Rich Kid Poor Kid: The battle for public education: Vantage Point Issue 5

by Jane Caro

How did we get here?
For decades, Australia has been pumping money into private education while public schools struggle. Whether it's crumbling classrooms, overworked teachers or cuts to music and STEM programs, the system is reaching breaking point. At the same time, with higher rates of private school attendance and the marketisation of education, parents have increased anxiety when faced with the decision of where to send their child. The current system contributes to greater inequity, decreased integration of different communities and even traffic jams as parents are more likely to drive their kids to a private school further from their house.


How did we get here?


Jane Caro walks through the decades of policy decisions that have created this situation and identifies the choices that have created the current education crisis. With her trademark no-nonsense analysis and drawing from her personal experiences, Caro lays out the steps that brought us to this point and what Australia can do to get a public education system worthy of a such a wealthy country.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education

86 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 28, 2026

About the author

Jane Caro wears many hats; including author, lecturer, mentor, social commentator, columnist, workshop facilitator, speaker, broadcaster and award-winning advertising writer. Jane runs her own communications consultancy and lectures in Advertising Creative at The School of Communication Arts at UWS. She has published three books: The Stupid Country: How Australia is dismantling public education co-authored with Chris Bonnor (2007), The F Word. How we learned to swear by feminism co-authored with Catherine Fox (2008), and Just a Girl (UQP, 2011). She has also appeared on Channel 7’s Sunrise, ABC’s Q&A and ABC’s The Gruen Transfer.

Reviews

[Gayle]

“No child is disadvantaged through any of their own doing”

When I heard Jane Caro’s lecture on public education I was blown away to hear someone articulate so many of my own thoughts in regard to high school education…and then to tell me so much more. I was so pleased therefore when the announcement of this essay was made.

It is of no surprise than John Howard’s government set the scene for educational aspiration of the middle class toward private school, especially lower fee private schools, deepening segregation of schooling based on class and an implied morality. (I loved the analogy of not being able to afford the designer clothing, but you can buy sunglasses or lipstick instead re lower fee private schools).

I wish this issue of Counter Point could land in the hands of every parent choosing a high school for their child. Of course most private schools in Australia are religious, and its narrow lens on the world, in my mind, should not be part of schooling. Tax payers should not be funding fee charging private schools to the detriment of public state schools. I have so much to say on this, but if you have kids of school age, I implore you to read this yourself.

[Flynn]

An incredibly disappointing read.

Make no mistake, this is not a book about improving public education, it is a book critiquing private education - poorly. I was hoping Caro would cut through the culture war and analyse the most current evidence in education policy, providing an reasoned, progressive framework for future discussion. All she seems able to do however is provide the foil to the caricatured conservative.

Caro falls into the same trap as bounds of other progressive writers - they think that if an impassioned argument can be made, there is no need to ground your arguments or show your working. This is intellectual terrorism. Never have I read something on a topic where I am so open to major reform, from an author with whom I am ideologically aligned, to then be so let down with the quality of thought.

Caro writes as if the goal of an education system is to spend money on students - obviously, it is to educate them. If Caro can acknowledge that after adjusting for the socio-economic status of its students private schools are no better at educating children than public schools, it is logical negligence to then contend that the funding gap is responsible for both the gap in raw student outcomes and the stagnation of overall scores. Equality is a virtuous goal, but if it is achieved only by shuffling students around without a focus on broad improvement, what kind of ambition is that? This is not the only time that Caro engages in fixed-pie thinking, but it is the most egregious.

I am not one to play fallacy bingo but anyone interested in ideas and policy should look to these pages as an example of how not to persuade. Correlation is presented as causation without reference, statements are left dangling without support, and where she does try to provide logic tree she stumbles into non-sequitur.. She writes for the credulous and the already convinced.

Not everything is terrible. The critique of the chaplaincy program, the defence of public education as a public good, detailing the degradation of the public cohort, advocating bringing private school responsibilities in line with public, these are all important topics. Caro is clearly passionate about education and writes with impressive flair. But flair and passion can only get you so far, anyone interested would be better served by looking elsewhere and engaging with experts. This could have been written by anyone with an Arts degree and a political compass that points left.

[Ellen James]

Essential reading for anyone considering the future of their child’s education. I feel like buying 40 copies and leaving them strewn about the middle-classy haunts of Melbourne to fan the embers of the revolution.

