Education policy from the back of an envelope

Fourth, I hear of some scheme for fast-tracking the education of teachers to teach maths and science. A few weeks should be enough, and presto, here's a new teacher. Would you want someone who drifted in from country X or Y, probably with limited English and poor pronunciation, to be teaching your girl who is struggling with complex maths? I have spent many years educating teachers, and first of all we need to start with educated people with good basic literacy. Are we going to abandon this for the sake of a quick fix? I wonder if readers would be happy handing over their new Landcruiser or Prius to someone who just did a ten-week crash course in basic mechanics. No, I thought not.

So where does this leave us?

I am writing this piece from my hotel in Bangkok. There are many smart people in Asia and they are competing with Australians in one field after another. While Korean and Chinese children are forging ahead - and often doing so in Australian schools and universities - what about our own kids? Our kids, especially working class kids, are victim to American street culture, corny Hollywood movies, Nike shoes and junky American food. They need good literacy and broad understandings from which to build a secure future for themselves and the nation. I find neither Julia Gillard nor Tony Abbott has much to offer, besides tinny slogans.

In sum, three things need to be remembered.

First, fix the mess made of the BER. Happy those readers in Tasmania and WA. Many of the problems are in darkest NSW. But fixed they must be.

Second, education was a State responsibility. Now it has been pulled and dragged around because of the capriciousness of Federal politics. Somehow authorities will have to decide who runs what, and who pays for what. We can't keep adding bits onto bits onto more add-ons.

Third, I continue to worry about working class children. If we give them a good basic education, we give them opportunities to contribute to society. They buy houses, they raise great kids, they pay taxes. If they can't spell or write legible English, they are vulnerable to a life in prison, in crime, homelessness and drug use. Then we will be like the USA which has the world's highest percentage of people in jail. What an astonishing waste of human life.

OK Julia, let's invest in the future. But let's make our investments prudent and cautious. Not throw out half-baked ideas dreamed up by some party official on the back of an envelope.