<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;">Forgive me folks, but after throwing up all over my letterman sweater and copy of Dumb and Dumber, I did a quick linguistic analysis of this 'advertisement' late last night. A good one for the kids perhaps?</SPAN></FONT></FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Standards (9) </FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Choice (7)</FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Parents (7)</FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"></FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">Commonsense (3)</FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">fads (3)</FONT><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"></FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">testing (3)</FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">accountability (2)</FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">robbing children (2)</FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000">unabashed supporter (2)</FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial-BoldMT"><B><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></B></FONT></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial-BoldMT"><B>Speeches</B></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">08 February 2007</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;margin-bottom: 10pt; "><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial-BoldMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><B><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT">TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
DUMBING DOWN BY KEVIN DONNELLY BOOK LAUNCH,
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
</FONT></B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: auto;margin-bottom: 10pt; "><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">E&OE…</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Thank you very much Sandy, Kevin Donnelly, Julie Bishop, my other parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to accept the invitation to launch this book, both because <B>I’ve greatly respected the author as an individual and I’ve greatly admired his persistent campaign for high basic standards (1) in Australia’s education system</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">. For too long, the education debate has focussed exclusively on inputs and quality, on money spent on student-teacher ratios and the like. And this was the territory staked out and defended fiercely by education producer groups, by the state education bureaucracies, curriculum designers and the teacher unions. Now, as a government, we will yield to nobody in defending our record so far as the provision of resources to education is concerned. But the point that Kevin has made and <B>the point I make today has been, and continues to be, to open up the education debate and to focus it more squarely onto quality</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">. And our great challenge as a nation is to improve the quality of Australia’s education system.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><B>The high ground of school reform in Australia centres on three key areas. Greater choice (1) and accountability (1), higher standards (2) and greater national consistency</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">. And when you have 80,000 school students a year moving from one part of the country to the other, to use the language of the young, the need for nationally consistent curricula is indeed a <B>no brainer</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">; and <B>those three things are the foundations of a quality education system.</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">And it’s into this realm of education quality that Kevin Donnelly’s work – and Dumbing Down is the latest example - has been <B>a beacon of commonsense</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, exposing many of <B>the fads (1) and politically-correct fashions</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> that have found their way into Australian schools.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Kevin Donnelly’s book makes a very big point about the danger of so-called ‘progressive’ theories and education <B>fads (2)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">. Where Big Brother or a text message jostles with Shakespeare and classical literature for a place in the English curriculum, <B>we are robbing children (1) of their cultural heritage</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">By obfuscating the need for <B>teachers to impart (1) specific knowledge</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> and for <B>rigorous testing (1)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> of student achievement, <B>we are robbing children (2)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, especially disadvantaged children, of <B>the one proven path to individual achievement and social mobility</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">. And by <B>denying parents clear statements of their child’s performance</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> in the classroom we are letting new-age <B>fads (3)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> get in the way of <B>genuine accountability (2)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">As I said in my speech at the 50th anniversary of Quadrant last year, <B>few debates are as vital as those over education</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, whether it be in <B>upholding</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> basic standards (3) on literacy and numeracy, promoting diversity and <B>choice</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (2) or challenging the <B>incomprehensible sludge</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> that can find its way into some curriculum material.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">I am an </SPAN><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><B>unabashed supporter</B></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> of <B>choice</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (3) for parents. As many of you know, I am a product of the government education system in New South Wales and I express my gratitude to the quality of that system when I attending school in Sydney, for <B>imparting (2)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, I hope, a strong basic education to me. <B>I believe therefore in a strong, well-funded and academically rigorous government school system</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Yet I am a </SPAN><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><B>staunch defender</B></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> of <B>the right of parents</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> to send their child to a non-government school and to have the government support them in that <B>choice</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (4).</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><B>Choice (5)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> has intrinsic value in a free society, especially in an area like education where we are dealing with the most important decision parents have to make about their child’s future.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">I am also an unabashed supporter</SPAN> of what Kevin Donnelly calls a ‘conservative approach to curriculum’ – <B>competitive examinations, teacher-directed lessons and the importance of academic disciplines</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">I make no apologies</SPAN> for the fact that under my government the Commonwealth has played a role in <B>pushing the states and territories on to higher ground</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> on issues like <B>standards (4)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, <B>testing (2)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> and plain English report cards in our schools.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><B>High standards</B></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style=""><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"> (5) can only be achieved if teachers have clear road maps as to the knowledge and concepts to impart. Formal competitive examinations are essential to assessing what a child has learned.</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">And there is something both <B>deadening</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> and <B>saccharine</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> in curriculum documents where History is replaced by ‘Time, Continuity and Change’ and Geography now becomes ‘Place, Space and Environment’.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><B>Experiments</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> like ‘<B>Outcomes-Based Education’</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, as Kevin Donnelly not only argues, not only <B>short-change parents and children</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, they also put <B>unjustified demands</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> on teachers, with <B>jargon-ridden curriculum statements</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> leaving <B>teachers overwhelmed</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> when it comes to <B>what must be taught</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> and what <B>standards</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (6) of student achievement are expected.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">I would commend to all of you Kevin’s work on the way in which the teaching of English has been allowed in some cases to <B>drift into a relativist wasteland</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, where students are asked to <B>deconstruct texts using politically-correct theories</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> in contrast with the <B>traditional view</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> that <B>great literature has something profound to say about the human condition</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">In tackling these issues, often <B>against the grain</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> of <B>self-proclaimed education ‘experts’</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, Kevin Donnelly displays both <B>great courage and a tough-minded determination to defend the higher purposes of education</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, especially in carrying forward the <B>best of the Western cultural tradition.</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">There is, of course, a degree of irony in some recent comments about the need for an education revolution in Australia, given the sorts of ideological agenda that Kevin Donnelly explores in his book.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">The key point is this – the Labor Party, leg-roped as it is to its allies in the teacher unions is very much a ‘Johnny-come-lately’ to <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><B>the cause</B></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> of <B>commonsense education reform</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> in support of <B>parental choice (6)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, <B>higher standards (7)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> and <B>sound curricula</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">It was this Government’s Schools Policy</SPAN> in 1996 – opposed by Labor – which really opened up <B>choice (7)</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> for <B>Australian parents</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> by facilitating the huge expansion in low-fee independent schools.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">It was David Kemp</SPAN> more than anyone else who <B>campaigned</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> to put <B>testing</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (3) of basic literacy and numeracy on the national agenda. <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">It was Brendan Nelson</SPAN> who <B>fought</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> to ensure that Australian parents are given plain English report cards and now Julie Bishop is <B>taking forward</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> a <B>new wave of school reforms</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> in the areas of <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">national consistency, higher curriculum standards, principal autonomy and teacher quality</SPAN>.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Our goal is simple</SPAN>. <B>We don’t want uniformity</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, but we do want <B>nation-wide high standards</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> (8) in schools to ensure every Australian student receives the best possible <B>foundation</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"> in <B>core subjects.</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Let me again in conclusion congratulate Kevin Donnelly on what is a very thoughtful and important contribution to the debate on the Australian education system. I wish the book well, I thank Kevin Donnelly for his <B>persistent advocacy of commonsense and standards (8) in Australian education</B></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">, it’s a great cause and he deserves our admiration and respect for engaging so energetically in it. Thank you.</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><SPAN lang="EN-US" style=""><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[Ends]</SPAN></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P><P class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><FONT class="Apple-style-span" face="ArialMT" size="4"><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>