<< BILL & JOHN ~ MAIN ~ NEWS BRIEFLETS >>
NATION OF BAD STUDENTS
Why was John Howard re-elected? Because the education system has failed! Kevin Donnelly reports:
Wayne Sawyer, the president of the NSW English Teachers Association and chairman of the NSW Board of Studies English Curriculum Committee, bemoans the fact that the Howard Government was re-elected and cites this as evidence that English teachers have failed in their job.
Parents and the general public might be forgiven for thinking that English teachers, instead of teaching students the “right” way to vote, should be more concerned with teaching students to read and write and to value good literature. Not so.
Sawyer asks: “What does it mean for us and our ability to create a questioning, critical generation that those who bought us balaclavaed security guards, alsatians and Patrick’s stevedoring could declare themselves the representatives of the workers and be supported by the electorate?
“Three years before, Howard had headlined the non-existent children overboard, he had put race firmly on the agenda as an election issue and cynically manipulated the desperation and poverty of our Pacific neighbours. What does it mean for us and our ability to create a questioning, critical, ethical citizenry that that kind of deception is rewarded?”
Sawyer’s deception—he poses as an educator, while he’s actually a political activist—has been rewarded by his appointment as President of the English Teachers. He bravely continues:
“We knew the truth about Iraq before the election. Did our former students just not care? We knew before the election that ‘children overboard’ was a crock, but, as it was yesterday’s news, did they not care about that either? Has English failed not only to create critical generations, but also failed to create humane ones?”
It’s failed to create sane ones, in at least some cases. Take a look at Jack Robertson’s latest work, which the author insists does “absolutely not� make any connection between Howard’s government and Nazis, and that “nowhere did I make any such link�. For shame, English teachers of Australia!
On a related note, Mark Carolan writes:
Here’s a great Patrick Cook cartoon (from Ship of Fools, way back in ‘91) that seems quite relevant.
UPDATE. Tony Abbott:
One of the most satisfying aspects of the Government’s re-election was that it infuriated the right people.
1. I find balaclavas, and our alsatian, quite useful - particularly when compared to the usefulness of so-called “academics” who are political players on the bludge from the public purse.
2. It was actually “everbody overboard” when the ratbags scuttles the vessel to avoid being “redirected” away from Australia.
3. ” ..our ability to create a questioning, critical, ethical citizenry”.. nothing to be gained from Sawyer’s pedagogy here!Teachers have an overinflated sense of their own influence and importance.
Its amazing that the so called “progressives” aren’t really so inclined, they don’t want independant thinkers, they want mindless drones that will defer to their groupthink.
Its the same at uni, activist lecturers appeal to about 3% of the student population, the 3% who are already on board idealogically the other 97% want to get pissed, laid and pass their degree in the shortest time / least effort. They are fucking kidding themselves if they think they are making a difference.
As for the webdiary, it has officially jumped the shark, Robertson’s essay with the ongoing Nazi references was just a dog whistle to all the left wing malcontents and anti Howard whiners.
Its the just the next cause celeb, they don’t give a shit about Rau, she’s just the vehicle to bash the government.
I find it interesting that everyone complains that Rau was held in detention for 4 months, what has failed to get any traction was the time taken for the family to report her missing, they took 6 months….6 fucking months? If they had of been a little bit more proactive, then she would have likely never made it to detention.
Ah yes but the target is Howard so everything else is irrelevent to the idealogical lemmings of the left, its a tragic case but the blame rests on many shoulders!
They don’t teach english in english classes anymore (they haven’t for decades). It’s all drama class and creative writing, as well as media studies; a perfect setting for political indoctrination.
The core of English should be 1. grammar (syntax, parsing, & spelling etc.) 2. literary criticism (of the best English texts - not necessarily Australian, almost certainly not in fact - preferably Shakespeare and good novelists.)
When English had to argue for a place in the education curriculum little over a century ago, it was supposed to be intellectually rigorous and scholarly. It is laughable to look at the end result.
The biggest problem is how do you educate the educators, as many of the teachers employed don’t know enough grammar to be able to teach it, and aren’t familiar with good literature and so aren’t able to teach that well or enjoyably.
Finally, the federal government is acting on this issue (rather than side issues such as flag-poles). It’s a huge, entrenched problem and won’t be fixed anytime soon.
Posted by David McBryde on 2005 02 09 at 08:37 AM • permalinkDeer Tim Blare
Az a teetcha I am sik ov beein mockd for wonting t 2 edjookate kidz so that they lern 2 voat 4 the rite guvermunt.
