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Tag Archives: education
48.14 November 5, 2015
Maisie Finney turns 101, closure threat to Online Centres, BOD Stitchers, Out of the Woodwork, monster night at the St Marys Historic Hotel, St Marys Sports and Social Centre news, GET update, AMIC update, Community groups and services guide, Letters to the Editor, SMCHC news…
48.09 August 27, 2015
BODC restores Fingal Valley services, crisis for lawn bowls in St Marys, Cagerattler, Out of the Woodwork, Break O’Day Multi-purpose Indoor Stadium update, Abundant Soul Cafe opening, BOD Stitchers news, St Marys District School news, Lions Club of St Helens update, how dogs and cats see colours, Healthy House Walking Group, SMCHC news, St Marys Sports and Social Club update…
47.21 March 26th, 2015
Mobile Breastscreen Unit back in the Fingal Valley, Circle of 4 Exhibition, Letters to the Editor, Open Letter from Peter and Beverley Rubenach, Break O’Day Multi-purpose Stadium Stage 1 update, Cagerattler, Anzac Memorial in Avoca, Follyfoot Friends, AMIC update, GET update, St Marys District School calendar, Singing for health, Community Cat Forum and Declared areas, Sport and Social Centre update…
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor
Re: Half of all Tasmanians are functionally illiterate and innumerate: VV 12 October 2013
Mr Jensen’s suggestion of moving students into better, larger schools “to afford specialist literacy and numeracy teachers that would benefit all students” does not address any of the root causes of this serious, complex and societal problem.
Firstly, education begins at home long before children commence school. Parents have a responsibility to help their children to learn and grow and function in the world they brought them into. You can have all the specialist
teachers in the world but if that child does not have a home where parents support and assist their learning, as I have seen first hand in my experience as a school executive officer, that child remains illiterate, innumerate and condemned to lifelong poverty, not only financially but mentally, spiritually and emotionally – condemned to a life of “low expectation” that they in turn pass on to their children and their children’s children.
That “the education system in Tasmania has a history of low expectations” is not only a condemnation of the system but a tragic reflection on Tasmanian society as a whole. Where have these “low expectations” come from and what has created them?
Systems do not create themselves, they are created by people, so successive Tasmanian governments must share the blame as must we, the people who voted for them. Statistics show that Tasmania has the second highest teenage pregnancy rate in Australia – the first being the Northern Territory. Statistics also show that a high number of children in this state are classified as being disadvantaged – is this a result of “low expectations?”
It is a sad fact that literacy and its teaching all over Australia has suffered from the so called “literacy wars” where states and academics have fought over how literacy
should be taught since the seventies. No national curriculum has meant that standards varied from state to state, impacting both teachers and children.
In 2008 when attending an orientation course at UTAS, I was asked not to answer the simple grammatical questions the facilitator put to the class because she was aware that I had been taught these things and that many of these young men and women who had just finished high school and were entering university did not know the difference between “its” and “it’s”. A sad indictment indeed.
Literacy is more than learning to read or simply functioning in this world we inhabit – it is the key to learning, growing, opportunity, understanding, tolerance and compassion, to a world of wonder, innovation, technology and many other things that enrich our lives as a person and a society. It is the key to the future.
Elizabeth Elliott, St Marys.
44.05 June 30th, 2011
44.03 June 2nd, 2011
43.18 March 10th, 2011
42.01 June 18th, 2009
41.22 May 7th, 2009
New Talent Comes To St Marys, “Mother’s Day”, ANZAC DAY ADDRESS 2009, Flag Flown in Afghanistan for Tassie Mums and Dads, Break O’ Day Stitchers 2009 Easter Exhibition, CRIME STOPPERS WEEK 2009, Female Rock Lobster Season Ends, Improvement Award 2008…