Birmo bowled over by catastrophic civics results, but just have a look at kids’ leftie diet
Our kids aren’t too keen on democracy. Lowy Institute poll, June 21:
In previous Lowy Institute Polls, the responses of younger Australians to this question have been striking, with only a minority of the 18-29 year age group expressing a preference for democracy up until 2016. In 2017, a bare majority (52 per cent) of Australians aged 18-29 years agree that democracy is the preferable form of government.
And it probably doesn’t help they’re failing basic civics lessons. The Australian, yesterday:
The civics results, which Education Minister Simon Birmingham branded “woeful”, reveal that only 38 per cent of Year 10 students last year achieved at or above a proficient standard when tested on the values, institutions and practices of Australian government — significantly lower than in tests conducted in 2010 and 2013.
Who can blame them when they’re fed leftie nonsense all day instead of getting real civics lessons? The Australian, August 18:
… the Forestville Public School (is) under fire for staging a play last week on the Stolen Generations that featured Year 6 students dressed up as nuns abusing indigenous children.
Teachers are too busy pushing progressive agendas. The Australian, December 16 last year:
Bill Shorten says schoolchildren should be writing to Santa instead of sending political messages to MPs amid revelations Year 3 students at a Sydney public school launched a petition against child asylum-seekers in detention.
And teaching biased material. The Australian, May 16 last year:
A Melbourne playwright has defended herself against claims a play set in Gaza and studied by Victorian high school students is anti-Israel …
The federal Education Minister does seem to recognise there’s a problem. Simon Birmingham on Seven’s Sunrise program, yesterday:
I think this is a real worry … That the citizenship and civics areas, we’re seeing less than 40 per cent of high school students showing proficiency in terms of their understanding of the way our system of government works, our courts work, the basics of being successful participants.
But he needs to lead on civics. Instead of focusing on Western democratic institutions, we’re teaching kids stuff like this. The Australian, October 14 last year:
Victorian students will be taught about “male privilege” … The Victorian government will push ahead with the rollout of its $21.8 million respectful relationships education program, despite claims the program fails to consider the multiple and complex drivers of family violence … and amounts to the brainwashing of children.
And this. The Australian, September 7 last year:
The NSW government has ordered an investigation into the Education Department’s launch of an official teaching resource that urges teachers to “de-gender” their classroom language and promotes activities that encourage students to think about sexuality as “non-binary” or … “like temperature or the weather”.
We have a lot of work to do here. Kevin Donnelly in The Australian, yesterday:
Those doubting whether Australia’s education system has been captured by the cultural left need look no further than the results of the 2016 years 6 and 10 civics and citizenship survey.