[Hannah]

“Public schools are an expression of a public good: the common good. They are hanging by a thread. We jettison them at our peril.” Sharp albeit depressing.

[Flinders Mckinnon]

Who would’ve guessed that extreme class segregation is terrible for society and breeds close-minded entitlement

[Steven Kolber]

A scathing and precise summary of what our education system looks like and how it functions. A well made argument that avoids the obvious flourishes or blaming that might have been easily available.

[Ivy Rose]

A gripping book from the start. And for an off putting reason; why has Australia become so blindsided by the deeply entrenched inequity of what has become the most expensive education system in the world? ‘Fair go’ is just the lie people tell themselves, sending the message that Indigenous people, culturally diverse people and anyone in extreme poverty are worthless and the right of a quality education for all is replaced with a commodified pipe dream. I will always be an advocate for public education and we must not let it get gutted even further. Highly recommend this book, it’s a wake up call, but a much needed one.

[John]

I am incredibly depressed.

[Maddie]

4.5 - Essential reading.

Only critiques are that I’m not the biggest fan of using news articles as evidence - although, I do understand it is an opinion piece more than anything; and that I would’ve liked to see some more time spent on possible solutions.

[Ben Mayes]

As a father of primary school kids despairing at choosing a high school education for my children, this book was hits hard. It has some great arguments and ideas for having fairer dinging for schooling on Australia. I dropped one star because I would have liked more detailed research on what the potential consequences of not changing our current trajectory, and just more data and evidence in general. Overall the ideas and essence were bang on and I got a lot out of it. If this book has its intended impact, my kids, family and Aussie society will benefit greatly.

[Kristin Sims]

Education for all, shouldn't even be a question. Excellent analysis on the topic, sadly not enough people will recognise this as being as big of an issue as it should be.

[Elliot Duke]

This book needs more attention.

[Rhiannon]

Essential reading for all Australians. Great discussion around resource distribution among schools for only 100 pages.

‘The fact that a few exceptional children from lower socio-economic backgrounds find their way past the many barriers we place in front of them is not an excuse to keep maintaining those barriers’ (p.86) 👏👏

One criticism is the idea that the impact of the difference between public vs private funding inequality is cosmetic. it’s important to note that inequality in education doesn’t just come down to extravagant facilities. The under resourcing of public education actually does have an effect on the quality of education. While we may all have the same base curriculum, the way it is delivered and what schools choose to focus on differs. Better schools are also able to offer a more diverse subject range within the curriculum (briefly mentioned but limited to remote schools, p.78, when this effects more than just remote schools.) and support extra-curricula learning opportunities e.g attending performances, visiting art gallery’s, borrowing educational material from museums. Better and more guided supports for struggling students, tailored university pathway/career advice and less measurable qualities like teachers stress levels and ability to self-regulate when faced with challenging students, are other examples. Just see how many private school kids make up the percentage of enrolments at go8 universities, industry internships and industry employment.

If we ignore the fact that private education is actually better (not just better facilities/cosmetic), how can we begin to address creating a more equal education system?. I don’t understand how the author can argue so well for better resource distribution, point out disadvantaged students being further disadvantaged due to resource inequality and then proceed to make statements like ‘most of the benefits of private education are cosmetic’ (p.82), if that were true, the resource distribution issue wouldn’t be so big of a problem and author wouldn’t be following these statements up with ones like ‘the symposium was also concerned about the disproportionate number of early career teachers in public schools’ (p.95) which again points to the difference being more than just cosmetic. What does it matter if your private school has a swimming pool and offers more diverse subjects or has more experienced teachers, if it makes no difference in educational outcomes. Clearly it does. That’s the whole point.

Otherwise 10/10 fantastic read of a really important topic. Particularly interesting the small aside about social tourism. Great suggestions at the end for supporting public schools.

[Megan]

Wow, this “book” (actually an essay) is essential reading for every Australian educator and parent. Jane Caro, while obviously biased in her public education advocacy, speaks so much truth about the broken education funding system in Australia and how it fuels inequality and disadvantage.

Having only worked in the Catholic and Independent sectors as a teacher myself (although my kids go to public primary school, as did I) I was deeply interested in how government funding and policy impacts the experiences of teachers and students in all sectors. A lot of Caro’s research and opinions resonated with my own growing sense of unease that Australian parents’ preference towards private schools is harming us as a nation and creating pools of disadvantage in public schools who cannot be selective about the students they educate (unlike some private schools).

