Australian Thoughts at the Weekend 11th July 2009

Australian Thoughts at the Weekend 11th July 2009

Schools

Schools are never out of the news for very long lately. There has been a teachers strike and threats of more strikes because the pay rise the Queensland State Government has offered is not large enough. The Government are also wanting to test new graduate teachers for English and mathematical ability before allowing them to teach.

In the last few days, there has been comment about discipline in high schools with the figures for the numbers of punishments like suspension and exclusion from school being released. Some schools report this punishment has led to an improvement in student behaviour.

I wonder about suspending teenage students from school. I know of one young student whose mother has difficulty in getting him to attend then the school suspends him so he ends up back at home playing on the computer as he wanted to originally. The mother is a single mother and has to work so he ends up unsupervised at home.

For some time there has been some discussion on whether we need a national curriculum for our schools. At present our school system is State based, so we have at least six different systems throughout Australia. Then we can have the differences between the State, Church and private schools. In each State the curriculum worked by all schools are in theory the same but standards of teaching and even methods may be some what different. Expectations of different schools may also be the varied.

I remember some time ago I saw a report on television which talked about a revolutionary approach to schooling. It seemed mostly about making a link between the school experiences of the student and the student’s parents. As the reports says “For most families, it's a constant struggle managing conflicting household demands, school and extra-curricular activities. But now…an innovative online reporting system is giving parents the opportunity to be constantly informed about the progress of their children in the classroom.”

The report went on to show how parents at home or at work are able to log on to the school and see students completing assigned tasks via computer. They could also see reports on the student’s progress or difficulties immediately. A teacher told how she marked the student’s work online and the parent could see the mark soon after the task was assessed. The usual brief parent-teacher interviews and twice yearly school report cards were a thing of the past. There was no need for the parent to wait for a difficult to understand report at the end of the school semester. Parents and the teachers could interact with the student to correct any difficulties as they occurred.

Well, I have never seen a follow up to the above report. Of course, it is all possible and those of us with a computer and a webcam have all the technology that is needed. It is really no different to looking at the traffic on the motorway cameras before leaving home or the office or different to the surfer logging on to his computer and the surfcam before dragging himself out of bed to head for his morning surfboard ride.

Computers are not new in schools. There are students now in university who used computers at primary school and high school. My niece who is a second year university student attended a high school college where a laptop computer was compulsory for all students.

I have been thinking about my own school days. I started school in 1950 at what was then the largest primary school in the State of Queensland. The classroom reflected the shortages of post World War 2. In fact as I think about the classroom it probably reflected the depression days of the 1930s. The School system was having trouble keeping up with the post war boom in births and there ‘baby boomers’ were now lining up for school as they turned 5. (The school I attended shared its foundation year with The Salvation Army. That is 1865).

The classroom had desks which each accommodated two students. There were enough desks and seats for about 36 students. The teacher had a table, a chair and a cupboard, which strangely was called a “press.” Each room had a large clock. There were two blackboards (called that although they were actually dark green) fixed to the front wall and another one on a wooden easel. The teacher also had a metre long blackboard ruler. That was about it. Oh, the teacher also had a box of white sticks of chalk. Another box had a limited range of coloured chalks. In fact , there may have been only red, and a pale green. I see similar classrooms to my first ones in reconstructed “historical villages” and museums.

When I think of children starting school life today, I think of children who are familiar with computers, videos, CDs and DVDs and know how to work them. Their life has been one of technology since well before their mothers warmed their bottles in a microwave oven, and took their temperature with digital touch thermometers.

I remember one of the first lessons at school was how to hold my pencil. It was a slate pencil and my earliest writing was done on a slate. The slates were easily cleaned and we kept a piece of sponge in an old vegemite (or jam/jelly) jar/bottle with water and a few drops of disinfectant in it with a lid to stop it spilling. The first time I got into trouble at school was when I dropped my jar and broke it. I did not get into trouble for that but I did when the teacher’s suggested I should clean up the mess, and I told her she should do it. I guess I learnt that day my teacher was not my mother!

After about six months (or was it a year?) of this we progressed to using pencils and paper. It would be another year before we progressed to using a nib pen that we dipped in an inkwell of ink. Ballpoint pens had not come into popular use at this time so progress from a dipped pen was to a fountain pen. Fountain pens were discouraged as little fiddling fingers often caused the little rubber bladder to discharge all of its ink at once. It was a very desirable thing to be chosen as the “Ink Monitor.” The Ink Monitors had the privilege of mixing the ink powder with water and topping up the ink well in each desk each morning.

