An important lesson for all of us
November 29th 2006 13:24
"Frankly I couldn't care less if students are unable to rattle off the functions of the Governer-General. It takes three seconds to get this information from the net" Maralyn Parker
The above comment was taken from The Daily Telegraph of Wednesday November 29 2006 and was written by a teacher who apparently was writing on behalf of all teachers. Her piece was inspired by the less than perfect pop quiz results of Ms Tebbutt, Mr Iemma and the state opposition spokesman on education. She was on the front foot defending the integrity of the teachers in case there were people out there who wanted to blame them for the three Government leaders who should have had simple general knowledge but didn't. Ms Parker seems to have forgotten what history is, and what general knowlege is, confused. Knowing the functions of the Governer-General isn't a matter of history that is a case of pure general knowledge. But knowing who the first Premier of NSW was would be general knowledge that is historical in content. What is worrying is that Ms Parker seems to think that certain knowledge about how our style of system is run is irrelevant to our students best interests. Not only that it doesn't seem to be important enough to be taught but can be found within three seconds on the internet which is not always 100% substantive or correct. I don't think Ms Parker did herself or her profession any favours in her column by showing her slip.
Of course, names, dates and facts aren't all there is to understanding history and fall into the larger picture of the socio-politico-econo happenings of that particular period and why things happened. There can be no history without a combination of all of those and they place persons, a country, a nation and a world into a broader human social context of who and why we are today where we are.
Ms Parker it seems is missing the point of the debate. It's not that they weren't taught or were taught badly. It's the fact that they didn't choose to have the basic general knowledge of their related fields in politics that they should have known. Even if Ms Tebbutt wasn't Minister of Education or not even in politics for that matter she should still have known why Australia Day is celebrated. The fact that she was clueless is ironic because it reflects poorly on a woman who is the top policy maker for education in this state and no matter how you slice it and dice it, it's still inexcusable.
"Your knowledge is not power. Your power comes from the use of your knowledge" (Anon)
The above comment was taken from The Daily Telegraph of Wednesday November 29 2006 and was written by a teacher who apparently was writing on behalf of all teachers. Her piece was inspired by the less than perfect pop quiz results of Ms Tebbutt, Mr Iemma and the state opposition spokesman on education. She was on the front foot defending the integrity of the teachers in case there were people out there who wanted to blame them for the three Government leaders who should have had simple general knowledge but didn't. Ms Parker seems to have forgotten what history is, and what general knowlege is, confused. Knowing the functions of the Governer-General isn't a matter of history that is a case of pure general knowledge. But knowing who the first Premier of NSW was would be general knowledge that is historical in content. What is worrying is that Ms Parker seems to think that certain knowledge about how our style of system is run is irrelevant to our students best interests. Not only that it doesn't seem to be important enough to be taught but can be found within three seconds on the internet which is not always 100% substantive or correct. I don't think Ms Parker did herself or her profession any favours in her column by showing her slip.
Of course, names, dates and facts aren't all there is to understanding history and fall into the larger picture of the socio-politico-econo happenings of that particular period and why things happened. There can be no history without a combination of all of those and they place persons, a country, a nation and a world into a broader human social context of who and why we are today where we are.
Ms Parker it seems is missing the point of the debate. It's not that they weren't taught or were taught badly. It's the fact that they didn't choose to have the basic general knowledge of their related fields in politics that they should have known. Even if Ms Tebbutt wasn't Minister of Education or not even in politics for that matter she should still have known why Australia Day is celebrated. The fact that she was clueless is ironic because it reflects poorly on a woman who is the top policy maker for education in this state and no matter how you slice it and dice it, it's still inexcusable.
"Your knowledge is not power. Your power comes from the use of your knowledge" (Anon)
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