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Date Posted: 17/04/26 3:38:06, Fri
Author: Dirty dancing
Subject: Ellen Coyne book review

An interesting read. I was excited to read as I have been following Coyne's work since the story broke.

Gripping opening, then a slow history lesson that has little to do with the book’s subject. It picks up when we get to the topic of the story with a very detailed summary of the entire affair and proceedings. Much of it will be no news to those of us who have been following the story and its aftermath, but I was shocked to read the extent of how poorly the accusations and disciplinary action were managed by CLRG. The timeline jumps around to follow threads of specific issues, and there are some minor errors in facts about how competitions operate etc. but otherwise well written.

I must admit Coyne is much more sympathetic to the alleged cheaters than they deserve. Yes livelihoods were at risk, reputations damaged, mental health affected, but why are we ignoring that they made the choice to participate in the cheating? <Everyone else was doing it>, but they knew it was wrong and did it anyway. It’s easier to choose not to partake. And knowing that the story will end with them all off the hook without proper trial, it is an odd choice to paint them in a human fallacy, if not innocent, light.

And the narrative she pushes is that the dancers never even needed the favours, that they all would have won anyway. Though important to highlight that they are all talented, hardworking and not at fault here, one must admit, even logically, that favours were granted and some were undeserved.

Somewhere along the way the system is blamed as the cause instead of the enabling culture it is, when most can navigate the system without letting their egos and paranoia triumph.

I thought it was also an unexpected choice for her to criticise the people most angry about the situation and its outcome. I suppose I was expecting a journalist to side with the interest of the masses, but perhaps I interpreted her tone incorrectly. To Coyne, and many on this forum who want to move on and let the culture persist, I’d be regarded as what she views as an <anarchist>; someone unwilling to let it go, who continues to complain about the injustice and corruption.

My gripe with the book can be summed up from one of the book’s final lines:
<The parents who passed through the doors were paying a much higher fee for this contest, a new measure required by cash-strapped CLRG. But many of them have paid a lot more since 2022. Friends, livelihoods and reputations were all lost in the wake of the cheating scandal.>
Parents didn’t lose livelihoods and reputations, it was the teachers who were caught cheating. And most, if not all, continue to run successful schools and businesses, completely unaffected by this saga.

Little thought is given to the vast majority of people in this story: the dancers, parents and teachers that had no involvement in the cheating; the teachers that refused to give in; the dancers that lost out on trophies to those with favours; the parents that were forced to cover CLRG’s losses.

I encourage people to read it themselves and draw their own conclusions and interpretations. I didn’t expect this review to sound so harsh on Coyne. I enjoyed the book and would recommend, I just don’t agree with some of the choices.

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