Former Mentone Grammar student and ethicist Chris Fotinopoulos has alleged in an opinion piece published in The Daily Telegraph that he and other students experienced physical punishment and humiliation at the school during the 1970s.
In the article, Fotinopoulos described what he said were instances of corporal punishment administered by teachers at the then-named Mentone Boys Grammar, including under former principal Keith Jones.
“I don’t know which was worse: the beatings or the sexual humiliation,” he wrote. “Even now, close to half a century later, I struggle to make sense of it all.”
Fotinopoulos alleged that students were caned by staff and said such punishment was at times framed as character-building. He also recounted what he described as humiliating experiences during school activities, including cadet camps.
According to his account, students were at times disciplined in front of peers and, on one occasion, instructed to undress under supervision during a bush camp exercise.
He said reading recent accounts from other former students had resurfaced his own memories of the period.
“I am not inclined to see myself as a victim,” Fotinopoulos wrote. “But how can you not, in a school that enables systematic and collective abuse?”
In his opinion piece, Fotinopoulos also called on Mentone Grammar to confront its past, including reconsidering the naming of school facilities linked to former leadership.
The allegations have been made in a personal capacity and reflect Fotinopoulos’ account of his experiences. Mentone Grammar has not publicly responded to these specific claims.
Source: The Daily Telegraph.
