False Advertising

Found myself chuckling over a daft little item in yesterday's paper about some ditsy - but extremely well-off - girl in Australia who is suing the prestigious school she used to attend for failing to get her into the university course of her choice. Must say, other folk didn't find it all quite so funny, with quite a few ranting over her sense of entitlement and seeing the egregious law suit as another sign of the end of civilisation as we know it - as opposed to a rather entertaining bit of daftness that confirmed that an awful lot of people are not too clever, including quite a few who have money and attend prestigious schools.

If anyone's thinking of suing me on similar grounds, let me just say I'll plead guilty as charged and throw myself on the mercy of the court.

Oddly what nobody seemed at all interested in with regard to yesterday's story is the kind of advertising the school puts out. (Though it's my guess the lawyers for the plaintiff intend to have some fun with this.) This is a wild guess, but I reckon they won't be saying things like, Well we really can't guarantee a genuine education for the kids we get because essentially that lies in their hands (or heads) and there comes a point at which there's not much you can do if they're not interested. But we'll make it as lively as we can to sugar the pill and there's enough money floating about to ensure they'll get the bells and whistles and teachers with a fair understanding of what they're talking about and not too many other young sharks competing in the same pool. After that, they're on their own really. But that's life, isn't it?

Funnily enough, if I saw that kind of advertising from a school I'd be quite keen to teach there.