There, I said it. I’m Anti-Schoolies Week.
There have been lots of special moments this week, as Miss Almost-17 graduates from high school.
The build up has been incredible – the formal in particular was THE topic of conversation for months beforehand!
Lately, I’ve noticed the interest and questions from family, friends and strangers alike, have turned to the topic of Schoolies Week.
Schoolies Week Expectations
I find it hugely disappointing that our society accepts, nay EXPECTS, our young people to participate in what seems to be little more than a drunken orgy.
We have been fortunate – neither of our kids was particularly interested in attending, and we certainly didn’t encourage it. Whether they were put off by the stories of violence and drunken escapades, or by the fact that it costs a lot of money, is uncertain – we’re just jolly glad it wasn’t a priority for either of them!
I am certainly not against kids celebrating the end of school – and their newfound freedom – with friends. But is Schoolies Week the best option we can come up with?
Our daughter turns 17 next week, so the story she has been giving people is that she wants to be at home for her birthday; yet even so, she gets some very strange looks! I’m so proud of her for not only being mature enough to NOT want to ruin her life at Schoolies Week, but that she has also come up with a great reason to put people off.
The fact that Miss Almost-17 is one of the youngest in her graduating class certainly plays a big part in our reluctance for her to participate. (Parents of young children, remember this: You may think your younger child is ready for school but hold them back if you can. The time when it REALLY matters is in high school, when they are with peers that are older – and the extra challenges that will bring).
But even if she was 18, I still don’t like the whole Schoolies concept.
Are you Anti-Schoolies Week?
Believe it or not, Schoolies Week was around when I graduated 30 years ago, though it certainly hadn’t gained the notoriety that it has today.
And guess what? I didn’t go either, and it didn’t scar me for life that I missed out – as some folk seem to think!
I know that being Anti-Schoolies Week will seem odd and anachronistic to some.
I’m also very aware that if either of our kids had really wanted to go, there probably isn’t a great deal that we could have done about it (Although we would certainly never have paid for it! I can’t help wondering how many kids would actually go if their parents weren’t paying for it? If school-leavers want to be so mature and celebrate their transition to adulthood, then here’s a thought, let THEM pay for it!)
So I am extremely thankful that our two both chose to stay away!
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Erin says
Congrats to your girl on graduating, and I’m proud of her too for not going. the very thought of schoolies I find horrifying!! and yes it was around when I graduated 25 yrs ago too, and there was no way I would have been allowed, not that I was interested.
Janet says
I wasn’t allowed either Erin, my Mum had many faults but I am thankful she put her foot down on this one.
Ms_MotorbikeNut says
Our daughter is in year 8 this year and we have already chatted to her about schoolies as she wants to go through to year 12 and do year 12.
We told her that she can either go to schoolies or that if she wanted to she can invite 3 other friends along with her & us on a cruise to celebrate her 18th birthday and schoolies she has choosen the cruise.
Although we will be on the cruise with them they will have 1 cabin & we will have a cabin for ourselves so there will be no hassle of them worrying that we are keeping an eye on them to closely.
The saving for the cruise has already started so bring on the end of 2017
(((( Hugs )))) XXXX Kisses XXXX
Janet says
What a lovely idea! We went on a family cruise the January after Mr 19 graduated, as a kind of “instead of Schoolies” celebration.
franz chong says
An Excellent Idea.I didn’t do a school leavers week celebration as such upon Graduating in 1996 but went straight into working for my father(Since Deceased)as his receptionist but what actually happened was sometime in 1997 I started thinking of ideas for my first holiday belatedly on my own.Considered NZ,Bali,Hong Kong,Gold Coast,West Coast USA and at the end of the day ended up booking to go to Singapore.It was the best decision I ever made.I urge all of you who have kids that will be the class of 2015 or later but before the decade is out to consider every option in the book as an incentive to not do a schoolies week with their mates.
Liz says
Thank you THANK YOU Janet for this post. It has given me hope that there are some young people out there with their heads screwed on!! I was actually blown away last night when watching ABC news, that they devoted an entire segment to Schoolies Week, and then assured their viewers that they would be there live tomorrow night. What? How crazy is our society?
Back in 1996, I didn’t do schoolies – I stayed home and spent my money on driving lessons!! And I have no regrets. I hope and pray my kids will be like yours; mature enough to make their own decisions and not just go with the crowd.
