Should we take our kids out in public?

At the Jewish school in Melbourne where I teach, we had been excitedly preparing to take our junior students on an offsite excursion.

Excursions are always a highlight for our students, a rare chance to leave the confines of the school gates and explore the outside world. It was set to be a day of hands-on learning, connection to the natural world, and shared joy – everything an excursion should be.

Then we arrived at school the next morning.

Huddled together in the staffroom, my colleagues and I read the news. Grade five students from Mount Scopus College were racially abused by secondary school students. They were visiting the Melbourne Museum on a class excursion. They were called “dirty Jews”. They were taunted for who they are.

Further away from home, we read about Jewish children on their way to a summer camp in Europe who were removed from a plane for singing Jewish and Hebrew songs. 

Many of our students are visibly Jewish. Suddenly, the idea of a public excursion no longer felt safe.

The conversation among the staff quickly shifted.

“I’ve been thinking about our trip,” one teacher said, her voice heavy with concern. “After what happened at the Melbourne Museum, I’m not comfortable taking our students.”