The fight for English

Big, heavy books? Ridiculous.

This is frivolous opportunistic tripe. So students who are now struggling to write will have the opportunity to be semi-illiterate in both traditional and new media? Whacko. They'll just digitally regurgitate their ignorance and even worse, post it on the Internet for the world (and prospective employers) to see.

I now run a small CV writing and career guidance business. Nowhere is the evidence of standards slippage more pronounced than the inability of job applicants to write a simple CV and explain in short, sharp sentences why they want a job.

Some may suggest that I have thrown my hand in with the social or economic conservatives or that I'm against online learning. That I'm marching along side Reagan, Thatcher, Hayek and Friedman. Most certainly not. I don't march to the beat of any political drum.

While there are problems teaching exposition online, I certainly advocate for public schools, I want teachers (and nurses) to get paid more, I want to see a transparent application of funding for public schools so they get new buildings and resources. I want to see more public school teachers, especially in maths and physics.

This debate needs to be settled in the Rudd Government's first term. It has been raging for almost 20 years.