Ov cors thay shud allso lern about reeding riting mafs and syunse witch wee also lern into them. but r roll is much mor than lerning dem wiv buks but alzo as peepel an no about rasism an glow ball worming. Bush+Howurd=hitler
yours sinseerlee
ross, a fisiks an kemustree teechaHey nuffy, you’re being a bit unfair to Rau’s family. According to them, she disappear for several weeks and then turn up, and then they also had a family member die back in Germany. Some people with mental illnesses cut themselves off from family and friends and it is very difficult for families to keep track of people in those circumstances.
Get stuck into the people who are exploiting Rau all you want, but maybe it’s better to think twice before criticising her family without knowing the full story.
Personally, I think oneof the biggest areas of concern is how the QLD government kept her in prison and gave her a patently inadequate psychiatric assessment before handing her over to Baxter.
Since we have drifted off in that direction, it is worth noting that all the fuss is really about the lack of a national missing persons register, which might in turn need a national ID register! Shock, Horror! Invasion Of Privacy! No To The Australia Card!
When Amanda (for all seasons) Vanstone tried to point this out she was accused on PM (that paragon of correctness)of trying to shift the blame!
They were reading from a letter by Cornelia on AM this morning - they left out the last bit: Signed ..... who?Medusa
I’m not being unduely harsh, you said that she regularly disappeared for a couple of weeks, this WAS 6 MONTHS and they finally decided to make a call.
If your sister or daughter when missing regularly and had a mental condition you’d try to be a little more proactive I would have thought, also please explain to me what relevence the german relative passing away has to anything to do with the case.
Also, what about the lapses in the system that happened in the NSW and QLD mental health systems, she spent a awful long time missing before she was sent to detention, my point is that there is blame to be apportioned at a variety of individuals and organisations, including the family and yet the lemmings of the left choose to creatively interpret the issue to satisfy their anti Howard agenda.
This prattle is SO incredibly narrow-minded and insulting. If you do not believe as they do, you are ignorant or immoral or coldly indifferent.
Even though the vast majority of Iraqis welcomed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and say that their lives will improve as a result, these self-acclaimed, self-righteous individuals claim to know better. THEY know what’s good for Iraq, NOT the Iraqi people!
I, myself, would argue that NOT to intervene in Iraq after 12 years of failed and corrupt U.N. sanctions and the hundreds of thousands of victims which resulted from this incompetence and apathy was TRULY immoral! Where was all the concern for Iraqi victims then??? These people and their highly selective anguish and outrage are FRAUDS! FRAUDS!!!Peter Ruehl in the AFR has had a fair bit to say on education in the last week or so. I doubt I can link to it given that Fairfax tend to charge for everything so here’s my favourite bit:
It gets even better when you get to geography, as I’ve discovered in the past few days. My 12-year-old son has just started seventh grade, or year seven as it’s called here, and his geography textbook looks like it was co-written by a bunch of greens on sensory overload and anti-free-traders who moonlight selling patchouli oil
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2005 02 10 at 01:38 AM • permalinkUPDATE. Tony Abbott:
One of the most satisfying aspects of the Government’s re-election was that it infuriated the right people
Shouldn’t that be “... infuriated the correct people”
Posted by watka naidoo on 2005 02 11 at 09:24 AM • permalinkNuffy, did you miss the bit in my post where I criticised the QLD (and ALP) government? As for the relevance of the relative dying in Germany - it was Cornelia’s grandmother, so her family needed to sort out the estate of someone in another country, which (speaking from close hand experience) can get tricky and take up months - especially if Cornelia’s parents needed to go back to Germany.
I know several people who have suffered from psychosis triggered by schizophrenia, and have seen them drop communication with close friends and family for months. It can be extremely difficult for families to keep tabs on what is happening with a sick relative who deliberately cuts them off. I don’t think it’s fair to blame the family for the situation as no one knows the fully story.
I think Jeff Kennett’s comments on the whole saga were particularly worthwhile, and can hardly be dismissed as lefty Howard bashing (and I agree with you that some people have been exploiting the situation for their own purposes which is disgraceful).
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
Mate, the thing that gives me the tom-tits about idiots like Robertson is that they are so utterly intellectually dishonest and gutless. I mean, if they hate the USA, think JWH is the reincarnation of Heinrich Himmler and bin Laden is a folk hero then they should just admit it.
At least then we know where we all stand.