The following article was published by The Guardian, newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia, in its issue of January 28, 2004.
Reproduction of articles, together with acknowledgement if appropriate, is welcome. The Guardian, 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills, Sydney 2010 Australia. Editor: Anna Pha Communist Party of Australia, 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 10 Australia. General Secretary: Peter Symon Phone (02) 9212 6855 Fax: (02) 9281 5795 Email CPA [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Guardian [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscription rates are available on requests. ************************************************** Behind the attack on public schools - PRIVATISING EDUCATION Tom Pearson With an election looming the Howard Government has launched a vicious attack on Australia's public schools. The Government is hell bent on privatising education and its tirade in the mass media is part of an ongoing program to try to discredit the public system. But the swift comeuppance PM Howard and his ministers received from supporters of public schools has signalled that education will be no soft target in an election. The Government's attack included a rant against the Australian Education Union (AEU) with accusations that it was "wielding too much power". PM Howard also said public schools were "too politically correct and value-neutral", though he would not give details of just what he meant by this. Ditto Education Minister Brendan Nelson, who failed to define the "Australian values" which he said should be taught in schools. A pointer may be Nelson's push for the flag to be flown in school grounds and for the singing of the national anthem in schools i.e. the promotion of nationalism. Howard cited two public schools that banned nativity plays at Christmas and another that cancelled an Anzac Day ceremony. The Government also wants to rank the performance of public schools claiming that it gives parents "choice". Its real aim is to provide a basis to further slash funding to public schools. The AEU said the Government's offensive was an attempt to distract attention from its disgraceful education funding policies. "The Howard Government has been starving the public education systems of funds for schools, TAFE and universities while giving billions of dollars to private schools", said AEU Federal Secretary Rob Durbridge. "Some elite schools have had over 200 percent increases in funding from the Commonwealth". The Government is putting two thirds of federal funding for schools into the coffers of private schools, including elite schools such as Geelong Grammar ($4 million) and Trinity Grammar ($5.5 million). Public schools, with 70 percent of the students, receive $1.7 billion, while private schools with 30 percent of the students receive $2.9 billion. The AEU warns that as a result the Government is entrenching inequalities and creating a two-tier education system. "It appears that Mr Howard intends to pursue the privatisation of education in this country over the next four years", said Mr Durbridge. As far as values are concerned, Howard picked out the banning of a religious play and some Anzac Day activities involving a few public schools. These examples are targeted at particular audiences. They reflect Howard's rejection of the secular nature of public schools, where multiculturalism, tolerance, anti-racist values prevail in both the acceptance of students and the curriculum. Text books that raise environmental questions, for example greenhouse gases and the sinking of islands in the Pacific; lessons about other faiths than Christianity; the recognition of Indigenous Australians; and peace studies are all an abhorrence to Howard. These are the values that Howard rejects when he says teachers in public schools enforce "political correctness" and teach "neutral values". What Howard overlooks or does not realise is that there are also many private schools that do not put on nativity plays or salute the flag on ANZAC day. Many of them even use the same text books as public schools. Priority Public, a community organisation promoting public education, makes the point that there is little public knowledge about what private schools actually do, as they are by and large allowed to keep their business private. And as far as Nelson's claim that public schools are "hostile to Australia's heritage and values", Priority Public's Jane Caro points out that public schools "willingly and enthusiastically educate every child who comes to their door, regardless of race, religion, ability to pay fees or academic ability." Furthermore, the majority of Indigenous students attend public schools, as do the majority of physically and intellectually disabled students. "Private schools, regardless of what values they may preach, educate the majority of our most advantaged students", said Jane Caro. "It is impossible for private schools to be 'egalitarian', as Howard says. Private schools, by their nature, are exclusive." Instead it is public schools that accept their responsibility to be egalitarian - and perform small miracles, given the grossly unfair funding system both federal and state governments force on them. Sickening nostalgia The values that Howard, Nelson, et al, are harping about involve a sickening nostalgia, a yearning for the past, which is typical of reactionaries. In this case it is for the 1950s and 1960s, when public school students recited "I honour my God, I serve my Queen, I salute the flag." Every year on Empire Day, as a primary school student, Howard would have saluted the British Empire and its conquests, and learnt how the Whites Christianised and civilised the natives of British colonies. It was when at school assemblies the national anthem was sung and the flag was saluted; corporal punishment was policy; cooking classes were compulsory and exclusive for girls, woodwork and metalwork for boys; scripture classes were compulsory for all. These are the things the President of the NSW Secondary Principals' Council, Chris Bonner, recalled on hearing Howard's "insult" that public schools were too "politically correct". "No parent has expressed concerns about political correctness to me in my 30 years of teaching", said Mr Bonner. "The Prime Minister's own conservative world view doesn't reflect the world I've known as a principal. It's very strange." -- Visit the proposed Leftlink web site at http://www.leftlink.net/ -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
