The Problem with Privilege

This past fall was a season of scandal for Toronto private schools. In November, six students at St. Michael’s College School, which educates boys from grade 7 to 12, were charged with sexual assault. The charges were laid after videos emerged that allegedly showed students at the Catholic school being violently hazed. The month before, Bishop Strachan School (BSS), an Anglican school for girls from kindergarten to grade 12, made headlines for a production of The Merchant of Venice that emphasized the play’s anti-Semitic sentiment. The play, performed for grade 11 and 12 students, was intended to satirize anti-Jewish prejudice but parents objected that BSS did not adequately prepare students beforehand. According to CTV, parents were alarmed that their children “were expected to yell ‘Hallelujah’ in response to the actor onstage shouting anti-Semitic statements such as ‘Burn their synagogues’…to mimic how Hitler brainwashed youth before the Holocaust.” Both schools...