Credit: Illustration: Alan Moir
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VCE EXAMS
Re ‴Hidden’ questions turn up in VCE exams″ 15/11). Teaching year 12 is a wonderfully challenging and fulfilling experience. The program in most schools starts in the preceding year and involves 12 months of daily planning, marking, and conjuring of sustained effort. But the effort is so worthwhile as you build relationships with the next generation of people who will shape our collective futures.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) has a simple role in this program. Build interesting and relevant study designs, develop exams from these study designs and maintain the highest levels of security to provide a level field for all students to demonstrate their knowledge. This year several exams have been poorly designed and the impact on students has been significant. Now, we are hearing about assessments being included in final exams even though very similar sample questions were mistakenly uploaded by the VCAA and found hidden by some students weeks before. If our students performed like this, they would be pilloried widely by society.
Andrew Dowling, Torquay
Compromised exam leaves us feeling undermined
The recent leak of VCAA exam content has seriously shaken the trust in our education system. For VCE students who’ve put in countless hours prepping for their final exams, finding out that the exam material was compromised feels incredibly unfair and disrupts the whole merit-based system we rely on.
As a VCE student graduating in the class of 2024, I have spent months preparing for the business management exam, a subject I genuinely enjoy. I approached the exam with no prior exposure to any of the questions, and felt confident in my performance.
Given the circumstances, it is only fair that affected students are offered a derived score as a means of restoring equity. Allowing students to be judged by the academic record they have built, rather than an exam compromised by no fault of their own, would be the most just solution.
The suggestion from VCAA that this leak has ″no adverse impact” is, frankly, dismissive and fails to acknowledge the stress and disruption this breach has caused. For students who sat the exam honestly, the value of their hard work feels undermined. VCAA needs to recognise the real impact this situation has on students’ confidence and sense of fairness.
A derived score would alleviate some of the anxiety and frustration that students are feeling and reinforce the notion that their hard work and dedication matter, especially during such a critical time in their education.
Kayla Wonder, East St Kilda
ATAR results have short shelf life
When a student learns how to access a copy of a coming examination paper they reach a decision point: shall I open the file or not? As an employer, I have two candidates before me. One has the higher ATAR and the other the higher integrity. I go for the higher integrity every time. After all, the ATAR has a shelf life of around three months until the tertiary course offer is accepted and commenced. The shelf life of integrity is forever.
Trevor Williams, Kensington
THE FORUM
Leave Rudd in DC
Those commentators who have called for the resignation or recall of Kevin Rudd as our ambassador to the US in order to placate Donald Trump have overlooked a basic feature of Trump’s character – he doesn’t respect anyone making concessions and views that as a sign of weakness which he despises.
On the contrary, he respects bullies and those who stand up for themselves. He also loves flattery. Rudd should be left where he is to do the job which, by all accounts, he has been doing well all along.
Peter Weiss, St Kilda East
Angels in America
Those Age letters correspondents wishing to negate coverage of US politics and culture are being parochial in the extreme. The ascent of the egregious Donald Trump to the presidency does not cancel the fact that the USA remains a compelling intellectual phenomenon as defined by its dynamic centres of learning. Institutions such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Berkeley and Stanford remain stellar hubs in defiance of the moronism evident in much of US life at present.
Public radio and television outlets there retain a superb and civilised discourse unsurpassed in the world. It is worth remembering, too, that millions of Americans did not endorse a convicted felon as their leader.
The US is a phenomenon which can be both frustrating and self-destructive. But, as the estimable Abraham Lincoln put it on the eve of the US Civil War, its “better angels” are unequalled.
Jon McMillan, Mt Eliza
UN crunch time
The crunch has come for the fragile system of international law. As your report makes clear, the USA has no intention of stopping the massive flow of arms to Israel despite Israel’s defiance of the US demand for aid to Gaza (“US won’t halt weapons”, 14/11).
Israel also thumbs its nose at the 51 UN member states which signed a letter calling on all countries to implement an arms embargo. All this because the UN Security Council is powerless to implement international law regarding war crimes and crimes against humanity. Sad to watch a noble vision collapse.
Caroline Graham, Cromer, NSW
Catholic manoeuvres
Re the decision by the High Court in the appeal by the Catholic Archdiocese of Ballarat against a finding that it was responsible for the criminal actions of its former paedophile priest Bryan Coffey in 1971 (“Free pass for sexually abusive clerics”, 13/11).
The High Court rejected decisions by the Victorian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal which found the Catholic Archdiocese of Ballarat responsible for a reprehensible crime by its paedophile priest Coffey.
As a practising lawyer, I understand the distinction which the High Court made in this case about the vicarious liability of an employer while refusing to extend that responsibility to an independent contractor. It found Coffee was technically not an employee, so the Catholic Church was not responsible legally for Coffey’s criminal acts. I have no doubt that it was, and remains, morally responsible for those actions.
As a practising Catholic, I am ashamed of the church and its lawyers for refusing to accept the 2021 decision of Justice Jack Forrest to award the relatively minor amount of $230,000 for the pain and suffering and medical and legal costs incurred by one of Coffey’s victims.
If I were a member of the Ballarat Archdiocese I would cease contributing to the Archdiocese’s weekly collections, and I encourage other Catholics to follow suit.
