Who's Australia Day?
Can you believe our prime minister? In his Australia Day Speech at the National Press Club he speaks of balance in our nation. Here's just a glimpse of his pearls of wisdom!
The social attitudes report that I mentioned a moment ago also had something to say about what ordinary Australians think of the Australian Achievement. It found that, compared with a decade ago, fewer Australians are ashamed of this nation’s past. I welcome this corrective in our national sense of self. It restores a better balance between pride in our past and recognition of past wrongs.
Too often history has fallen victim in an ever more crowded curriculum to subjects deemed more ‘relevant’ to today. Too often, it is taught without any sense of structured narrative, replaced by a fragmented stew of ‘themes’ and ‘issues’. And too often, history, along with other subjects in the humanities, has succumbed to a postmodern culture of relativism where any objective record of achievement is questioned or repudiated.
Australia’s standing in the world has never been higher. We are seen as a fair-minded and generous country. We are seen as a country that stands up for what it believes in. We are respected for who we are, for the quality of our ideas and for the unique perspective we bring to our region and to the world.
It's an odd speech that shows little understanding of the Australia or the world as I know it. Perhaps it is what he leaves out that is the most interesting. He celebrates that ... 'India and China combined could easily produce middle classes of 400 to 800 million people' because of the benefits that would bring Australia's economy. There is no mention of the the imbalances of poverty or the impact that this will have on the environment. There is no mention of the environment at all!
Perhaps what is missing most is the desire for our leader at least recognise the imbalances of a society divided by class, culture and geography. A healthy place to consider balance would be to reexamine the federal government's education budget between public and private schools.
The social attitudes report that I mentioned a moment ago also had something to say about what ordinary Australians think of the Australian Achievement. It found that, compared with a decade ago, fewer Australians are ashamed of this nation’s past. I welcome this corrective in our national sense of self. It restores a better balance between pride in our past and recognition of past wrongs.
Too often history has fallen victim in an ever more crowded curriculum to subjects deemed more ‘relevant’ to today. Too often, it is taught without any sense of structured narrative, replaced by a fragmented stew of ‘themes’ and ‘issues’. And too often, history, along with other subjects in the humanities, has succumbed to a postmodern culture of relativism where any objective record of achievement is questioned or repudiated.
Australia’s standing in the world has never been higher. We are seen as a fair-minded and generous country. We are seen as a country that stands up for what it believes in. We are respected for who we are, for the quality of our ideas and for the unique perspective we bring to our region and to the world.
It's an odd speech that shows little understanding of the Australia or the world as I know it. Perhaps it is what he leaves out that is the most interesting. He celebrates that ... 'India and China combined could easily produce middle classes of 400 to 800 million people' because of the benefits that would bring Australia's economy. There is no mention of the the imbalances of poverty or the impact that this will have on the environment. There is no mention of the environment at all!
Perhaps what is missing most is the desire for our leader at least recognise the imbalances of a society divided by class, culture and geography. A healthy place to consider balance would be to reexamine the federal government's education budget between public and private schools.
posted by Jeff at 8:22 am
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