Janet says
What makes me mad is how it has become a cultural norm – people are horrified when my kids say they are NOT going. Ummm hello – shouldn’t it be the other way around – we are horrified if they DO go?!
franz chong says
This comes belatedly but there is nothing wrong with you or your kids.I would be more worried if the alternative holiday they chose say a year later had their uncle auntie and cousin show up unintentionally and they for the most part take over most of the things your son or daughter were planning to do as day trips plus they act like a bunch of over sized school leavers.I have been down that road and it was not pleasant.It’s taken me close to two decades to put that all behind me through trips to NZ,Bali,West Coast USA,Numerous Queensland Vacactions and now Cruising amongst other things.I am hoping to be able to do Singapore or Hong Kong relative free effective 2017 or 2018 without a care in the world.You don’t bring people like what I have mentioned on your school leavers celebration if you can help it.
Lisa Barton-Collins says
I think that a circuit breaker is important with any big life change, and graduating high school is pretty big and deserves to be recognized. Drugs and Sex on the Gold Coast though? No. There are lots of other options that are a bit more responsible. The child of family friends went to Fiji with a dozen school friends, another went on a short cruise with a smaller group, and kids from our local high school have the option to volunteer in a Sri Lankan orphanage at the end of year 12 – this is actually really popular. I guess it all depends on the child.
xx
Janet says
That’s it exactly Lisa, great idea to do something different.
Psych Babbler says
I must admit I don’t get the whole schoolies concept. They are still teenagers whose brains haven’t developed yet — most of them, especially in group situations — are going to do stupid things. The first time I went away on a holiday with my friends was when we finished our undergrad degree. And we didn’t have drunken orgies. Glad to hear your kids are sensible and don’t see the point in schoolies. 🙂
Janet says
I know, right! It’s a recipe for disaster.
Essentially Jess says
It certainly wasn’t done at all wen I graduated, or I never knew about it. My mum is really concerned bout my nephew who is going to Bali, and like you’re daughter he is young too, so that really makes a difference.
I’m hoping when the time comes, my kids won’t care. Or we can do something special for them that doesn’t involve a lot of drunken stupidity
Janet says
Jess, I’ve always wondered if it’s a big thing elsewhere. It’s huge here because we are literally next door Sin City oops I mean the Gold Coast 😉
franz chong says
A friend of mines sister was a 2015 graduate but as the timing of the cruise and schoolies week was very close together they all did a Christmas cruise as one large family and enjoyed it.I would recommend for any 2016 to 2019 graduates to accept the offer of such a thing instead of crap holes like The Gold Coast or Bali.
lisa says
We didn’t really have a schoolies when I was 17, but both my younger brother & sister went to schoolies. I am glad that kids are able to feel comfortable enough to say no to schoolies and do their own thing. I have 3 boys so I am trying not to think about all the peer pressure involved when their time comes. Congratulations on raising such a lovely teenager (almost adult) with her head screwed on straight.
Janet says
She’s not perfect Lisa and we’ve certainly had some trials and battles along the way! Just thankful this wasn’t one of them 🙂
Annie says
We didn’t have schoolies week, so I didn’t know much about it until recent years, when it makes the news every year (and not in a good way most of the time). But when my child’s time comes in a few years, I truly hope (a) he doesn’t want to go and (b) he understands why we won’t let him go.
Janet says
I think part of the secret is to talk about it from when they are young, and encourage other options instead.
franz chong says
True Janet.I am lucky we have a family friend whose son is in Year 1 and 6 years old at the moment so have time on our side for his parents and sister to assist in good other options when the time comes.I will be interested to see when I go on my South Pacific Cruise next fortnight how many class of 2014 graduates who are 18 will be on board having smartly chosen the family holiday over school leavers celebrations.
Alex Laughs Ideas Inspiration says
I saw them setting up a Schoolies Week tent up here in Airlie Beach and I hope it’s not as popular as it is down south.
I grew up on the Gold Coast so I’ve seen years and years of Schoolies Weeks. It’s set up on the beautiful beaches and it if it was just a fun, friendly beach festival then that would great. But in reality, it’s not. It’s ugly. Drunk teenagers who don’t know how to handle alcohol, don’t know how to say no to peer pressure and engage in unsafe sexual behaviour just because their parents aren’t around to keep an eye on them. My friends and I were no strangers to nightclubs and having a few drinks but when we graduated we spent one night at Schoolies and left because the people were behaving like idiots. At night it really is just a drunken orgy.
My kids won’t be attending any Schoolies festivities. If they want to celebrate graduating school with their friends I’ll be more than happy to take them on an adventurous holiday somewhere.
Janet says
Alex, I’ve always felt sorry for the poor residents of the Goldie who cop this every year.
Ainslie says
I went to Schoolies ten years ago and it wasn’t that bad. Granted, it was 10 years ago, and on the Sunny Coast, but not all young people are idiots. I think it’s about how you treat your teens and what behaviour you model and teach them.
Reflecting on my own personal experience, there were kids who drank till they spewed (EWWWWW!) and there were kids who didn’t drink at all. I’ll admit to being somewhere in-between, but really, it all about what your teen wants to do and how your teen wants to express themselves. 10 points to Miss Almost 17 for wanting to be with her family. It’s her life and her choice.
Janet says
Yeah I’ve never understood the whole drink til you spew mentality. Celebrate by all means, but good idea to stay away from the epicentre aka the Goldie.
Bec @ The Plumbette says
I went on Backflip up to the Whitsundays because my parents wouldn’t let me go to the GC for schoolies, not because they didn’t trust me but because they didn’t trust everyone else and it certainly wasn’t my scene. I loved going up north and made the best memories. I’ve known too many people go to the GC for schoolies and make bad choices that they have to live with for the rest of their lives. I hope your daughter has a great week at home for her Birthday. X o
Janet says
That’s it exactly Bec, it’s not that we don’t trust our kids it’s all the other idiots out there.
Mel @ Adventures of a Subversive Reader says
I didn’t go to schoolies partly because I wasn’t interested and partly because I had no money. A couple of friends and I spent the day at Mooloolabah beach, but we had to be finished by 3pm so I could teach a ballet class 🙂 I was one of the youngest too (birthday at the end of December), but that never bothered me at school because I wasn’t into the partying scene
Janet says
I was one of the youngest too Mel, my birthday is in January. Money was definitely a big issue in my decision not to go too xxx
Lisa@RandomActsOfZen says
Janet, that must be such a relief that neither of your kids were interested in Schoolies. We already talk about it to Bell, and she’s only 10 and thinks it seems like a dumb idea too.
I hope your Miss Almost 17 has a gorgeous birthday. xx
Janet says
Thanks Lisa. We did have a compromise though – Miss 16 said if she wasn’t going to Schoolies, then she wanted to go to the formal after party instead which we weren’t thrilled about but hey, she went and sounds like they were all too tired to get up to much anyways! xxx
franz chong says
this comes belatedly but that’s what most of the better schools where I come from do anyway and there’s nothing wrong with that.It’s a long time ago for me now but if any of us nineties kids could turn back the clock that’s the way it should be.
Amy says
SU has some great alcohol free Schoolies camps. They made formal look dull in comparison! Great to have a healthy alternative.
Janet says
SU does a wonderful job Amy xxx
Emma Fahy Davis says
Congratulations to your graduate! What a proud moment for her, and for you! Our #4 started school at 4.5 years so will be the youngest in her graduating class but we are looking at repeating her at some stage as while she’s cocky and confident, she’s reckless and immature and that’s a dangerous combination I fear.
Janet says
Good idea to get hold her back a year at some stage, we have regretted not doing the same for our girl.
franz chong says
I was 18 years and 11 months of age at time of graduating my senior year and in between working in the Surgery as my fathers receptionist at the time coupled with church stuff around the same time meant there was no time to waste on a schoolies week.I did a kindergarten style set up for Reception after a very difficult assessment with what was to be one of my later special education teachers way back in 1983 and was later for high school on a modified learning plan meaning I ended up doing everything a year later than my peers.No regrets as such and got a better holiday out of it at the end of it all except I wish I never met my Uncle and his family and they masqueraded as a bunch of oversized School leavers better known as Toolies plus brought up a lot of horrible stuff from the past that gives me nightmares to this day.
Twitchy says
Congrats to your girl! I’m not against schoolies per se, it is often the first time any of these kids have gone interstate or so far away from their families just with their peers, which is exciting. However from here the Gold Coast one looks little more than a trashfest, so I highly recommend doing what I did with one friend and went to Byron Bay instead. It was smaller, safer, full of international backpackers and was AWESOME! Wish I could do that again…
Robyn (Mrs D) says
I’m totally anti-schoolies!! I think the whole concept is just ridiculous, anti-social, horrible, stupid, irresponsible – need I go on!! Well done to your girl – mature beyond her years. I bet she’ll have a wonderful birthday. I think there are so many more fun and less destructive ways our teens can celebrate their new found freedom. xxx
Janet says
I was speaking to somebody today and he said there is a GREAT way to discourage kids from going to schoolies. Don’t pay for it – if they want to go let it come from THEIR pockets!
franz chong says
Well Janet The easiest way to discourage them from not going is offering the kids some kind of alternative and considering how close it is to Christmas depending on the state you are graduating in Parents should offer them but book it earlier in the year a family holiday.Here’s a good example Instead of Schoolies how about a Group Tour of Vietnam or a South Pacific Cruise or even a week in Hong Kong.
Janet Camilleri says
Great ideas, exactly what we did with our family.
Rita @ The Crafty Expat says
I had never heard of schoolies before coming to Australia. We don’t have this concept in Canada. I tend to agree with your opinion. When I see what happen in schoolies week on the news, I think it is a totally stupid concept and won’t encourage it as a parent.
Janet says
Yes it’s all a bit over the top really.
franz chong says
This comes belatedly but I LOVE YOUR opinion on this Rita.I just learnt this from some Tasmanian Friends recently.They don’t even have such things when a kid graduates but the whole education system is different there.It’s nine months to a year earlier than the rest of the nation.If they want to do something to mark the end of their schooling it is their choice.
Lizzy - Muddle-Headed Mamma says
That was such a mature decision that your daughter made, and I can imagine that it wasn’t easy to go against the grain like that. 13 years ago, I was packing my bags to go on schoolies. I think only a couple of people didn’t go and even back then, they were given strange looks for it. I can honestly say that I did not enjoy myself and if I could go back in time I wouldn’t go again. I live in a beach town now where kids come down fro the city for schoolies (we call it leavers in WA) and they just go crazy; it’s really quite scary. That’s great advice about not starting kids at school too early. My sister started her son a year earlier, but once he got to high school she regretted it and he ended up doing year 10 twice, at two different schools, not because he had problems academically, but because he just wasn’t ready socially. Happy 17th birthday to your gorgeous girl. xx
Anthony says
I just recently graduated from year 12. I did VCAL so i’m not doing exams, but the thing is I really don’t see the point of schoolies. because by what I can see is that schoolies is about just getting drunk. I’m not against drinking, having a few drinks is fine but there is a point where it gets stupid. like on the news in Vic, Australia. Two boys where band from their hotel because they where jumping from balcony to balcony. I couldn’t just help thinking what idiots they where. I don’t know if they where drunk or not, either way it’s just stupid.
I mean in year 7 and 8 me and my friends talked about going to schoolies and what fun it would be, but none of us has actually gone. we have just gone to each others houses talk, play, go to movies, etc. And truthfully I think this is more fun than getting pissed. I mean personally I am never going to drink, I don’t see the point in it. but even for the kids that are drinking. for the amount there drinking it’s just plan wrong. And even if me and my friends went, we would go to the beach, the theme parks and just hang out.
franz chong says
Anthony I have to commend you for making a wise choice.I don’t mind say if one is a little over 18 at time of graduation the person getting together for a weekly drink at the Pub with their mates but what one sees on the news whether it be In Victor Harbor,Gold Coast or Bali with these schoolies is shocking.We all talk about wanting to go ahead with our plan at the start of high school but a lot can change within those five years.Who knows sometimes if we are lucky and are already working from the age of 15 we continue doing that and within the first year to eighteen months we put enough aside for a better holiday elsewhere.I know I did that and encourage next years lot if they can to do the same or if possible if the parents offer them a family holiday incentive instead to take them up and say yes.
Jodie says
I stayed up the Sunshine Coast with 5 girlfriends (in 1988). We didn’t get up to too much mischief and felt so grown up without parents. You make me glad that my daughter Gina is one of the older ones in her class!
Janet Camilleri says
The Sunny Coast would have been a lovely alternative 🙂