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The Forum > Article Comments > Whose education revolution is it? > Comments

Whose education revolution is it? : Comments

By Linda Graham, published 19/11/2007

We must invest now in a universal education system to ensure we do not wave goodbye to the prosperous futures of the majority of Australian children.

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"Why should parents who have worked hard and been successful and can afford to put their kids in private schools be critisized and spoken about like they have done something wrong."

Why should kids who have frankly very poor family lives be punished with crappy public schools as if THEY have done something wrong?

"Surely success should be encouraged and people shouldn't be punished for being succesful."

Exactly. And let's reward ALL children by giving them the best start in life, no matter where they come from.

"If we start punishing parents for being successful and we treat them with disdain then we discourage people from helping themselves and create a society where it isn't in your best interest to work hard, succeed and be good."

We treat them with disdain by building up the expectation that if they don't make that "sacrifice" (which should really be unnecessary) then their kids deserve the crappy state school which has been starved of funds slowly and painfully over the last, ooh, 11 years.
Posted by petal, Monday, 19 November 2007 2:53:06 PM
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Petal have you read Maralyn Parkers Blog lately? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/maralynparker/
Maralyn says that Public schools are the envy of the world!

So I have to ask which one is it? Are public schools spectacular and achieving at highest levels, or are they failing the students?

Of course from my families experiences the public Education system is exercising bias, bullying, victimisation, vilification, discrimination, fraud and corruption and are conspiring to cover it up.

I will have 3 kids in the non-government school system next year. My family is by no means rich. One by one my kids have had to be taken out of the public system for their own safety and wellbeing because they were being systematically victimised, neglected and bullied year after year whilst everybody looked on. The public system would do nothing to help to protect my children from harm.

It's not money that the public system needs, what they need is to be required and obligated to exercise their duties with integrity and accountability so as to ensure that they do the right thing by the children instead of just looking after themselves.

Education - Keeping them honest
http://jolandachallita.typepad.com/education/
Our children deserve better
Posted by Jolanda, Monday, 19 November 2007 3:30:12 PM
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Linda Graham's article is timely. I have long been concerned about the creeping neglect of the public school system and the Coalition's mantra of "school choice". What has actually been happening is a bleeding of funds away from the public school system into the private sector. What is more disturbing is that many private schools, e.g., the so-called Christian Schools have been teaching such nonsense as Intelligent Design (ID)along with other fundamentalist views and beliefs. In some smaller commmunities the only "high school" conveniently close for parents to enrol their kids is a Christian school, and so the kids get indoctrinated with religious nonsense. Even within the public education sector, there is an urgent need to promote critical thinking amongst school students, as advocated in the post by Foyle. Students should be encouraged always to ask: Why should I believe what I am told? when being taught about various alleged "facts" whether evolution, intelligent design or whatever. There are various websites which provide much useful information on the teaching of critical thinking in the schools. Hopefully this emphasis will help to counter the disturbing rise and rise of fundamentalism in today's complex and divisive society, reflected in George W Bush's incredible statement that God told him to go to war in Irag.
Posted by phenologist, Monday, 19 November 2007 3:34:12 PM
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"The best education system" is the one that addresses the human capital of education, i.e., its teachers. Who have to be selected on merit, ability, and teaching methods, on which the education unions will not budge from their "postmodernist" position especially in public schools.

http://australiacalls.blogspot.com
Posted by Themistocles, Monday, 19 November 2007 4:20:55 PM
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Linda Graham

Your concern that educational choice is denied poorer families is an admirable concern. However, your solution misses the point and cuts off a nose to spite a face. The solution lies in expanding choice to ALL families, not restricting it even more. The Teacher's Union dominated public system is on the nose and most parents do not want a bar of it. This is particularly alarming given that all the public school systems are run by Labor governments, and have enjoyed unprecedented funding increases over the past 7 years.
Posted by Doctor's Wife Luvvie, Monday, 19 November 2007 5:13:16 PM
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Richard

"Either way research seems to indicate school choice is not what its cracked up to be."

Really? Does this "research" actually persuasively prove, merely "indicate" or imaginatively and fictiously "seem" to "indicate?"

What is school choice "cracked up to be?" And according to whom?

The only indicator of the veracity of school choice is DEMAND. If parents are switching their kids from public to private 20 times faster than the other way round, I think it is pretty clear that what is NOT " its cracked up to be" is the public school system.

An elementary course in Quantitaive Reasoning would have spared you these errors.
Posted by Doctor's Wife Luvvie, Monday, 19 November 2007 5:21:48 PM
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