The federal government is going to poke their noses into the curriculum of High Schools. The public school system is run by the states. NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia should collectively tell the federal government to bugger off. It is none of their business, and the feds best stick to policy in areas that the federal government is responsible for. Anything else is bad governance. (more)
Issues of statutory importance should not be elevated to the constitution. This
article describing a South Carolina initiative to have public education become a constitutional requirement is correct
, as "It would merely generate floods of lawsuits over what is and what is not an 'exemplary' education.".
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Julie Bishop made a speech
on 'history' rather than education.
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An adult literacy assessment got
a wide run
in the US media. It has a chicken little aspect to it which makes for mass media popularity. The Washington Post did
an article on the study
, six days later there popped up an interesting letter to the editor on the same issue.
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Current tertiary education is more closely matched to industrial era needs. It also suffers from government micro-management, meddling, funding and quotas. One area where the Universities are able to match students needs is post graduate education. Their postgraduate courses are shorter and more diverse. With the global pressures on labour markets it is important Australians earn their tertiary degrees younger, and then specialise as needed. As a result the HSC should be replaced with an Arts Degree specialising in Arts, Science or Mechanical Arts, and the Universities drop bachelors degrees, and instead focus on postgraduate education only.
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Australian education is currently at odds with the reality of the labour market and the changing economic face of the globe. The Australian Education system was designed for the industrial revolution - for turning out factory workers, technocrats and autocrats. The system is also designed with the CSIRO and institutional tertiary tenure being the pinnacle of the system. This must be changed to focus on the individual or else the ideals Gough Whitlam had for universal education; or Robert Hawke's stated "clever country" will never be met. Maintaining the current educational system will only make it more difficult for Australians to become educated as a path to individual happiness, increased knowledge, greater employment opportunities, fiscal security and social mobility.
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