Howard rethinks Australian history

Just as I'm away from my computer for 4 days, the issue of how Australian history is taught to high school students is thrust into the news. I wanted to absorb all the information I could, and start congealing my own thoughts onto this blog. But alas, I had to rely on the daily newspapers for my opinion-fill. I'm not sure where to start on all this. It seems appropriate that January 26, one of the most significant and contentious dates in Australian history, was chosen to fix the spotlight on history education. The story unfolded like this; John Howard used his Australia Day speech to call for a redesign in the way history is taught...

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 post-modern culture of relativism where any objective record of achievement is questioned or repudiated.

In other words, it seems, students spend too much time learning about the implications of events, and how things fit together, instead of focusing on getting the dates right. Secondly, they waste time questioning history, instead of just being empty vessels to be filled up with facts. It seems pretty obvious that this is merely creating a populist stance to win a horde nodding heads on Australia Day. I can fairly concisely summarise my idea of the role of history: History is about putting the present into context. That said, teaching history should be about fostering a better understanding of the world around us, based on how things got this way. One doesn't achieve this without carefully examining and questioning the issues and thematic links between historical events and periods. Well, that's what I think, anyway. I'll post some more on this tomorrow, after I get through all the opinion pieces and editorials and blog-posts.

Special spots

Our cat loves the mondo grass.

Morris Iemma on Australian values

NSW Permier Morris Iemma has just announced that he wants "every day to be Australia Day". He wants 'Australian values' such as 'decency' and a 'fair go' to be part of the school curriculum. I'm always sceptical of claims of 'Australian values', because they're usually universal values dressed in nationalistic clothing, and thus only serve to fragment people, not unite them. I also find the claimed links between the Cronulla Riots and school education to be somewhat dubious. What's alluded to is that our teachers are weakening the country by failing to instill these 'Australian values', and that if we can fix the curriculum, we'll fix intolerance. These kinds of comments are a buck-passing, quick fix exercise. I'm all for teaching children values and morals, but these kinds of claims seem to be made without any evidence that they're not currently being taught.

Chinese maps could re-write history

This article about the rise of Chinese map collectors sparked my interest when it appeared a few weeks back. Now one of these collectors has unearthed a 1763 reproduction of a 1418 map, which suggests the Chinese mariner Zheng He reached the Americas before Columbus, and charted parts of Antarctica and northern Canada. The collector, Liu Gang, says he'd been in possession of the map for 4 years, but only deciphered its importance when he read Gavin Menzies' 1421: The Year China Discovered The World. Menzies' book proposes that European map-makers copied ancient Chinese maps, which subsequently aided the great European explorers such as Columbus, Mahellan, Da Gama, and Cook. This thesis has been disputed by historians who criticise its lack of evidence. Could this be the evidence Menzies needs?

Brain-Attic

Sherlock Holmes explains the brain-attic, in A Study in Scarlet

"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

School fees and inflation rates

The most expensive private schools in New South Wales receive the highest amount of government funding. In addition to this, they have also raised their fees well above the inflation rate. Our Lady of Mercy College, for instance, currently sits in second place for amount of Government funding to elite schools, and has raised its fees by 12.7% whilst the inflation rate sits at 3%. The schools responded by stating that the inflation rate does not correlate to the increasing cost of providing education. Brian Croke, executive director of the NSW Catholic Education Commission, said that the rise in fees could be due to the impending changes in funding policies. In 2009, the Government plans to base funding on the affluence of each school's students. As such, schools are disproportionately raising fees to create a surplus which will see them through the 2009 funding cuts. Duncan McInnes, execute director of the NSW Parents' Council, says this tactic is unjustified, as the fees paid by parents should cover the immediate costs of education, not going towards a nest-egg for four years' time.

Magna Carta drops in value

A ink-on-vellum copy of the Magna Carta, produced in 1297, is one of 5000 artistic and cultural items held by Parliament in Canberra. It was bought for £12,500 in 1952.

The document of about 3000 words of Latin covers 50cm by 42cm of vellum (calfhide) and is enclosed in a humidified capsule filled with inert gas to protect it from bacterial damage. The capsule is encased in a laminated, UV-protected display case.

In 2002, Sotheby's valued the artifact at au$40 million. A new valuation by the Department of Parliamentary Services, based on advice from the Australian Valuation Office, places the value at au$15 million. Whilst this reduces insurance premiums, it also lowers the value should the Government wish to sell it. Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services, Hilary Penfold, said "Magna Carta is priceless in many ways, but in reality if it were to be sold there would be a buyer, and it was a matter of reaching a value comparable to that paid for other similar works".

Superfluous words

Lake Superior State University has compiled a list of words and phrases which it considers should be banned from the English language. Included are: surreal, person of interest, community of learners, breaking news, first-time caller, pass the savings on to you, an accident that didn't need to happen, dawg, and holiday tree.

Data warehouse

Last January, South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced the introduction of a tracking system to monitor the academic progress of high school students. Having been in place for a year, teachers now have access to a "data warehouse", which indicates academic progress, attendance, and literacy. The system will eventually detail a student's journey through 12 years of schooling.

John Titor

This is why I love Wikipedia. Stumbling across lengthy articles like this one on John Titor; alleged time traveller from the year 2036.

John Titor was the name of a purported time traveller from the year 2036. He posted on several time travel-related Internet bulletin boards during 2000/2001, making many vague, but seemingly falsifiable, predictions about events in the near future and giving an account of his supposed native time period. Whether or not John Titor was a hoax is a topic of controversy on web-based paranormal discussion boards.