She is particularly scathing towards the Howard government who entrenched a lot of these policies, but equally critical of subsequent Labor governments who didn’t do anything to fix it.

“Parent choice” has become the rationalisation for private schools who cannot funding, as Caro says, rationalists for this idea “remain tied to the classic neoliberal idea, articulated by Malcolm Fraser in the 1970s, that parents have a right to choose the school their children attend, and the state should subsidise them to do just that. The glaringly obvious problem with this justification is that, when a large part of that choice involves fee-charging schools, only parents with money have choice.” There are too many great quotes to include here.

The idea that hit home the most is how high school fees (despite public funding) are creating anxious students (who require scholarships to access “elite” schools) and anxious parents who are facing some of the highest school fees in the OECD in the name of choice. As a parent who was considering a local “low-fee” private school for my kids, a quick check of school fees tells me I’d be up for $22,640 a year for two students in Year 7, to $24,120 by Year 12. Is it worth the sacrifice? Perhaps, with the current funding model which sees the local public school under-resourced, underfunded and a hotspot of the most disadvantaged students with the greatest learning needs.

This lit a fire within me quite honestly. I do believe there is merit in private education. As a Christian, I do believe there is a rich history in this country of Catholic and Christian schools, many of which were not set up to establish elite schools with swimming pools, but with providing quality education for all students, often with no government funding in their establishing years. And this is the main critique I have of Caro’s opinion - she doesn’t take into account the history of these schools, some of which were the first schools in the country. There is a place for education with religion included, in a country that was founded on these values. But as her solution at the end outlines; if these schools were funded by the government, on the proviso they weren’t allowed to charge fees and be selective of students, would they opt in? An interesting question and solution which many other countries have adopted.

The only thing that would improve this essay would be less use of the word “neoliberal” (we get it) and perhaps some more views from private school parents or educators who don’t work at schools with equestrian centres and swimming pools.

[Jim KABLE]

Privations Visited by Private upon Public

I did my Sydney University Dip.Ed. throughout 1970 at a progressive public high school in Sydney’s lower eastern suburbs and nine years later after years in rural NSW and teaching in Europe I found myself back at the same school as a relief teacher. I spent a month with a brilliant Science staff and the so-called Lab. “Assistant” could easily have been a teacher - and was in fact an office-bearer in D.O.G.S. (Defence of Government Schools) already a force trying to protect public schools against those determined to downgrade its status. Public school - primary and secondary meant best in those now seemingly far off days - no question. But then came inequitable funding and then came John Dubya Howard - as Amy Remeikis and her just published book reminds us - every social and political and economic ill in our country can be traced back to that bumptious ideologue. I am proud to be a product of the public education system of the 1950s and 1960s and to have taught within it in rural and metropolitan and lower north coast NSW. Many of the structures and support services which made public education so good - world leading in many cases have disappeared and then came the procedures for surveilling teachers - accountability, assessment and examinations borrowed from that well-know “education leader” (my words dripping with irony at this point) the US - suddenly NAPLAN - for English (reading) and for Maths - and thus the slippery dip to the bottom on world measurement rankings. I love Jane CARO - and a few others who speak out in support of her understanding:- the Professor from Finland; the former LNP NSW State Minister for Education; fir exposing the protection of the haves against equality and social justice for ALL our children. Read her book - and if your social justice passion is not roused then you are clearly part of the injustice!

[Rob]

Do I agree Caro’s thesis? Yes.

Do I think those against her thesis will be persuaded to change their views? No.

Caro makes a lot of good points in her long essay, but it feels as if she is too emotionally attached to the topic to argue with less judgement of those who elect to send their children to non-public schools. There’s a supply and demand analysis that you could do and Caro seems to miss the point, or doesn’t focus too much, on why parents actually select non-public over public. As far as I can tell from anecdotal conversations with people who send their kids to private or religious schools, it’s for the following reasons (not in order of importance): discipline, safety, quality of education. Caro rightly makes the point that as people remove the ordinary children from public schools, by proportion, those remaining will generally be poorer, but she doesn’t quote any data on how safe public schools are. Parents are terrified of physical and virtual bullying and it seems the perception is non-public schools handle this better. I think Caro missed an opportunity to get into the shoes of parents and see why they make the choice, then explain if and why public is better (or could be better).

