PDF (Whole Thesis) - USQ ePrints - University of Southern ...
PDF (Whole Thesis) - USQ ePrints - University of Southern ... PDF (Whole Thesis) - USQ ePrints - University of Southern ...
into “politically correct new age warriors”. It is appalling that we tolerate the concepts and the politics behind this thinking. It is also appalling that Wayne Sawyer considers that because he has certain views they are automatically correct... And just for the record, I had really expected and hoped John Howard would lose the election. (2005, p. 10) So significant was this issue that it continued to be discussed three years later by educators in the field of English teaching and education studies more broadly. For example, the following statement, which appears to support Sawyer’s editorial, is from an extract of a paper presented at the 2007 annual conference of the Australian Teacher Education Association. It reads: Sawyer’s editorial generated hardy reactions from among the antagonists in the critical literacy campaign and is still used to advantage whenever an example of ‘extremist thinking’ among teachers is required to support their argument. Newspaper columns written by opponents of critical literacy began to appear quite frequently from early 2005 including appeals against such “…post-modern theories and academic jargon” and other “…marginal theories” (Slattery, 2005a)... (Wilson, 2007, pp. 667-668) A1.5.9 January 25, 2006: Howard’s Australia Day Address to the National Press Club. Howard continued to feature prominently in public debates, including setting the tone of the debates; his position as Prime Minister affording him significant influence on this issue. His Australia Day Address at the National Press Club presented as an opportunity for Howard to not only continue the history/culture wars debate, but to add to it, clearly aligning the issue within schooling contexts. In calling for a reinvigoration of Australian history in school curriculum, Howard stated: Quite apart from a strong focus on Australian values, I believe the time has also come for root and branch renewal of the teaching of Australian history in our schools, both in terms of the numbers learning and the way it is taught. For many years, it’s been the case that fewer than one-in-four senior secondary students in 468
Australia take a history subject. And only a fraction of this study relates to Australian history. Real concerns also surround the teaching of Australian history in lower secondary and primary schools. Too often history has fallen victim in an ever more crowded curriculum to subjects deemed more ‘relevant’ to today. Too often, it is taught without any sense of structured narrative, replaced by a fragmented stew of ‘themes’ and ‘issues’. And too often, history, along with other subjects in the humanities, has succumbed to a postmodern culture of relativism where any objective record of achievement is questioned or repudiated. Part of preparing young Australians to be informed and active citizens is to teach them the central currents of our nation’s development. The subject matter should include indigenous history as part of the whole national inheritance. It should also cover the great and enduring heritage of Western civilisation, those nations that became the major tributaries of European settlement and in turn a sense of the original ways in which Australians from diverse backgrounds have created our own distinct history. It is impossible, for example, to understand the history of this country without an understanding of the evolution of parliamentary democracy or the ideas that galvanised the Enlightenment. In the end, young people are at risk of being disinherited from their community if that community lacks the courage and confidence to teach its history. This applies as much to the children of seventh generation Australians or indigenous children as it does to those of recent migrants, young Australian Muslims, or any other category one might want to mention. When it comes to being an Australian there is no hierarchy of descent. Whether our ancestors were here thousands of years ago, whether they came on the First Fleet or in the 19th century, or whether we or our ancestors are amongst the millions of Australians who have come to our shores since the Second World War, we are all equally Australians – one no better than the other. (Howard, 2006, n.p.) 17 The speech attracted many and varied responses, and has remained a defining feature of the cross over between the history/culture wars and education contexts, known colloquially as the 17 It has been necessary to quote this part of the speech at length, in order that individual statements can be read within the context of the speech, rather than as isolated examples. 469
- Page 432 and 433: understanding? This last point is o
- Page 434 and 435: 420
- Page 436 and 437: and functional perspectives on time
- Page 438 and 439: Collins, C., & Knight, S. (2006). E
- Page 440 and 441: Department of Public Instruction. (
- Page 442 and 443: Fiske, J., Hodge, B., & Turner, G.
