I recently was privileged to stay a few nights with my sister in law who teaches at an inner city primary school. Some of the children from "The Block" at Redfern attend her school. They bring stories from home of Police raids and drugs and "deaduns". At school they find a place that cares and is non judgemental. Some of the children are too traumatised to learn much but most of them develop the competencies needed for functional literacy.
Do you right wing thugs seriously suggest my sister in law should be penalised if some children from her school get low scores in the basic skills tests? You really have no idea. We need teachers who are dedicated and caring, and by and large, I think that is what we get. What surprises me is the high quality of our teachers in comparison to their very ordinary wages and conditions.
I sent my own children to public schools and they all achieved excellent results. I was very happy with the work of almost all of their teachers and I really don't care if some of them couldn't distinguish a gerund from a participle. What really counts is the skills they taught my kids, not just the academic ones but the values and attitudes too.
