SAMS,but we have SOBS in charge of nearly every state in Aust.The teacher unions and Labor SOBS determine the real direction of education.Of course I'm be a tad simplistic ,but the left has held the lectern for too long.I'm here to stir the pot and balance the scales.

Well the words and ideas are certainly getting jumbled now, aren't they? Very little discussion of the alleged dumbing down, and a succession of increasingly vague and unsupported assertions pushing people's pet prejudices. Now it's all the Left's fault, apparently, and they have an unbalanced share of voice. Perhaps it's because teacher unions are interested in education? I'm no great fan of the conservative "left" that constitutes teacher unions, nor of the not quite as conservative "right" in Federal Government. If the "left" dominates and needs to have the balance redressed, how about the "right" doing more to build an alternative, rather than seeing education as a cost to be cut instead of the investment it clearly is? I would like to see less of the ignorant and unhelpful bashing of education and educators and more constructive suggestions.

What the left has been trying to achieve is the feeling of the"Inclusive Society",whereby everyone is an equal achiever.It sounds good in theory,however children soon determine pecking orders and know who has intellectual or leadership ability in the playground.When we read school reports these days,they often leave us less informed than prior to their consumption.

The real dilemma is how we make all feel worthwhile and maintain a healthy level of competition that maximises participation.

To have no expectations of our children is just as derelict of duty as those who live their lives through their children,pushing them the brink of rebellion.

The trick is in keeping the balance.Children should enjoy school,but also learn life skills and values that will help them survive in the work place.

I've never heard of anyone actually seeking equal achievement and would be very grateful for a direct quotation, please. Or a withdrawal. What I have heard - from the three fine (State) schools my children attend - is that every child has the potential to achieve something, be that maths, music, sport or whatever. And just the other day I heard from another young friend at an expensive school whose fellow student brought in her autistic brother, who has a number of obvious difficulties of course but a phenomenal memory - it got the kids out of thinking monodimensionally, for the benefit of all.

But Peter, don't forget there are physicists who do research that may never get applied either. E.g. string theory, do you think that will ever lead to better quality of life like solid state physics? Although their equations are not as cloudy as education research jargon, the practical value may be just about the same. This is true for many domains if not all. Many people in engineering do reserach just to get promotion, while no engineer would ever use it. But at least they don't use mumble-jumble to hide the uselessness and emptiness like some education people do.

The greatest physics educators I've met were all physicists, and their probably know little about education theory. Same goes for math/engineering. To be a good teacher you need to at least know the subject matter well, and have heart. I got this friend who's a drop-out from science, ended up getting a business degree from some crappy school, and is now teaching computers to high-school dropouts. He claims to be a scholar and is enrolled in an EdD program, and is really into the art of mumble-jumble. His "research interest" is "style", excuse me? Although he's going to use statistics (done by SPSS) to "support" his "research hypotheses", this dude hardly knows what a normal distribution is, and thinks that a "p-value" is "a number that's always exactly 0.01 or 0.05". It's outrageous that such people become "Dr.xxxx" someday and decide how we should educate our kids and how funding is distributed. It would make more sense to elect you as president of the United States, Peter. You're my hero, Mr. President. Please take out the nebulous miasma of mumble-jumble for us. They endanger our kids and waste our resources.

To Audrey--regarding comment#1 posted by you --
AGREEMENT, man, AGREEMENT--
"How can ONE lambast the research work of another when THEY quite clearly have no understanding of what they are critiquing!"

consider
"How can PEOPLE.... when THEY..."
or
"How can ONE.... when S/HE...."

Plus, to be fair to Peter, I think he already admitted he had no understanding of that piece of B.S., since it's "incomprehensible" to him.

P.S. I'm not a native speaker though my English teachers taught me well. But still not enough to understand a nebulous miasma of post-structural combinatorical mumble-jumble.