Chambered Word
6th August 2010, 16:56
Hey comrades,
I'm thinking about arranging a protest against the government's policies on public schools. In short I want to get together as many high schoolers, parents and possibly teachers for a lively demonstration that will make some small kind of impact.
For people who don't follow Australian politics much, we've had a problem with teacher's pay for years, the Rudd-Gillard government introduced league tables for schools and neither Julia Gillard nor Tony Abbott are even making election promises to increase public school funding - they're currently getting one third of the funding while educating two thirds of the country's students.
(An article - that actually seems pretty left-wing - from the Sydney Morning Herald which sums things up a bit: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/is-julia-gillard-the-peter-reith-of-the-labor-party-20100412-s2jx.html
'While the Labor Party has promised that no school will lose a dollar in any new funding system, it has not guaranteed the private schools will maintain funding in real terms.
Under the current system introduced by the Howard government, private schools are funded based on the socio-economic status of the students.
Half the nation's private schools are exempt and receive more money than they should under the formula.' http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillard-to-ease-private-schools-funding-fears/story-fn59niix-1225900964623)
If any kind of action happens it will be after the election but I think whoever gets elected will still be more than worthy of criticism anyway, so I think it would still be effective. Still unsure though.
Next week I'll ask around see how many students at my school and others would get on board for this, should I try talking to one or two of the unionized teachers whom I know about this? I'm on quite good terms with teachers in general.
In the meantime, do you think I should try going through with this, and what practical advice do you have for organizing the demonstration?
Thanks in advance. :)
-L
I'm thinking about arranging a protest against the government's policies on public schools. In short I want to get together as many high schoolers, parents and possibly teachers for a lively demonstration that will make some small kind of impact.
For people who don't follow Australian politics much, we've had a problem with teacher's pay for years, the Rudd-Gillard government introduced league tables for schools and neither Julia Gillard nor Tony Abbott are even making election promises to increase public school funding - they're currently getting one third of the funding while educating two thirds of the country's students.
(An article - that actually seems pretty left-wing - from the Sydney Morning Herald which sums things up a bit: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/is-julia-gillard-the-peter-reith-of-the-labor-party-20100412-s2jx.html
'While the Labor Party has promised that no school will lose a dollar in any new funding system, it has not guaranteed the private schools will maintain funding in real terms.
Under the current system introduced by the Howard government, private schools are funded based on the socio-economic status of the students.
Half the nation's private schools are exempt and receive more money than they should under the formula.' http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillard-to-ease-private-schools-funding-fears/story-fn59niix-1225900964623)
If any kind of action happens it will be after the election but I think whoever gets elected will still be more than worthy of criticism anyway, so I think it would still be effective. Still unsure though.
Next week I'll ask around see how many students at my school and others would get on board for this, should I try talking to one or two of the unionized teachers whom I know about this? I'm on quite good terms with teachers in general.
In the meantime, do you think I should try going through with this, and what practical advice do you have for organizing the demonstration?
Thanks in advance. :)
-L