Page 2356 - Week 06 - Friday, 27 June 2008
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the student’s work. She said, “What do I do? I’m ready to resign.” This was several weeks ago. I felt quite concerned because this person clearly was dedicated, trying to do her job and trying to offer constructive criticism. I have had it from other teachers who have been in the system a long time. They are completely frustrated.
I have heard it said, “Well, if you take all the problem students out, you will never get any teachers who want to teach them.” Well, maybe you have to pay more. You will never hear me be critical of pay rises for teachers. They are not paid pace setter wages, and because they are not paid exceptionally high wages the entry level for getting into teaching is not at the level it is for many other pursuits. The area of teaching is a vital one for us. How our kids are educated will determine their future and determine the world we live in. If we do not provide the level of support that ought to be available there for teachers, we are going to attract people who go into teaching because there is no other option available to them, and that is not a good driver.
I will also make brief mention of just two other points that ought to be of some embarrassment to the government and to the minister. The first is the presence of the game called Planet Slayer on the ACT sustainable schools initiative website that I drew to public attention. This is a game aimed at young children that has featured heavily in the national media over the last few weeks. It asks children, for example, “When should you die?” and takes positions that are typical of left-wing environmental scare tactics.
I will not go into detail on this website, but members can review it. However, its contents are clearly inappropriate for children and the fact that it is explicitly recommended for children by the ACT government and by several other states and territories should give us great cause for concern about the quality control in public education. This is not how to educate children. The ACT government should be ashamed of having it featured on their website and should remove it forthwith.
It is a shameful website. I have gone through it. It urges little children to get involved in civil disobedience. It is full of extreme comment, and I will go into more detail when I bring this matter before the Assembly in coming weeks. But it is a disgrace and I am amazed that Mr Barr has attempted to defend this piece of trash which the ABC is behind and which was funded by Film Victoria. It is nothing more than an embarrassment. Even the ABC is now so embarrassed that they are reviewing the whole matter. There are pages and pages of comments from around the world on this extraordinary site, and here we are telling little children, impressionable children, seven and eight-year-old children, “This is where you go for your advice.” That is how it came to me. I was quite astounded when I was actually directed to the site.
Another point of embarrassment that has been raised recently by the Sceptics Society is the revelation that CIT is now teaching courses on feng shui and seances and so on. That should really raise alarm bells about the commitment of the ACT government to the education of core subjects. I do not mind if people want to go in for hocus-pocus and have seances and talk about all manner of bizarre things, but do not use respectable education facilities for that sort of nonsense. It really is an inappropriate use of facilities and it reflects badly on institutions when we start trotting out those sorts of courses. I do not know much about the Sceptics Society.
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