The bare essentials approach of the classrooms in those days reflected life in general in Australia at the time. There was a new prosperity in the years following the Second World War but many people had very strong memories of the pre-war depression when many were out of work and the rationing of the war years. Many feared these years of difficulty and shortages would return. Many were saving pennies for a rainy day. If not for a rainy day, many people were saving to buy a home, an electric refrigerator or their first car.

I remember after I had progressed to using exercise books to write in at school, if I requested a new book from my parents, my father would want to check that I had used the old one completely and economically. I feared his inspections, as a few lines here or there not used or a large decorative heading on a page he considered was waste. My teacher loved large decorative headings and a page given to a lovely ornate heading for a following story or major work was likely to get better marks for the work.

It was very difficult to convince dad that it was best to go along with the authority of the teacher. If I explained that was the way the teacher wanted me to use my books, he would suggest I tell the teacher to buy my books. Dad had seemed to learn something about authority (and bosses) in the wartime army which he was carrying with him. I guess I could write a whole essay on dad’s different views to mine on life at school and learning. I could tell you about sport and dancing, school uniforms, visits to museums and stuff that was not reading, writing and mathematics for the workplace.

Dad did not have much regard for teachers particularly those who allowed us to stray from the basics of the three “Rs” – ’riting, reading and ’rithmetic. The teacher dad thought was the worst, I now judge to have been miles ahead of his peers in teaching and motivation students to work at their own pace. Mr Ossy (as we called him) had tasks, often craft, available for those who finished the class work first. Students had to assure him they had re-checked for accuracy, grammar and spelling before being given a new task. I am not sure what dad would make of my post graduate degree in education!

Paul, or to use his Jewish name, Saul was a keen student. He studied under Gamaliel who was considered to be best rabbi (teacher of the Law) in Jerusalem. Paul was a Pharisee. He studied the Law so that he might live the Law. He also calls himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews. This says to me he not only identified as a Hebrew but was very, very proud of his heritage.

All this pride in heritage and tradition lived out in strictest obedience to the Law changed when he met Jesus. He could not deny who he was but other things in life became more important. He counted it all as rubbish compared to knowing Jesus.

Don’t get the wrong impression that Paul thought study was now useless that being a Christian was enough. Paul never says the Holy Spirit will make up for our deficiencies in studying the Scriptures. He says to his spiritual son Timothy:

Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers.
15Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. 2 Timothy 2: 14-15. The Amplified Bible.

MEDITATION:

Galatians 1 (Amplified Bible)

13You have heard of my earlier career and former manner of life in the Jewish religion (Judaism), how I persecuted and abused the church of God furiously and extensively, and [with fanatical zeal did my best] to make havoc of it and destroy it.
14And [you have heard how] I outstripped many of the men of my own generation among the people of my race in [my advancement in study and observance of the laws of] Judaism, so extremely enthusiastic and zealous I was for the traditions of my ancestors.
15But when He, Who had chosen and set me apart [even] before I was born and had called me by His grace (His undeserved favor and blessing), saw fit and was pleased(1) Philippians 3 (The Message)

Lord of my youth, teach me thy ways
That I may serve thee all my days;
Naught to withhold from thee who gave
Thy greatest gift the world to save.

Lord of my youth, this heart of mine
Enfold within thy love divine;
With each emotion sanctified,
Thy life in me be glorified.

Lord of my youth, in thought and deed
I would from sin be ever freed;
Pure be my tongue and clean my mind,
In service bold, in action kind.

Lord of my youth, take thou my hands,
Use them as thy great love demands;
Swift be my feet to stay the pace
Of running in the heavenly race.

Lord of my youth, I bring to thee
All the blest gifts thou lendest me;
Treasures of earth shall have no place
Beside the riches of thy grace.
Author: Brindley Boon
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 861

Teach me how to love thee,
Teach me how to pray,
Teach me how to serve thee
Better every day;
Teach me how to serve thee
Better every day.
The Salvation Army Song Book: Chorus Number: 105

Philippians 3 (The Message)

3The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it. We couldn't carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it—
4even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree:
5a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God's law;
6a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting Christians; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law Book.
7The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash--along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ.
8Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ
9and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ--God's righteousness.
10I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself.
11If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.



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