It's a shame this author has combined a call for teaching philosophical thinking with his campaign against religion, as commitment to atheism is completely unnecessary to his argument and will inevitably create opposition to it.

The Philosophy for Children program has better evidence than any other comparable program I know of as a way of improving the depth and quality of thinking in school children. It certainly has better evidence than any history curriculum.

However, given the knee jerk approach to curriculum that has governed Australian decisions in recent times, such a rational basis for the curriculum is not likely to prevail.

john makes the basic [sic*]con-fusion

""maybe you can stand one more quote, this time from the introduction to the second edition of Terry Lane's book, "God; the Interview """

the headline reads god
religion got nuthin to do with god

noting that this attacks religion
not god

""where he writes, in 2004, after 9/11
and other religion inspired major terrorist events;!""

to wit not god

clever?..my butt
5%...more clever...[lol]?
via public school...[lol

in sydney right?
them durn middle class
in public school/../[in good areas]!

privledged
by starting up with a better class..of kids in class

but back to religion insanity
being blamed on god

after 911
[a cia/mossad operation]
that set up patzies..[many of whome yet live]

the only steel frame buildings ever..to fail
by fire/plane damage..bigger planes bigger fires..didnt bring dow buldings

just three
in all of histry\within hours of each other
owned by the same person[ok maybe leased by the same person]

who happend to have a 99 year lease
on conmdition of clearing out asbesus
[but no insurior would underwrite it]

so he tok out not one
but two insurances against planes hitting his buildings
getting two huge opayoff's and a soon to be new building for the rest of his leasse
\
so via an israel insuarnce.[that payed off immediatly..thus forcing 'underwriters to pay out too]and yes a bush boy was doing swecurity over the buildings'renovations'..where the steel beans were wrapped in demolition cord

just after this huge lie
by police

"If there is one thing we have learned..in the past ten years
it is that as long as the religion delusion persists and flourishes just so long we will live in peril."

yes it seems to be
your being distracted
away from the true dangers
of a dumbed down education system

get educated
read 'dumbing down ..the american education system'

there are of course a few version's of it..
as agents of dissinfo will do

but get this
god isnt in any church
his throne..lies within..everyliving thing
\
that ye do to the least
you did 'to him'

This article started off in the right direction but then lost its way with digressions into religion etc. There is much that is wrong with our educational system. What is lacking is a willingness to tackle the problems., of which religion is only a tiny fraction.

We could do worse than looking at the Finnish experience. Some years ago they were concerned that Finland was falling behind in the world ecucational tables (just like Australia is now). They embarked on major reform. Finlnd now ranks in the top five countries on just about all standardized international measures.

There is not the space here to detail the reforms that were undertaken. Details are readily available for those willing to look and learn. I will however mention a few that are relevant to the points the author was seeking to make.

1. The classes are not streamed.
2. 30% of children receive extra help in their first nine years of school.
3. All teachers have a Masters degree and their study for that is fully subsidized.
4. There are 10 applications for each available place and only the top 10% get into teacher training.
5. The school system is 100% state funded.

Among the results of this system are that 93% of students graduate from high school and 66% go on to tertiary education.

The information is known in Australia as to how we can achieve these sort of results. What is lacking is the political will to overcome the deadening influence of the vested interests and actually implement policies that work.

...Ahhh, OUG, as usual an intriguing post that mixes the "whisps" of religion with conspiracy theory:

But the profundity of your post lies in this stated simplicity:


“that ye do to the least
you did 'to him' ”

And the reason for the above? :

“god isnt in any church
his throne..lies within..everyliving thing “

..."truth of life is"... "life IS God"!... On this point I'am sure, we happily and mutually conspire!

James O’Neill:

...I couldn’t help smiling while reading your post: There begs a question; Of all the people “out here” with the answers, why are we ignored by the political class with all the power and all the money?

Dear Diver Dan,

For the reason suggested in my final paragraph. The "deadening influence of vested interests". These include but are not limited to the teacher unions; the religious organisations that run their parochial schools; and a political class that is manifestly brain dead, for which there are many examples in public policy.