I am writing to the Victorian attorney-general to ask the government to introduce legislation to bring Victoria in line with the common law in England, Canada and Ireland by extending vicarious liability to organisations which are responsible for the care of children.
Michael Kennedy, Pipers Creek
Wilsons Prom standards
Recently, I spent time in Wilsons Promontory National Park with my young family and was shocked and disappointed with the disregard for park rules that I frequently witnessed from other visitors. From people walking their dogs, to discarded litter on various walks, and even two young guys riding motorbikes on the Big Drift sand dunes.
Standards of behaviour in the park have slipped considerably. There was no staff patrolling the entry gates and no staff presence outside of the Tidal River area which surely could have helped to manage many of these issues. It’s not good enough to let one of the great national parks of Australia be treated like an abandoned block of land with little thought given to the consequences of such inconsiderate actions.
Mark Devlin, Burnley
Cherish Myer windows
I believe people suffering in Gaza, Haiti, Ukraine, South Sudan, China and elsewhere would be saying: Melbourne, don’t cancel your Christmas windows opening. Have courage. Hold onto joy. Cherish your beloved traditions.
What does this say about ourselves, when we expect others far away to stand up to violence when we buckle under the comparatively minor threat of protests?
What kind of distorted thinking is behind protests that target the simple fun of our yearly traditions, like Melbourne’s Myer windows? Violence, or the threat of violence, should reinforce the importance of our beloved, joyous traditions. Not repress or crush them in the mistaken mindset that celebrating our joys somehow means we don’t care.
Anna Ridgway, Abbotsford
Children’s joy
When l read that the Myer Christmas window opening ceremony was to be cancelled because of protests, I was saddened for all the children and a tradition that has been there since I was a child, back in the late 1950s.
The excitement mounted as Myer prepared for the Christmas season. The windows were covered with paper and no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t find a hole to peak in. Then on that special day the unveiling of the Myer windows revealed a wonderland of magic and excitement. This fun has been taken out of the Christmas windows this year, and some families may choose not to go into the city.
Sharon Hendon, Glen Iris
Don’t appease mob
Having spent six years in Melbourne, I fondly remember the joy the Myer Christmas window displays brought to our three children. Despite not celebrating Christmas in the religious sense, we appreciated the displays as part of Australian cultural tradition, captivating children of all backgrounds– Muslim, Jewish, Christian, or atheist alike.
The cancellation of the opening event reflects a concerning trend among authorities who, rather than addressing divisive behaviour, seem inclined to continue to appease the angry mob. This approach only appears to embolden those intent on spreading discord.
John Kempler, Sydney
Dandenong values
Your corespondent’s (Letters, ″Dandenong is home″, 13/11) warm and conclusive appreciation of the community and services of Dandenong, where he lives, lifted my day. Under the strains of perpetual grievance and discontent with the world, and the real prospect of a threatening future, how nice to read of awareness and gratitude for the gifts of a civic life being enjoyed in our city. Perhaps we should pause and value what we have.
Gillian Upton, Balaclava
Comic relief
Re your correspondent (Letters, ″The ABC of laughter″, 13/11). Yes, we certainly need the comedy relief from the relentless political and media onslaught, but even more, we desperately need the stark reminder that this is exactly how politics and the media manipulate our thinking and actions.
Frontline was brutally accurate 30 years ago, and its insights and exposure of our curated news remain frighteningly true today. Frontline was meant to make us think as much as laugh. It seems we need to watch it again and engage in a lot more critical thinking (laughing is also permitted!).
Susan Coull, Frankston South
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding
America
I hope Caligula’s horse, like the Proud Boys, is standing back and standing by for a role in the US senate.
Tony James, Battery Point, Tas
Soon the USA will be an X democracy.
Dale Crisp, Brighton
Should the US attempt to interfere in the diplomatic appointments of another independent sovereign state, the US interference should be rejected by Australia with a two-word response: Pine Gap.
Tricia Harper, Fitzroy
If Peter Dutton is ever elected prime minister, would Gina Rinehart then be his environment minister?
Marie Nash, Balwyn
There could be another job for Kevin in the US. It seems anyone who once criticised Trump now gets a gig in the new president’s team. What is Dutton on about?
Alan Laird, Port Melbourne
Dear Donald Trump: Just add the crew from the Star Wars bar, and you’ll be done.
Matthew Hamilton, Kew
Only Trump, made famous by a TV program, could put a TV host in charge of the department of defence.
Tony Haydon, Springvale
Furthermore
We live in a world that has lost its mind. We live in an alternate reality where wrong has become right. Israeli self-defence has become aggression, and antisemitic terrorism has become resistance.
Jeffrey Kelson, Prahran
Climate change is not the greatest threat to mankind. It is war, bloody war, and nuclear war in particular.
Barry Revill, Moorabbin
Dutton’s nuclear plan: What happens when you cross a red herring with a white elephant.
Will Callahan, Barongarook
What a relief. Michele Bullock says she doesn’t understand cryptocurrency. And I thought it was just me.
Joan Segrave, Healesville
Woolworths are going to trial “smart shopping trolleys” instead of checkouts. You could sell tickets to watch how shoppers ‘handle’ that.
Ron Mather, Melbourne
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