Abbott has challenged educational brainwashing

The former prime minister has presented a challenging appraisal of what’s wrong with school education.

I hope Tony Abbott (“Covert brainwashing of our kids is taking its toll”, 9/3) reads your editorial (“Education is key to fulfilment”, 9/3) which lauds the “transformation in the lives of Australian women” arguing the importance of education, because Abbott seems to be arguing for a static concept of the West when its “secret” is the opposite: belief in criticism as a fundamental value.

This is the argument of John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty; it is essential to democracy which makes no sense unless the citizens have freedom of political discussion, and it is asserted by the New Testament.

We should have a subject titled “wisdom” every year from puberty and compulsory in all schools.

Barry E. Duff, Melbourne, Vic

“What are our kids actually being taught?”, Tony Abbott asks. Clearly not how to make the most of themselves. In essence they are taught how to save the world, according to the teachers’ vision of what is needed.

It is a misguided and patronising vision. What society needs most is adults who make the most of themselves, first to achieve their own goals, and then to have the luxury of deciding for themselves what society needs, and the ability to deliver it.

We often hear about the teaching profession, but what sort of profession is so vague about whose interests it serves? I think a teaching profession would be a good idea.

James McDonald, Annandale, NSW

Reading Tony Abbott’s challenging piece, I immediately thought of my grandchildren and how their future will be affected by the dumbing down of those principles of learning compared to those I experienced.

But my main reflection was that no one else among our leaders would be capable of producing such a thoughtful summary of where our educators are taking our children. The consequences of this insidious process are already being seen in the limitations being placed on free speech and opinions in many institutions.

R. T. Hawksley, Benowa, Qld

To indoctrinate schoolchildren in the latest political fads is not the same as educating them. To educate them is to equip them to logically appraise competing ideas, a skill that will serve them and society well throughout their lives. The best way to prepare children for an intelligent life is to select an issue that is not red hot. A topic such as climate alarm, with its threat of doom, and strong feelings among adults, will overwhelm them.

Better to take a subject that is open for debate, one where the teacher does not assert a position. Invite students to express views and comment on other views. Teach them to listen, to take turns in speaking, to refrain from mocking others, but to point out where a claim is illogical.

Children who learn how to discuss an issue — without simply beating a drum — will be better citizens, able to help steer society through serious future dilemmas.

Philip O’Carroll, North Fitzroy, Vic

Tony Abbott makes a number of valid points, but the issue of declining standards is now well beyond articles, books and letters to the editor.

Why have we jettisoned academic rigour and substituted it with impenetrable jargon and student-directed learning to name but two millstones around our educational neck?

Some individual schools have successfully resisted the drivel and fads inflicted on them; however this is not enough to reverse our decline.

Which party, bureaucrat, politician, educational body will finally say our youngsters deserve better and our future requires it?

How will years of curriculum degradation and declining standards be reversed and replaced with challenging standards and an invigorating education that will provide a platform for rewarding and fulfilling careers and lives?

Our decline in literacy, maths and science is particularly worrying. Language skills go hand-in-hand with logic and clear thinking. Without the other, each is doomed to fail. Maths and the hard sciences hold the keys to medical research, better understanding climate change, quantum computing, solving our energy crisis and much more.

We neglect maths and science to our social, intellectual and economic peril. Australia must stop deluding itself that funding is the key issue in education. The key challenge is reinvigorating schools with academic rigour and the pursuit of excellence.

Mark Biss, Camberwell, Vic