March 17, 2008
In the Menzies Research Centre’s report on Aboriginal education written by Gary Johns of the Bennelong Society entitled Aboriginal Education: Remote Schools and the Real Economy (2006) Johns advocates that we should remove Aboriginal culture from the school curriculum because it prevents Aboriginal children from progressing in their education.The report argues that:
Western education cannot and should not preserve Aboriginal culture….Too often educators continue to defer to Aboriginal culture without recognising that Aboriginal culture is the problem. Can a culture that is pre-literate and pre-numerate survive in an education system that is meant to make children literate and numerate? Can a welfare culture that has no work ethic be in a position to prepare its children for school?
The report was endorsed by Julie Bishop, the federal Education Minister, in the previous Howard Government.
Johns can say that in the light of this kind of visual work? Or hold that this enhances the principles of liberty, free speech, competitive enterprise, limited government and democracy that the Menzies Research Centre stands for?
|
that's a very narrow understanding of literacy and numeracy.