- Page 444 and 445: Henderson, G. (2008b, August 12). N
- Page 446 and 447: Kitson, J. (Interviewer), & Malouf,
- Page 448 and 449: Melleuish, G. (1998). The packaging
- Page 450 and 451: Roberts, M. (2004). Postmodernism a
- Page 452 and 453: van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Semiotics a
- Page 454 and 455: 440
- Page 456 and 457: 442
- Page 458 and 459: particular, this includes taking on
- Page 460 and 461: The mapping of these debates conclu
- Page 462 and 463: A1.1.4 Terminology. The term histor
- Page 464 and 465: The similarities of the debates acr
- Page 466 and 467: over...an overrun of divisive multi
- Page 468 and 469: political cartoon satirist, Peter N
- Page 470 and 471: A1.5.1 April 23, 1993: Geoffrey Bla
- Page 472 and 473: After an initial furor, this curric
- Page 474 and 475: A1.5.4 October and November 1996: J
- Page 476 and 477: I take a very different view. I bel
- Page 478 and 479: history/culture wars in the public
- Page 480 and 481: parallels between ideologies presen
- Page 484 and 485: Root and branch renewal of history
- Page 486 and 487: Further in his lecture, Manne then
- Page 488 and 489: Throughout the years that the histo
- Page 490 and 491: A people with a sense of a fair go
- Page 492 and 493: "There's real anger about that," ag
- Page 494 and 495: Instead, from the nation's Parliame
- Page 496 and 497: asis for critical (and often deriso
- Page 498 and 499: valid reasons for living and hoping
- Page 500 and 501: “centrally prescribed curriculum
- Page 502 and 503: elativism in school curriculum, spe
- Page 504 and 505: supporting PM Howard’s call for a
- Page 506 and 507: The politicisation of the curriculu
- Page 508 and 509: Government in the rundown to the en
- Page 510 and 511: oversimplified and shallow analysis
- Page 512 and 513: than the combination of history, ge
- Page 514 and 515: Language used by opponents of the c
- Page 516 and 517: invades school curriculum” (Lane,
- Page 518 and 519: 504
- Page 520 and 521: 506
- Page 522 and 523: Appendix D: Sample Data Analyses Ti
- Page 524 and 525: (p. 110) Passage 6: (pp. 110-111) P
- Page 526 and 527: probably good that this was not cas
- Page 528: Overall, a very unemotional account
into “politically correct new age warriors”. It is appalling that we tolerate the<br />
concepts and the politics behind this thinking.<br />
It is also appalling that Wayne Sawyer considers that because he has certain<br />
views they are automatically correct...<br />
And just for the record, I had really expected and hoped John Howard would<br />
lose the election. (2005, p. 10)<br />
So significant was this issue that it continued to be discussed three years later by educators in<br />
the field <strong>of</strong> English teaching and education studies more broadly. For example, the following<br />
statement, which appears to support Sawyer’s editorial, is from an extract <strong>of</strong> a paper<br />
presented at the 2007 annual conference <strong>of</strong> the Australian Teacher Education Association. It<br />
reads:<br />
Sawyer’s editorial generated hardy reactions from among the antagonists in the<br />
critical literacy campaign and is still used to advantage whenever an example <strong>of</strong><br />
‘extremist thinking’ among teachers is required to support their argument.<br />
Newspaper columns written by opponents <strong>of</strong> critical literacy began to appear quite<br />
frequently from early 2005 including appeals against such “…post-modern theories<br />
and academic jargon” and other “…marginal theories” (Slattery, 2005a)... (Wilson,<br />
2007, pp. 667-668)<br />
A1.5.9 January 25, 2006: Howard’s Australia Day Address to the National Press<br />
Club.<br />
Howard continued to feature prominently in public debates, including setting the tone <strong>of</strong> the<br />
debates; his position as Prime Minister affording him significant influence on this issue. His<br />
Australia Day Address at the National Press Club presented as an opportunity for Howard to<br />
not only continue the history/culture wars debate, but to add to it, clearly aligning the issue<br />
within schooling contexts. In calling for a reinvigoration <strong>of</strong> Australian history in school<br />
curriculum, Howard stated:<br />
Quite apart from a strong focus on Australian values, I believe the time has also<br />
come for root and branch renewal <strong>of</strong> the teaching <strong>of</strong> Australian history in our<br />
schools, both in terms <strong>of</strong> the numbers learning and the way it is taught. For many<br />
years, it’s been the case that fewer than one-in-four senior secondary students in<br />
468
Change language