From the report in today's Age about the history-teaching summit:
'Ms Bishop tried to laugh off the question when asked to name the three explorers who became the first Europeans to cross the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.
"Are we going to play this game, are we?" she chuckled, before launching into rehearsed lines about the summit's aims.
The minister defended state governments' absence from today's summit, saying the meeting was simply an opportunity to gain an insight from experts in the field.'
You'd think she would have been ready for that one, wouldn't you. You really would.
Reminds me of the conservatives who bang on endlessly about the importance of teaching 'the classics' but wouldn't know Pride and Prejudice if it jumped up and bit them on the arse, as is its wont.
Pffft.
6 comments:
Heh.
P&P jumping up and biting conservatives on the arse is a sketch I would like to see the Chaser boys do.
tigtog, I can SO see where you are going with that.
It's wonderful being told how we should teach history and lit from those who have never encountered either at any depth in their life. Roll on the next election.
Issues like these open up some interesting fissures on the Right, don't they? If the economic neoliberals had their way and the school system was nearly-completely privatised (as per the Friedman model), history--ancient or modern--would likely disappear from many school curricula altogether.
"Choice," and all that.
It's all that fine practice our leaders get in Not-Reading (see also AWB contracts) which stands them in such good stead in this sort of situation.
If history is not politics, what does she think of schools where history is taught as part of English?
Most of my classmates only learnt about the second world war through reading Holocaust memoirs in year 8, and watching Schindler's List in year 12. Most of what I know about nineteenth century England comes from studying Austen & Dickens.
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