I forgot to mention that there was an interesting profile of the long time conservative education advocate Kevin Donnelly in the Sydney Morning Herald on the weekend.
Despite his years and years of column space to air his views in The Australian, I didn't know anything about his background. Here are some key points:
* gee, in appearance he has a very "Alan Jones" vibe about him, doesn't he?
* he was a radical, hippie Lefty as a young man, no doubt under the influence of his Communist Party joining, but alcoholic, father. It seems he switched, perhaps in his late 20's but it's not 100% clear, to be an aggressive conservative.
This seems to me to be surprisingly common - those who are most passionately ideological and aggro about things having undergone something of a 180 degree conversion from their former beliefs. Knowing this about someone makes me trust their judgement less, as it shows their emotional commitment to a cause is probably more about being fickle rather than having a balanced and well reasoned view of life. Whether it be on politics or matters of religion - Centrists who haven't swung wildly from one side to the other Rule, OK? - and are nearly always more trustworthy.
* He had a terrible relationship with both parents, and also suffered the tragic loss of a son.
* He's Catholic, apparently, although the article doesn't explain how he got there. A strong Pell supporter, one would have to suspect.
* He's nervous about being profiled - having withdrawn co-operation.
Donnelly is also in the news this week for saying that he thinks corporal punishment could be usefully re-instituted in schools, if the school wants it. Pyne has distanced himself from this suggestion pronto.
To my mind, Donnelly represents what is typical of the Coalition's sadly redundant "culture war" mentality that seeks to continue a war when it hasn't realised that the Left has already moved to a more centrist position on many matters since the 70's and 80's. I think this is true in Donnelly's field as with other issues, although pockets of nonsense in education and social theory no doubt still exist - they always will, just like you'll always have libertarian fantasies about how society could or should operate too.
To tell the truth, I think elements of the national curriculum do sound a bit silly, but I am also not convinced that those elements have much effect on teachers on a day to day basis. Certainly, I am not likely to be on board with an attempt to go to a curriculum that is a reversion to the 1950's either, which seems to me that Donnelly pines for.
1 comment:
"culture war" mentally
Mentality.
It is odd that the coalition was trying to assert Labour was trying to start a culture war when their policies clearly are a culture war. Of late the coalition has dropped the rants on this, perhaps because they realise they are being hoisted on their own petard.
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