The singing of the anthem is something that happens in every Australian school and is an important symbolic gesture of our togetherness as Australians. If the school has banned the anthem it suggests a hostility to that concept.
More disturbing is the report that the school has also banned the playing of the piano from its music program on the grounds that the piano is evil. If this is the case, such medieval nonsense is straight out of the joyless playbook of the Taliban, which regards television, cinema, and almost every form of art as the work of the devil.
People are punished for watching TV and listening to music in Afghanistan. If we have a situation here in the suburbs of Adelaide where children are being chastised for wanting to play and enjoy music, we have a very serious problem on our hands.
Private religious schools receive public money in Australia. The argument about whether they should was settled in the 1960s. If these schools teach the curriculum and adhere to community values, fair enough.
You would doubt that too many taxpayers would want to underwrite a curriculum which regards pianos as satanic and the anthem as a disgrace.
The Federal Government should seek answers from this college on our behalf. If these practices are confirmed, the school should not get a cent.
More importantly, its teaching practices should be monitored and if necessary stamped out, as this kind of teaching has no place in an enlightened democracy.
