Bla,Bla,Bla same old same old from Kev. Kev why did you stop teaching?
If the current crop of teachers are so crap why not lead by example?
It is easy to side on the side lines Kev why not get a job teaching teachers, or won't they let you play. you see I'm confused I'm reading in the papers about this skills shortage because everyone’s off doing higher skilled jobs instead of trades.
by the way progressive tax system have been around for a long time the ideas even mentioned in the bible. :)

The trouble with academia is that to progress up the ladder, you have to come up with a trendy new concept that disproves proven ,tested and tried evolutionary techniques.No,they have to go for revolution.Throw the baby out with the bath water.
Every human has different abilities and qualities.The education system needs to work harder at finding what special talents and abilities children possess,since common sense and practically seems to becoming a lost talent.

Kevin is disingenuous when he claims there are no controls on teaching courses. What utter rubbish.

Having been involved with working parties which re-submitted courses of study to the Feds, I can vouch for the fact that there are hurdles to jump when committes are sent to a university to ask questions.

Mind you, I don't think they do it at all well, for some oddities have been allowed through in the past. Can't comment upon what happens in the far East, but here in the West, we've been made to feel very accountable by Canberra.

Kev forgot one other key source of left-wing bias in education - the Catholic church - "there is no such thing as values free education. The process of education either legitimises the existing socio-economic system or seeks to transform it in the light of other values...in the end education is a profoundly political activity..." - a bunch of crusty old Catholic nuns wrote that.
That's one thing I like about Johnny's education funding policy - pushing more and more students into the hands of the Catholic church - and all those left wing - lets-transform-society, social-justice-teachers working in Catholic schools - roll on Johhny! More funding for the radicals - YEAH! Is this education blow-back?? Of course Kev's teaching was never political! --- not much it wasn't --- ;-)

PS Ive taught in both public and private schools - in the public schools I taught in I never heard once anyone talk about social justice, or anything vaguely left wing - I had to hide my political beliefs - it wasnt until I started working in a private (independent Catholic school) that I heard any teacher ever talk of "educating to socaial justice" and I could expose myself as a pinko.

pss - Kev can you clarify one thing - are you for values education in schools or not? And how can values education not be political? given that political differences stem from values differences? Oh, I see -- you want to teach only the values that re-inforce the existing system. But that's not political right!

Whoops one other thing - Kevin , 1+1=2 is arithmetic not mathematics. I suggest you try and run that pathetic argument past some real mathematicians - ones who do mathematics not arithmetic. Why do you make such silly statements - they dont strengthen your argument. My maths class laughed when I told them that maths is about getting
correct answers. Even they know better.

Hi Cherry_Stripe,

I totally agree that Catholic education is pretty left-wing. During the Kirner years, when she introduced the VCE, the CEO was a strong public supporter of the ALP's attempts at social engineering. I remember talking to Bob Santamaria about how the CEO had been taken over by the social justice/liberation theology brigade.

I have always believed that the biggest risk we take in life is to be born. None of us knows, or has chosen who our parents will be, or what our circumstances will be like. I am a passionate supporter of public education because I believe it is (properly funded and supported) one of the best mechanisms we have to help redress the inevitable inequalities visited upon all of us at birth. If this be new age gobbledygook, so be it.
Worse, our current system is a weird kind of competition. We heavily weight everything in favour of those who are already privileged and against those who already have the least. Entrenching privilege in education- which our current system does- is actually a tax on society. It means the best and brightest do not necessarily get access to the best jobs, this has consequences for all of us. Equality of opportunity is a real issue, and it is not merely important to those who directly experience less chances. It affects us all. This is the pink elephant in our education system that no-one wants to talk about.
How can we have real competition and excellence when we systematically disenfranchise some kids at the age of 5?

The language used indicates Kevin was beginning to run out of breath during his diatribe. The increasing use of derogatory terms and insults is a concern, as it reveals some deep-seated prejudices.

Kevin declares the unions have made schools 'part of the ideological state apparatus'. Is this why Mssrs Howard and Abbott have been sounding off about tying school funding to 'values education'....

The chicken or the egg?

If left-wing values are taught so biasedly in public schools then how come all those drongo's voted for John Howard?

Donno
I don't believe your arguement to be correct but,
What is the difference between teachers teaching left wing views and John-o spending the millions on brainwashing people into believing that AWA's are the way to go?

Besides what is your problem with social justice? Shouldn't students be capable of fighting for their own rights. If they don't they will be caught in a rut of social injustice like the US and have nothing to resort to but violence and drugs. I am sure that you will never understand the conept of social injustice as you are an old, white, employed, educated, rich man.

And please tell me what your definition of "New Age" is. Because when I went to school they didn't teach me about my star-signs and read my tarot cards for me.