It sounds as if Aussie Prime Minister John Howard favours a free market in education, and is doing something about it. The pips - the Philips anyway - are starting to squeak:
PROPHECIES of doom for public education are becoming self-fulfilling. One of our nation’s greatest achievements, a universal education system open to one and all, irrespective of class or religious belief, is being demolished by ideologues intent on destroying anything prefixed "public": public health, public broadcasting, the traditions of the public service and, of course, any vestiges of public ownership.The young John Howard was educated in the public system. It must have played some part in his brilliant career yet, as prime minister, he lashes out at public schools, slandering them as places of subversion and moral squalor. Little wonder that parents, confused and concerned, remove their kids from the system and send them to independent schools. Just as I started to write this column, I got a phone call from a senior educator with the latest figures. The market share for public high schools? Down to 52 per cent.
In the past 12 months, I’ve travelled all over Australia talking to school principals – hundreds of them, heads of primary, secondary and private schools. And let the record show that even the heads of major independent schools are deeply concerned by the trends. They know that if the public school system is effectively trashed by a combination of "impropaganda" and a turning of financial screws, Australia’s entire education system is imperilled. And that what looks like "choice" will become chaos.
Any Australians with opinions about that?
Note that "private" schools in Australia are also state funded, as are religious schools. (Australia has a huge Catholic school sector. This becoming state funded was one of the compromises that allowed the Australian federation to occur in the first place). The words in this article do not always mean what someone who is not familiar with Australian politics thinks they do. What Howard has actually done is transfer money from one set of state funded schools to a different set of state funded schools that he is ideologically more confortable with. Similar things have happened with health care. (I think he genuinely would like to eliminate public broadcasting, but given that the ABC in Australia makes the BBC look like a right wing organisation, this is perhaps not surprising).
I wouldn't consider John Howard to be in favour of small government in any way or form, to be honest. He simply wants state institutions that are loyal to him rather than state institutions that are loyal to the Labor party.
I'm not surprised that the Independent school heads are worried by the trends. They don't want the hard cases rocking up on their doorsteps, and are happier with them left in the rump state system.
Michael's remarks are right on the money, as usual.
Despite the huuuuge numbers of private (Catholic followed by independent followed by Steiner etc.) schools here and their relative affordability (c.AU$7000 p/year for a place in a Steiner school) the public school system here makes the English one look shocking (well, compared to B'ham). IMO It's a classic Aussie tension and by no means a point of crisis... would helop if the little twerp allocated the hundreds of millions of $s he's currently handing out to public rather than religiously driven schools tho!
Cheers, James (Melbourne)
