PEARSON'S WAR ON EDUCATION IDEOLOGY
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday October 2, 2009
THE indigenous leader Noel Pearson has blamed poor education standards among Aborigines on the "ideology producers" in academia, "ideology-upholders" in the public service and the white middle-class left whose sympathy for the disadvantaged hurt those they hope to help.In a Quarterly Essay to be published next week, the lawyer and activist argues that the key to bridging the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous children is a "no-excuses" intolerance of underachievement, backed with a greater focus on numeracy and literacy.Mr Pearson, the director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, argues for a more prescriptive approach to instruction €“ including use of the phonics method to teach reading €“ to overcome the problems remote schools have in attracting the best teachers.Teaching jobs in remote areas would always be regarded as hardship postings."The lower the expected aptitude, the more imperative is prescriptive instruction," he said.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald