Dulwich College a “breeding ground for sexual predators”

[rosemary201]

Another day, another school
Interestingly, the first letter from a boy

Dulwich College is today accused of being a “breeding ground for sexual predators” in an open letter organised by a former schoolboy that contains more than 100 anonymous accounts of assault, harassment and sharing intimate photos online.

The letter, written by Samuel Schulenburg, 19, a former pupil at the south London private school, said “experiences of assault, revenge pornography and slut shaming were exacerbated by ... young men who ... laughed at stories of sexual violence”.

His letter includes about 100 anonymous testimonies written by girls who went to neighbouring schools, such as James Allen’s Girls’ School (Jags). One claims there was “an established rape culture” at the school.

Drinking culture doesn’t help the situation does it...I’ve had countless rows with family members who believe it’s a “rite of passage” for young kids to get drunk and who believe they are teaching kids to be responsible by letting them drink at home or hosting parties with 15/16 year olds where booze is freely available. As parents I think we can all be subject to peer pressure as we want to be “cool” parents and are told if we lay down the law our kids will just rebel. My SiL thought that allowing co-ed sleepovers for her 16 year old DS and his friends in their games room was perfectly fine until she walked in on what could only be described as some sort of orgy....(comprehensive school kids in this instance).

Interestingly my DD has told me that some girls are planning a protest outside of DC today.

I think it is very appropriate that Ofstead is now prepared to get involved;
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/23/private-school-rape-culture-row-ofsted-stands-ready-intervene/

[quote Dillydaffy]I think it is very appropriate that Ofstead is now prepared to get involved;
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/23/private-school-rape-culture-row-ofsted-stands-ready-intervene/[/quote]
I read that as we are not getting involved as all these schools are inspected not by Ofsted but by ISI!

I read it very differently - we are ready to act at any stage...

“We stand ready to support the government in any way that we can to strengthen safeguarding across the independent schools.”

Mr Shafiee went on to say that all allegations of sexual assault and harassment at schools should be dealt with “firmly”. He added: “There is no place for the kind of allegations that we have heard to take place in schools.

"Children need to be safe in schools, parents need to feel that their children are safe in schools and as I said we stand ready to help the department to make sure the schools do a good job by their children.”

Looks like London Oratory School is up next - an article in the Times accusing it of "fostering rape culture"...isn't this a state school and co-ed?

So, my story is not about any of the schools here. But my friend is a teacher at a private school and he mentioned that the biggest issue they are facing currently is the amount of girls they are having to take to A and E for prolapse- due to a porn culture. Now, I don't know the volume, but surely one is too many.

Jamiebond789 its a catholic school and is state.

@Jamiebond789 Yes state school. Many different types of schools have been involved in the accusations, not just fee paying. But there is a staggeringly high proportion of fee paying ones mentioned in allegations.

I think the common thread that links the schools that make the press are they are famous. The Oratory School is well known if only for the fact Tony Blair sent his kids there. No one would be interested if the story was about a local comp.

I find it really depressing that the press interest in the harassment teen girls suffer has only been piqued now that they can link it to boys from 'famous' schools.

Various organisations have been highlighting the problem of teen misogyny for years - there was a government enquiry back in 2016 which heard 59% of girls had experienced sexual harassment in school and 1/3 had suffered 'unwanted sexual touching'. It didn't generate anywhere near the press interest the school specific stories have this week.

@Jamiebond789 I disagree - I think the vast majority of people would be horrified and 'interested' (your words) to hear these types of stories about any school or establishment that looks after children, or if it was about children in care. Good on these journalists for bringing it all to light for a wider audience.

@dillydaffy the press SHOULD be reporting on this sort of thing regardless of the school as it goes on in ALL schools. It’s disappointing that they seem to believe that it’s only newsworthy if its a famous school.

@Jamiebond789
Nonsense, they would report on this if it was children in care and people would rightly be flabbergasted. They are currently reporting because there are so many allegations in such a short space of time and the topic is in peoples' minds due to the horrible murder in London. Young girls in London are feeling fragile at the moment and they are using the opportunity to speak out. Bravo.

@Jamiebond789

I think the common thread that links the schools that make the press are they are famous. The Oratory School is well known if only for the fact Tony Blair sent his kids there. No one would be interested if the story was about a local comp.

And Nick Clegg's. So true that it is very different from a local comp. Its really a state-funded "private" school. (Rugby teams playing the independents...)

I think there is a discussion about why so many fee paying schools are mentioned in allegations but it isn't really about the press coverage (the press publish what people will read, they analyse the clicks they get and they feed what interests people based on this, and clearly the two extremes of the spectrum are going to appeal to people's reading interest - private schools and children taken in to care.)

But why do SOME boys seem to feel so much power over girls at these establishments? That is a much more nuanced and important thing to consider -
www.telegraph.co.uk/education-and-careers/2021/03/22/six-things-state-schools-always-do-better-private-schools/

But my question is do boys at private schools really feel 'more power over girls' than boys do anywhere? The stats are so high that it can't just be private school boys. Only 7% of kids are privately educated but 59% of allbschool girls reported suffering sexual harassment. It is not possible for the private school boys to have been that busy. Yes it is publicising the issue but not in a way that is likely to lead to any long term solution because it is conflating two separate social issues.

@EssentialHummus

I’m not a parent there but have a number of friends with DC there and at the other Dulwich schools.

I think there needs to be a discussion about the “alpha” / very City-geared macho type of boys that seem to be the standard end product of the school. It’s a generalisation, of course. Schools aren’t sausage factories. But there’s a particular culture that the school seems to encourage (from the outside looking in, and from meeting these boys at school and as young adults), and in an ideal world the school should be able to reflect on that, and on the parents it attracts, and think through the kind of values it is seeking to impart. I suspect that given the kind of (themselves alpha) parents it appeals to that pigs might fly before that happens, but I live in hope. You create a macho, win-at-all-costs domineering culture, you produce young men who may embody these values.

I agree with this 100% and have posted in the past about it suiting alpha Male, city type families. These seem to be the families/boys it sets out to attract and why we didn't take up a (very) good offer.

It's a shame as there is much to admire about the school. I know a couple of boys who are more sensitive who attend and their experience isn't generally a happy one. I hope the school look beyond the hype and address these issues.

As an afterthought I don't see, for example, these stories about the boys at City of London School which is also a completely all boys school but has a different demographic (not saying it doesn't go in of course).

Doom ball is spot on. Surely schools reflect the society they are in?

Thanks all, didn't realise my post would strike such a chord.

@mrspatmore There are quite a few stories about CLSB on the everyone's invited page. I suppose the difference is there hasn't been an "open letter" collating them.

@Notmynom - I'm not persuaded that they do. Toxic masculinity can occur anywhere, and the major lesson we can should be taking from thus is how to teach young men not to be creeps

I also doubt that it the problem is endemic in the schools that have hit the press. What we are seeing here is, I think, the 'party set' at their full obnoxious worst. And their excesses are by and large outside the school but feeding back in. I've even heard parents condoning it - eg not challenging their young teen boys when they and their friends are talking about all the girls as such-and-such a school being 'slags' (or getting their boy away from the toxic group)

I agree with doomball - schools have a role, but so do parents and wider society

@rosemary201 - your post appeared whilst I was typing. I think it would be a thoroughly good thing if it was acknowledge that every school has, or could have, this issue at any time. It might help if it was seen as a form of bullying. It probably will rear its ugly head, but there should be no doubt about its unacceptability, and it needs tackling both proactively as well,as reactively