<nettime> PM renews public schools attack

[ben moretti <benmoretti@yahoo.com.au>]

# don't you love reactionaries? our erstwhile pm
# is busy attacking public education with a 
# tautological statement that they are simultaneously
# politically correct *and* values free! didn't bush
# and reagan do the same thing? this is all very 
# usa culture war circa 1992 from what i remember
# --ben


http://au.news.yahoo.com//030715/2/kv7p.html

Wednesday January 28, 08:42 AM

PM renews public schools attack

Prime Minister John Howard has renewed his criticism
of the values taught in public schools, saying they
are too politically correct and values-free.

Mr Howard told Sydney's 2GB radio his comments
reflected the opinions of parents he had met who felt
public schools were out of sync with their approaches
to discipline and education.

Teachers' unions in particular were trying to impose
their own values on students, he said.

"The teacher unions a year ago encouraged teachers to
discuss the war on Iraq in the classroom - that was
code for attacking the government's position," he
said.

"I'm not saying they should have been promoting the
government's position - what I'm saying is they have a
particular responsibility not to use the classroom for
that kind of thing."

Mr Howard also gave the example of the Queensland
education department's moves to replace Christmas
traditions with a more neutral end-of-year holiday
celebration.

It was a mistake to try to show tolerance to
minorities in the community by abandoning majority
practices, he said.

"You respect minorities in the community by being
sensitive to their values and their rights, but you
don't achieve that sensitivity and respect by
abandoning your own beliefs and your own practices,"
Mr Howard said.

"This attempt to bland down any kind of observance of
traditional approaches in our country I think is
something that people generally reject."



=====
ben moretti
http://www.geocities.com/benmoretti

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