Bravo Doctor Cat. You so elegantly articulated what has had me fuming everytime I hear negative mention made of "the teachers". Never mind your point about teachers being made accountable for every socially undesirable element in children and teenagers these days - the contempt that's shown for interpreting things through a so-called Marxist framework is more worrying.

The Marxist link was drawn through reference to one particular essay, but has now become synonomous with everything that has changed (read: become evil) about teaching. Rather than complimenting the fact that students, when asked to consider readings in a homosexual, ethnocentric, feminist or even conservative fashion, are in fact being taught to accept all manner of perfectly acceptable lifestyles that continue today to be vilified, teachers and school systems are criticised in a most exaggerated farcical manner of trying to convert their students to their secret cult of communism and hairy armpits. The constant insistence that modern education be chucked in favour of hand raps and Shakespeare ignores, as you quite rightly demonstrate, that society has changed to the point that these teaching methods won't work anymore - and that's ignoring for the moment whether or not they ever worked for the good of society.

Brilliant point about Titus Andronicus as well.

I think we can all agree that one of the great tragedies of our time is the adage, "Those who can't do, teach." As well as the financial aspects, with with such ready criticism and so little respect for teachers evident everywhere, how can we expect to create an education system that doesn't just function, but inspires?

My favourite Best Blog so far. Sorry Audrey, you've just been knocked off the top of the list - but you'd get my vote for best comment if that's any consolation.

What absolute dribble. Kids have always been quite happy to sit in rows and being organised. It is simply a matter of knowing your stuff, having a commitment to your subject matter (in my case mathematics), making the classroom experience interesting, teach well and help the kids to learn. It is quite possible for kids to enjoy mathematics or any other subject if the teacher is organised, interesting to the kids and works hard to have them get something out of the experience, and that includes a good deal of drilling.

As for English classes, unfortunately in the 1970's teachers started to get away from the strict grammatical approach like "parsing and analysis" which taught kids the structure of the language. Sure, kids found it tough but that is part of life. There are always tough bits to come to grips with as one moves through life.

There is a definite need in schools to gets the historical basics of language, mathematics, science, history and geography at the forefront of the curriculum before extending out into some of the lofty ideals stuff which is the focus of the Outcomes Based Education approach.

As for the author of this piece, she rates as a levitator, in my view, living in a dream world that just doesn't exist. Julie Bishop and John Howard have their feet planted firmly on the ground and are right on the money.

Sniggid, of course John Howard has his feet planted firmly on the ground. That's the only position possible when he's got his head so far up GW Bush's butt!

This debate should evolve into an attack on teachers- in my view the only reason that this perception exists is because the teachers unions and political activists are trying to divert attention and criticism away from the ridiculous curriculum that exists in schools and universities today (nothing to do with teachers)!

By way of background I'm a generation x, professional male who finished year twelve and went on to complete an LLB/ BA (Hons) during 6 years at university. I spent 4 of those years sitting on a student representative body (not protest group) that was committed to the unfashionable ideal of universities being for learning and not political activism.

The number of lecturers who could not grasp why law students wanted to be lawyers rather than chain themselves to troop trains was unbelievable! Similarly, I had students studying commerce repeatedly complain that the first four weeks of every subject were dedicated to the history of Marxism and that the final four weeks were interrupted by the rhetorical speeches of far left protest groups.

At school, English was dominated by Shakespearean Dress Ups, and those who did manual arts or a trade based subject were treated like lepers and excluded from post high school learning meetings. Strangely enough, that manual arts class is doing alright ten years on, none of them care about HECS debts and not having spent 6 years at uni. Furthest from their mind are the leftist, feminist, pinkos who made them feel like crap for turning their back on Marx and letting the good times roll

Having had teachers for roommates it was often interesting hearing them talk about their days, their requirements, particularly those teachers who taught in the private sector. They were often called on to work extra hours and take students on extra curricular activities. They were working and marking outside of work hours quite frequently, especially near the end of the terms, and while they did have decent holiday periods, these periods were fixed, and the work they put in during the school semester more than made up for the holiday time.

As for pinko marxist ideologues... seems to me it's only been since the conservatives got into power that there has been a huge rise in this kind of discussion. I suppose you can chalk that up to the lefties (and I use that term incredibly loosely) in power agreeing with what is going on, though I rather suspect it was more that labor was happy to leave things as they are. The Howard Government seems pretty thin skinned when it comes to criticism or views that clash with theirs.

Which I for one, find very concerning. Though I suppose that's because I'm some kind of pinko marxist right?