Our children are our future. A country’s concern for its future is reflected in the way that it treats its school children.
Some countries treat this dictum seriously.
Australia doesn’t. In the minds of our traditional political parties, it doesn’t have to do so. Build schools, stick some teachers in them, force them to teach, test and examine the kids in British Grammar School style with a large dollop of American know-how and all will be well.
Countries [e.g. Finland] and states that dare to arrange for their future in learning terms, with sincere concern for the holistic development of their young and pride in achievements in fundamentals, arrange their schooling differently. They are proudly high in accomplishments and professional regard for excellence. We can be.
Treehorn maintains that the Australian style, to its credit, has the remnants of some sturdy traditions of having-a-go under difficult circumstances and other colonial graces that would serve Ausdtralia well should it ever decide to help its children to learn as much as possible, in an effective style as part of an holistic and meaningful curriculum…and as happily as possible. It is so bloody obvious. By doing so, it would become capable of punching well above its weight in world affairs. We could move from being a little- known underachieving squirt down-under to being a well-respected nation. We can do it if we have a mind to do it.
And…..there are a few million voters our there available for political parties who care about kids….. available from thousands of disillusioned teachers and many, many millions of disappointed parents. It’s a rich list of child supporters, measuring millions.
One Nation or Green?
Recovering from the neo-conservative attitudes of the older traditional political parties will take some serious thought and dedicated political action. Anxiety and fear are so embedded in our schooling system and we have been on a dangerously steep downward path during the past decade, we are now stuck with mediocrity. We don’t dare to think about the crisis too much. We are fearful of altering our testing tradition and basic conservatism or of hurting the feelings of our superiors and those who control them. Introduced by Labor, supported and maintained by the Liberals, our present yankified, fear-based klein system of schooling is a dismal failure. It went too far. It was not warranted. It was not necessary. It was a scam. No party now seems brave enough to test the chain of command and the disastrous outcomes at a curriculum level or on social and mental health grounds. Either the Greens or the One Nations can fix things. They’re new to the schooling game and need basic policies that mean something. We now know that the NAPLAN control of traditional schooling was not the way to go. Our schooling system is sinking on all counts, mainly because the traditional parties just do not care about kids and insist on teaching them the wrong way and with the wrong intentions.
The Lib-Lab conservative tradition will find these parties difficult to change. They are too old. too like each other; and too worn out to think positively. Their political tactis behaviour have degenerated abysmally and thoughts of learning progress for children are beyond them. There should be more hope in the latter day political parties that have already challenged the political system by their existence. Think of a One Nation or Green party taking over government. The door is wide open for them. However, the following points should be made……
If either Pauline Hanson’s party, now rising remarkably in electoral favour….or the Greens, who have yet to sort themselves out ….. proposes the banning of NAPLAN….. either party will be in power in Queensland soon, working with the astute Libs in W.A.; and then taking over in Canberra later If you did not believe that Donald would make it, up over, you won’t believe this either.
However.
The Right Reasons
When the Rt.Hon. Pauline Hanson P.M. does take control, parents and teachers and children should still be concerned….
Will it ban NAPLAN and thus improve educational opportunities in schools for the right reasons? No replacements or additions. Just ‘OUT!’ with the monster!
The concerned parties and candidates will certainly get sufficient votes because…
- NAPLAN has failed. On international rating [e.g PISA and TIMMS] we are heading way down below less affluent countries from being in the top three or four in the world in the past.
- It has wasted billions and billions of dollars. Its been a complete mega-waste.
- Empirical evidence shows that over 80% of Australia’s population hates NAPLAN, while the cautious are uneasy. It’s now a dirty word.
- It teaches kids to hate learning, hate basic subjects and hate schooling.
- It deliberately hides its dirty process tactics from parents who prefer to have a choice. That’s a really dirty trick. Whom can we trust
- It prostitutes the role of school administration by forcing professionals to indulge in unethical behaviours.
- It promotes unprofessional conduct in schools that suffer feelings of inadequacy, by having to advertise that they are good at NAPLAN.
- Its linkage with the New York publishing and programming mafia and the silenced Australian press is too obvious. It’s not healthy politics.
- The medical profession’s concern for the mental health of NAPLAN candidates is real. The abundance of referrals by teachers for mental care is now staggering.
The critical condition is that we must ban NAPLAN FOR THE RIGHT REASONS because of its nastiness and uselessness; its attitude to children.
It has no regard for the mental health of children and disrespects schools that want to get on with the task of pupilling.
I’ll be voting for the party that demonstrates the best reason for the banning.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The Treehorn Express 