Howard Hasn't Learnt Lesson

Illawarra Mercury

Friday April 21, 2006

PRIME Minister John Howard prides himself on his ability to understand what matters to ordinary Australian mums and dads.

And after 10 years in the country's top job, he may have a point.

But just three months after he drew the ire of teachers by criticising the way history was being taught in Australian schools, the Prime Minister maybe should have counted to 10 before launching into a tirade about the English curriculum.

Mr Howard was roundly chastised by teachers in the days following the Australia Day address in which he claimed Australian history was being taught without any sense of structured narrative. The overall reaction was that his push to overhaul the teaching of history did not reflect what was happening in Australian schools.

Now Mr Howard has turned his sights on educators again, this time maintaining the inclusion of "rubbishy" postmodernist school texts is dumbing down the English syllabus.

It's quite likely his latest outburst will once again see him labelled as out of touch.

The Prime Minister should stick to running the country for the voters of today and leave the professional educators to decide how best to teach the voters of tomorrow.

© 2006 Illawarra Mercury

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