Just to correct misconceptions which might arise from what Mr Watt writes about Indigenous education, it should be pointed out that there are currently more than twenty thousand Indigenous university graduates, record numbers of graduates annually, record numbers of Year 12 graduates, near-record numbers of Year 12 AND tertiary enrolments. Much of this has occurred regardless of policy, and due much more to the determination of Indigenous people themselves.

Credit should also be given to independent schools, given that they have a much better record of achievement in Indigenous education than public schools.

It is interesting to see the IEU joining a growing chorus of dissatisfaction with the "education revolution"....but Chris Watt does tend to tip-toe around some of the bigger issues in the divides he would urge the Rudd government to tackle.

The fact remains that our framework of public and private schools is a significant part of the problem. While social divides will always creep into schooling, our system, unlike in many countries, actually sees government funding increasing rather than reducing these divides.

Then again, what else can we expect? While ever we have free schools alongside fee-charging (and publicly-funded) schools one system will increasingly cater for the middle class mainstream (those who have 'choice') while the other becomes residualised.

This will happen notwithstanding implementation of all the other things Chris sees as being a desirable part of any true revolution.