a red pen!
And then, she told us, she got The Scholarship. New textbooks! Excursions! Pens, presumably.
Not once in that inspiring speech did she mention the teacher who helped her get that scholarship. Not once. From her speech, it sounded as if it had just happened. Never mind that someone believed in her. Spent lunchtimes and after school sitting down with her. Spent their own time filling in the forms(one of the WC staff last night said it takes a whole hour. Hah! The least time I've ever spent was a week, when the deadline was approaching before I had the chance to get started). No, never mind. She just got the scholarship from thin air.
Disappointing. Very disappointing from someone the WC staff thought was wonderful and invited to make a speech.
You do this for kids because they deserve the chance to become a doctor or an engineer or a singer or just because they are terrific leaders. But it would be nice to think they remember you.
It's a wonderful scholarship, aimed at students who have talent but no money. And once you're in, you get all sorts of goodies as well as the money - engineering camps(one of my former students is now a mentor), leadership seminars, etc.
And the alumni remain loyal. Last night's MC was a former scholarship recipient. He has just graduated medicine. His entire manner suggested someone who had attended an exclusive private school or even a selective state school. But if he had been either of those, he couldn't have had the scholarship. You have to attend a state school in the western suburbs(there is an Eastern Chances scholarship for kids on my side of town)and you have to come from a family with very little money. So this young doctor will be hanging out with others who did go to expensive schools and had parents in the trade. I cheered silently for him.
Then we had a speech from another alumnus who is now doing social community work and has become a member of the WC board. Her speech was meant to be inspiring and to a certain extent it was. Her parents had come to Australia as refugees, on a boat, in the days before they started imprisoning boat arrivals. She had grown up in poverty, as her parents had got what work they could. She had not even had enough money to buy pens, let alone textbooks... Hang on, not enough money for pens? The last time I looked, you could get a packet of ten for about a dollar if you know where to look. Enough to last the year. And if, by some chance, you really can't buy them, there's a welfare teacher to help you. And when she was at school, there was a fund for kids like her, especially for that sort of thing, before a Tory government scrapped it and the next Labor government handed it to the school for camps and excursions. Textbooks? Okay, but again, there's a welfare teacher to help with secondhand, but no matter. It was when she started telling us about how she would photocopy bits while her friends distracted the librarian that I really began to wonder.
Did she think the librarian would object to a few pages photocopied from a book? Even if she did, she might also have pointed out that at ten cents a page, it might be better just to borrow it. Not to mention that this was the girl who couldn't afford to buy a red pen!
And then, she told us, she got The Scholarship. New textbooks! Excursions! Pens, presumably.
Not once in that inspiring speech did she mention the teacher who helped her get that scholarship. Not once. From her speech, it sounded as if it had just happened. Never mind that someone believed in her. Spent lunchtimes and after school sitting down with her. Spent their own time filling in the forms(one of the WC staff last night said it takes a whole hour. Hah! The least time I've ever spent was a week, when the deadline was approaching before I had the chance to get started). No, never mind. She just got the scholarship from thin air.
Disappointing. Very disappointing from someone the WC staff thought was wonderful and invited to make a speech.
You do this for kids because they deserve the chance to become a doctor or an engineer or a singer or just because they are terrific leaders. But it would be nice to think they remember you.