Sarah Reviews: Bad Behaviour by Rebecca Starford
It’s 20 years since I was in high school and back then the term ‘bullying’ wasn’t even part of the vernacular. Didn’t mean girls and bad behaviour exist in my day? Of course. They have been around forever.
Rebecca Starford’s memoir Bad Behaviour is an insightful, often confronting read about the year she spent as a 14-year-old at the unique bush campus of a Melbourne boarding school.The book’s blurb quickly introduces us to the school’s rugged approach to education:
‘It was supposed to be a place where teenagers would learn resilience, confidence and independence, where long hikes and runs in the bush would make their bodies strong and foster a connection with the natural world. Living in bare wooden huts, cut off from the outside world, the students would experience a very different kind of schooling, one intended to have a strong influence over the adults they would eventually become.’
From here we are thrust into the daily fight for survival of a boarding house where 15 girls are largely left unsupervised. There are the ringleaders; these are mean girls who dictate the state of play. Then there are their targets, selected because of perceived weakness or worse still a will that needs breaking. And finally, we have the inbetweeners who struggle to find a firm place among either. The behaviour of the girls is unfettered, manipulative, and at times very cruel.
Rebecca’s struggle to carve out her own identity in this largely adult-less environment and her attraction to the power players despite herself is something I think many will identify with. I was certainly transported back to moments in my teenage years where conformity overpowered sense.
This book is beautifully written. It cleverly interweaves the story of 14-year-old ‘Bec’ with passages from Rebecca as an adult as she searches for love and self-acceptance.
For me, the structure and workings of the bush campus, known in the book as Silver Creek, felt extraordinary and at times hard to believe (10 kilometre runs most days and a marathon at the end of term; activities every student must complete without exception). The students clearly were not thriving in this tough-love, back-to-basics environment, and it seemed as though the conditions were taking a heavy toll on the teachers too. A quick Google search, however, tells me this innovative year of education is still in practice at the school today.
Rebecca’s relationship with her parents, and in particular, her relationship with her mother, left me with more questions than answers. I desperately wanted insight into why this couple seemed so distant from their daughter and why exactly they saw more merit in her being at the school than at home with them.
Bad Behaviour is an engrossing read. It shines an unfiltered light on just how life-shaping a person’s teenage years have the potential to be.
