Kevin Donnelly
05mar05 Courier Mail
Is there a danger of education becoming too politically correct? Judged by events in NSW schools, the answer is "yes".
Recently 150,000 Year 7 students sat an examination in which, in one of the questions, the accepted way of dating events before the birth of Christ (BC) was replaced by Before the Common Era (BCE).
The reason? According to the left-wing advocates of the PC movement, the use of Before Christ might offend or distress people of other religions.
In the same way that some schools banned nativity plays before Christmas, the argument is that, as we are multicultural, Christianity cannot be perceived as privileged.
Ignored is that Australia's history, legal and political systems have arisen out of the Judaeo-Christian tradition and that our culture is steeped in the Christian ethic.
Even worse, what the public should understand is that the above two examples are far from isolated ones.
The Queensland Study of Society and the Environment syllabus also has been attacked as putting too much emphasis on political correctness. In the document, not only do students receive a jaundiced view of Australian history, but are told knowledge is "tentative" and "shifting" and that the purpose of education is to criticise mainstream society.
Thus, students are told that they must "develop the ability to critically analyse social structures that unjustly disadvantage some individuals or groups". Forget that Australia championed such egalitarian measures as the eight-hour day, the conciliation and arbitration system and votes for women.
Similar to the Queensland SOSE syllabus, the national curriculum, when it was released during the mid-1990s, also was criticised for promoting a left-wing view on issues related to the environment, multiculturalism and indigenous issues.
In particular, the national curriculum was attacked for describing European settlement as an invasion and for asking students to study indigenous figures such as Eddie Mabo and Pat O'Shane while ignoring figures like Captain James Cook, Edmond Barton or Sir Robert Menzies.
More recently, English teaching also has fallen victim to the PC movement. English teachers' associations, for some years, have championed what is termed social-critical literacy.
The works of classic authors, such as William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, are deconstructed and condemned for being "Euro-centric, bourgeois and patriarchal".
If social literacy was taught in a balanced and objective way, there would be no concern, but the reality is that it is used to promote a left-wing, new age view of issues related to multiculturalism, gender, peace studies, feminism and the class war.
Further evidence of how widespread this social-critical view of English teaching is can be found in the current edition (Number 141) of the national English teachers' journal, English in Australia.
The editor, Wayne Sawyer, bemoans the fact that young people voted to re-elect the Howard Government and argues, because the election did not go the way he wanted, that this is evidence that English teachers have failed in their job. Sawyer states: "We knew the truth about Iraq before the election. Did our former students just not care? We knew before the election that 'children overboard' was a crock, but, as it was yesterday's news, did they not care about that either?
"Has English failed not only to create critical generations, but also failed to create humane ones?"
Such is the present state of English teaching that is possible for a senior representative of the subject's professional association, the AATE, to argue publicly that it is the role of teachers to teach students the correct way to vote on controversial political matters.
Subjects such as SOSE and English are not the only areas taken over by the PC movement. The way trainee teachers are taught has fallen victim as well.
A look at the School of Education at James Cook University shows that teacher training is no longer simply about learning how to teach.
As an example, the department head, Professor Nola Alloway, describes her interests as: "Re-conceptualising early childhood education; gender and subjectivity; gender, knowledge and curriculum construction; gender, technology and early years schooling; political and industrial issues in the 'educare' of young children; postmodern and futures orientations to early childhood education; sex-based harassment at school; boys' performance in literacy classrooms."
As noted by the Monash-based teacher educator Georgina Tsolidis, in her summary of teacher training during the 1980s and 1990s, the approach is basically a political process whereby beginner teachers are told they must teach students to be "socially critical" and "empowered" in order to enable them to "challenge the status quo".
Thankfully, there are many teachers who teach in a professional and balanced way. Unfortunately, it also is true that subject associations like the AATE, curriculum documents and teacher training courses are decidedly politically correct and, as a result, indoctrination has replaced education.
Dr Kevin Donnelly, director of education strategies and author of Why Our Schools are Failing, is a former chief of staff to federal Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews.
Why our Schools are Failing
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