Also, for a longish essay, it has scant references and the quality of them are often relatively low-quality, such as news articles and union in-house research. It’s not to say that these should not be used, but by and large a university-level essay would be scrutinised for bias and not having academic or government research as the core reveals some of the cracks in Caro’s thinking. It’s not to say she is wrong, but maybe she hasn’t delved as deeply and analytically as she ought.

Whilst, again, I agree with her, I don’t think this will convince anyone.

[Ashleigh]

Jane Caro's Rich Kid, Poor Kid shines a light on the inequalities within Australia's education system and the impact government policy can have on the opportunities available to children. Much of what she discusses had me nodding along in passionate agreement, and at times, feeling genuinely infuriated by the realities of educational inequity.
What ultimately held this book back for me was the perspective it was written from. While Caro presents well-researched arguments and cites a range of studies, I found myself questioning the authority and motivation behind the discussion because she isn't an educator. I kept wondering whether the researchers behind the cited papers had spent meaningful time in classrooms themselves. For me, the book was missing the voices of the people who live these challenges every day.
As someone who works in education, I believe the real experts are the teachers, support staff and school administrators who tirelessly keep the public education system running. They are the backbone of our schools, and I wanted to hear more of their experiences, insights and practical solutions. Caro's understanding of government policy is admirable, but I felt the book lacked the authentic perspective of those working directly with students.
There were certainly moments that resonated, and I appreciated the conversations it sparked. I just finished the book wishing it had gone beyond identifying the problems to include more lived experience from educators and more practical pathways for change. An interesting read that raises important questions, but one that left me wanting a more balanced perspective.

[Shane]

A book I nearly didn't read as I didn't want to become further depressed about the state of public education. Personally, I resonated with nearly everything Jane had to say. I find it hard to believe that we let our education system become as segregated as it has, where your post-code and your bank balance have the biggest impact on your educational outcomes.

Most of Jane's book just confirmed what I already knew, although I was gobsmacked to find out that Australia has the most expensive private schools in the Western world!

Unfortunately, I didn't see any solutions that are likely to be adopted by any government we elect, so I am still left feeling that this explains how we got here - but what do we do about it?

[Lachlan Ferguson]

This book made me angry. Angry that as the fourth richest country in the world we have the second most segregated education system.

Im a public school educator and I recently was only able to buy 4 sets of class protractors to share between 9 classes whilst the private school across the road got a government grant to build a new sports oval.

Why do private schools get more funding than public schools? Why are we diluting our public education system so that private schools can buy more pools and equestrian centres? And why is bankruptcy due to school fees on the rise when we have perfectly good public schools we dont properly fund?

Read this. Get angry. Back your local public school.

[Quinn]

The Australian school system in disarray. As Caro states, public education is “the mark of a civilised, well-organised nation”. Australia has the most inequitable education system in the world. Our secondary education is the most expensive in the world, and school fees are in the top five reasons for bankruptcy. Our economic and political futures hinge on universal education. Perhaps the lucky country is running out of luck.

[Alex]

While I appreciate the angled perspective, this paper is a must read for those considering what has gone wrong with our education system and its contribution to increasing the ‘class’ gap in Australian society (and its basis probably extends across other institutions in Australia where Government make questionable financing / funding / budget decisions) Staggers me to this day that we publicly fund the private school sector… at all.

[Emily Mcleod]

Sums up my thoughts neatly and concisely. Education, as a public good, should be equally funded (caps on private) and equally responsible for educating all demographics. No more exclusion, no more pushing the ‘undesirables’ to public while the private school has a waitlist.
Challenging schools should be funded the way the elite schools are funded currently. The solutions are simple, yet the lobbies for the monied are powerful… bring on the guillotines!

[Tan]

Very important argument but I found this to be poorly structured and researched (too many news articles referenced) and a rant about politics rather than strong evidence based arguments on why we should have a fairer education system in Australia. I doubt any private school parent would be swayed by this book unfortunately.

[Paul Kapaniris]

While sometimes wanting in its level of analysis and precision, this is a fantastic and insightful piece into the history and state of the education system in Australia. Must read for all Australian educators.

[Indi]

what are the solutions?

[Pedro Campwell]

Jane is a fiction writer and this is a complete utter fiction novel. The high ratings must be from her friends at The Australian Institute to try and get this piece of crap more publicity.

[Peter Duffy]

Concise, insightful and scathing expose of the failing Australian public/private education system. Essential reading for all parents who have any doubts about private schooling.

[Madeleine Sparks]

Everyone should read this essay. Public school teachers already get it. The rest of the nation needs to get on board.