Our education failures

Bazza Jones on the state of Australian and Victorian Education. Sums up the state department like this:

The Victorian Department of Education and Training is strong in management and weak in strategic thinking, creativity or imagination. It has failed to address major problems in Victorian education.

He also gives an interesting definition of education:

"Education is a combination of processes, both formal and informal, that stimulate the growth of mental capacity, influence the potential of humans, aim at individual development, understanding, and independence, encompass the teaching of specific skills and nurture knowledge, judgement, values and wisdom, transmit culture and social adaptation, but also encourage exploration, self-discovery, using time effectively and learning for a lifetime, strengthening self-image, and encouraging creativity, balance, open-mindedness, questioning, respect for others and humane common sense."

It would take real guts for society to fund schools properly

More from Catherine Deveny on public schools.

If you want private education for your kids, pay for it yourself

Catherine Deveny's thoughts, in response to Shane Maloney's gutsy straight talk to the nobs and toffs at Scotch.

School teacher fined over Microsoft piracy

It seems that teachers are all maoist, pinko, tree-hugging sleepers with a bent for software piracy.

Seriously though, this kind of deliberate attempt at bringing down the bill and melinda gates foundation can only end in tears for all of us. I denounce this senseless act of decency.

Teacher performance pay model won't perform

Some important questions Minister Julie Bishop has yet to answer on teacher performance pay.

Heroes we don't praise enough

Glyn Davis is vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne. This is an edited extract of his speech to the Australia Day breakfast at Parliament House, Melbourne.

Thanks, Professor Davis.

AUSTRALIA Day is an invitation to celebrate heroes — those extraordinary people who together made possible our large and successful society.

I come to praise a group of unlikely candidates who get little recognition for their contribution — indeed people who find themselves regularly pilloried in public discussion.

Democracy is underpinned by assumptions we take for granted — that, for example, every Australian can read and write and so participate in public life.

Our political system presumes, without much examination, that Australians understand the purpose and operation of democracy, the value of free expression, the importance of the rule of law, the intrinsic rights of every person.

There was a time, of course, when such assumptions could not be made — when education and literacy were not universal, when essential civic knowledge might not be absorbed at school, to be carried through life.

We had to learn how to live together in peace, and we did so in large part through education ... more

How to be an education expert (and warrior)

This is by Mercurius Goldstein (what's in a name ... right!) posted over at Larvatus Prodeo. Keep it coming MG.

Mercurius says:

Well, here’s my review of “Dumbing Down”. Actually it’s a review I wrote for Dr D’s last book, but I’ve since found you can use to review everything he’s ever written. It’s a kind of meta-review.

HOW TO BE AN EDUCATION EXPERT

You too can enjoy the public acclaim and consultancy fees that come with being an education expert! Just follow this prescription for success and a government grant can’t be far behind…

1. There is a crisis in education - your business depends upon it. Take every opportunity you can to point out the crisis in education. Think of it as advertising.

2. Teachers are Marxists. Teachers who deny they are Marxists are postmodern Marxists, which is worse.

3. Postmodernism is a world-view that makes it impossible for people to see that you are right. Postmodernism causes teenagers to challenge authority and spell badly. Before postmodernism, these problems did not exist.

4. There aren’t enough men in teaching. And by men, I mean real men, not these postmodern Marxist nancy-boys you see flouncing about our public schools (there’s something suspicious about them…). Be careful not to make too much of this however, because men will demand the same salaries they can get in other professions.

5. Repeat after me: repetition works. Studies have shown that a claim becomes true if you say it over and over again without listening to any alternative suggestions. Studies have shown that a claim becomes true if you say it over and over again without listening to any alternative suggestions. Try to make your claims truer than everybody else’s.

6. Paying for private education is a noble act of self-sacrifice, made by parents without any thought for the future social or material benefits that may result. Parents who send their kids to private schools love their children more and are better people than public-school parents. If public-school parents only loved their children more, they would be able to afford a private education for them.

7. Public schools are not failing enough students, and are heartlessly providing them with nothing but support and encouragement. Fortunately, there is lots parents can do to balance things up. Start by telling your child every morning what a disappointment they are to you, and provide them with years of shaming and criticism. This will result in a happy, well-adjusted individual ready to negotiate in the modern workplace.

8. Teachers are to blame for teenage delinquency, moral relativism, greengrocers’ apostrophes, multicultural policy and Leo Sayer’s comeback. However, to give credit where it’s due, we should remember that when young Australians make great achievements, or grow up to be decent individuals holding down a job and raising a family, it is all thanks to their parents.

9. In the modern classroom, students don’t do any real work. Instead, they get given namby-pampy “assignments” where all they have to do is think of a topic, find research materials, form a logical argument based on the evidence and make a persuasive presentation to their classmates. But since they do all that without copying anything down from the blackboard, they haven’t really learnt anything, have they?

10. The golden rule: If you ever let anybody think that Australian education is doing well, they won’t give you any gold to fix it.

14-year-old girl in jail for shoving teacher's aide

This is almost too much to take. I have to read it twice. Is there something the paper is not reporting?

A 14 year old student shoves a teacher aide, is found guilty of 'assault on a public servant' and jailed till she is 21!

This cannot be right. This is an April Fools gag right?

Julie Bishop gets an F for fairness

What a wonderful analysis of the Howard government's arrogance towards public schooling. We need much more of this kind of coverage, and from journalists themselves.