Posts in ‘Education’

Ho Ho, Hey Hey, Mum and Dad have got to pay

Thursday, March 14th, 2019

Fascinated by the collision of unions, students and ideology. Tomorrow, on the Ides of March, we have a world wide withdrawal of attention by school children, who will protest against Climate Change. This is supported by the Australian Education Union. At the same time Sally McManus, Secretary of the ACTU, is campaigning for an increase […]

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Posted by Graham at 12:55 pm | Comments (2) |

Climate ‘skeptic’ out but eugenicist in at UWA

Wednesday, June 17th, 2015

I’m not sure how this works, but the University of Western Australia decided it couldn’t accept federal government money to host Bjorn Lomborg’s Australian Consensus Centre, but it is happy to host a lecture by Peter Singer, a man who advocates infanticide, eugenics and bestiality. Lomborg’s sin was apparently to question not the official IPCC […]

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Posted by Graham at 7:14 pm | Comments (6) |

You be the judge on Ferguson

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015

The shooting of a young black male in Ferguson, and the ensuing riots, is generally portrayed as a racist event, but depending on where you stand, the racists can be white or black. Verbatim Theatre is a genre where you take the actual evidence and lay it out in front of an audience. In Ferguson […]

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Posted by Graham at 11:06 am | Comments Off on You be the judge on Ferguson |

Stone Barry Spurr? Ask Sydney Uni

Tuesday, October 21st, 2014

When you can’t play the ball, kick the man in the groin – that’s the iron rule of Green Left politics these days. So if the federal government commissions an inquiry which states the bleeding obvious – that there is not enough Western literature or culture in the national curriculum and too much indigenous – […]

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Posted by Graham at 8:30 am | Comments (9) |

Nussbaum challenges contemporary education policies

Sunday, August 14th, 2011

Last week Martha Nussbaum – an Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago – delivered the 2011 Hal Wootten Lecture at the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law. Nussbaum spoke about “a world-wide crisis in education” across all levels of the education system, spawned by an […]

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Posted by Tracey at 11:38 am | Comments (3) |
Filed under: Education

What about 1066 and all that?

Friday, July 11th, 2008

NSW school students apparently are not compelled to learn about the Holocaust. It says something that we are agonising over this fact. The Holocaust was a terrible chapter in human history, but in terms of essential information it isn’t top level for me, anymore than it appears to be for those who write curriculum in […]

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Posted by Graham at 8:11 pm | Comments (6) |
Filed under: Education

Grammar’s taught to grammarians

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

Baden Eunson from Melbourne Uni decries the “fallacy” that children “learn grammar by osmosis”, and it needs to be taught. I agree with him to some extent, but after reading Nicholas Ostler’s “biography” of Latin Ad Infinitum, I’m not so sure that it’s such a big deal. The Romans, driven I suspect by their infatuation […]

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Posted by Graham at 5:44 am | Comments (6) |
Filed under: Education

In Praise of Older Goods

Friday, January 18th, 2008

…or the African Freecycle Boogie. I guess it is rewarding to live long enough to see my youthful concerns become mainstream alarms. Or at least fashionable. And that is what is now happening with recycled goods. Second hand goods have appealed to me since my childhood. At about age 7, with my equally naughty friend […]

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Posted by Ronda Jambe at 12:29 pm | Comments Off on In Praise of Older Goods |

US universities – best quality at lowest cost

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Generally the more in demand an item, the more expensive it is. So an Ivy League university ought to be pretty pricey. Not if you’re Yale. The press release pasted below implies that most Australian students could get into Yale for around $2,000 to $5,000 per year and pay the fees by doing 7 hours […]

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Posted by Graham at 10:35 am | Comments Off on US universities – best quality at lowest cost |
Filed under: Education

Minneapolis backs Bishop on merit pay

Monday, June 18th, 2007

Following my recent US theme I noted today that while the ALP and unions in Australia are opposing Julie Bishop’s merit pay proposals for teachers, unions and teachers in Minnesota, and a number of other US states, are enthusiastically embracing similar schemes. This NYT article quotes John Roper-Batker, unionist and teacher from Minneapolis, “I wanted […]

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Posted by Graham at 10:37 pm | Comments (3) |
Filed under: Education