Memo to Giles: Cold War over.
Communism has never achieved even 2 per cent of the total vote in Australian federal elections. In the sphere of public education, however, the grip of ideas that have their origin in Marxist theory has never been greater. Children are now regularly indoctrinated in Australia’s public schools with political ideology that is the opposite of that supported by their parents.
Evidence for this startling assertion: nil, as usual.
John Howard is still donning his paper hat and waving his alfoil sword over mythical battles of the 1990s; for Giles, meanwhile, the 1960s never ended. One day perhaps he’ll emerge blinking from the jungle, but until then I guess he’ll keep making an idiot of himself with op-eds like this.
UPDATE: More at LP
Politically co-retch-worthy
“I feel very, very strongly about the criticism that many people are making that we are dumbing down the English syllabus,” Mr Howard told ABC radio in Brisbane.
“I think there’s evidence of that in different parts of the country … when the, what I might call the traditional texts, are treated no differently from pop cultural commentary, as appears to be the case in some syllabus.”
Yes, why, some students might graduate from high school without even knowing either of the correct plural forms of “syllabus”.
I share the views of many people about the so-called post modernism … I just wish that independent education authority didn’t succumb on occasions to the political correctness that it appears to succumb to,” he said.
Well, hopefully they at least don’t succumb to the temptation to reduce every argument to a tired and outdated morality tale about political correctness or post-modernism. That war (if it ever existed outside the minds of right-wing paranoiacs) is over, John. Call it a victory if you like, but for Chrissake stop rabbiting on as if it still means something.
Square
The courtyard in the new QV complex could be idyllic - al fresco dining with a glimpse of blue sky, the new of the development itself blending with the old red brick building (domes and balconies suggest a state institution - I don’t know what it is). Across the way in Melbourne Central, the old shot tower encased in the glass dome has always seemed a sort of lame joke to me, for all its visual drama. Here, it’s almost as if the buildings might have arranged themselves that way naturally. I like it.
This cafe has a long row of deep benches facing the window, with pairs of outlooking chairs divided by wooden pillars to give the effect of study carrels, catering to the student population, or to the voyeurs who like to sit and stare out of the window at the student population, or at the significant overlap between the two. I’m staring outward now, and although I’m sure that the glass is two-way, the setting does evoke the world of the Big Brother camera-man (well, the cut version, anyway).
The thing about this place, though, is the wind. The gas-powered patio heaters at the chocolate bar opposite (of the kind that I can never look at without envisioning energy spilling upwards by the petajoule) blow out shortly before they blow over. The scene seems constantly framed by runaway strands of fine black hair from the overseas student population who seem to have adopted the chocolate bar as their hangout. The occasional wispy shopper trying to cross the square towards Swanston Street is turned around by the gale and sent running back towards Exhibition. Flotillas of serviettes break free from their apparently robust confines and twist violently upwards to plaster themselves against the wall of the AFL Hall of Fame two stories above. A market umbrella has been, I suspect, ever furled. I suppose the hot chocolate must be good, for all those students to sit around having their expensive ringtones obscured by the howl, their iPods extending horizontally from their earbuds like so many skinny white premiership pennants.
Crying Poor
Melbourne City Council is also fighting Telstra in the Civil and Administrative Tribunal over plans to make phone booths bigger so advertising space is increased. “Everyone has mobile phones now, and we have to pay for our public phone booths somehow,” a Telstra spokesman said.
Because the mobile phone boom has left Telstra so strapped for cash.
Odd Gig Moments
I reflect briefly on the unexpectedly cheap, tinny sound produced when the black plastic insulation of my extension lead drags, guiro style, over five or six scallops on the rim of the 1914 Melbourne Cup.