Policy lessons from the schoolyard

Abstract

Reflecting on his memories of growing up, Roger Bradbury wonders whether approaches to policy have changed much at all.

In the 1950s, Southport – where I grew up – was just a small Queensland coastal town subsisting on fishing, agriculture, forestry, and a bit of tourism. The town had not yet merged with its smaller neighbouring villages to form the Gold Coast. Life was quiet, provincial, and pleasant.

I attended Southport State School and accidentally learned some valuable lessons in policy, politics, and power there. I say accidental because any education in that school was a side effect of a system designed to produce a barely literate, compliant proletariat. But still, the insights I gained there stayed with me, and helped me understand how people use power and policy.