Menzies House

Let’s open up the books at the Reserve Bank

Henry Ford, the American automobile manufacturer, once said that “It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system for, if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning”, writes Sukrit Sabhlok.

Indeed, if there’s one thing central bankers have been successful at, it’s using obfuscation and jargon so the public finds it difficult to understand what exactly it is they do.

Even when experts try and figure out what central bankers do, a range of legal barriers prevent a complete accounting of their activities. When former Congressman Ron Paul tried to audit the US Federal Reserve System a few years ago, for example, he faced opposition from a range of economists and politicians keen on preserving the Fed’s secrecy.

In Australia, the opaqueness of the Reserve Bank’s discretion doesn’t seem to trouble many people. But it should, because the RBA wields a significant power that influences the level of prices in the economy and consequently affects the hip pocket. The inflation it creates hurts the poor – and if more people knew the RBA was the culprit behind rising prices, and that much of the erosion in purchasing power we have seen over the past 100 years was unnecessary, there is little doubt that there would be protests on the streets.

Our "Research Dollars" hard at work

Tim Andrews looks at taxpayer For What Artists Think of the NBN, Medieval Sexism Necessitating Christ Was A Man, The Cultural Impact of Iranian Pop Singers And More: 

Following up from my previous post about taxpayer funded radical leftist propaganda masquerading as “research” grants,  I decided to have a look at some of the other grants that were made in 2012 by the Australian Research Council and also in the Discover Category (for younger researchers)

This has got to be my favourite:

The cultural economy of Australian artist-run initiatives which develop an  understanding of a diverse range of artists’ practices, including in relation to the National Broadband Network which  will contribute to policy development for a more vibrant Australian arts landscape ($320,906.00).

Because, that’s right, the opinion of artists in relation to the NBN, is worth of funding.

Although this one comes a very close second:

Sexing scholasticism: gender in medieval thought 1150-1520. This is about… wait for it … “medieval theological debates about why it was necessary that Christ was born as a man” which grants “access to ideas about  masculinity and femininity held by the elite ruling cultures of western Europe” ($357,630.00)

Gender seems a bit of a theme:

How Gender Shapes The World: A Linguistic Perspective. This project will seek to understand and explain gender roles in Australian society, and in nearby nations. Emphasis is placed on training researchers with an immigrant or minority background, working towards the empowerment of women researchers. This will enhance our nation’s capacity to interpret and manage gender roles in multicultural contexts. TOTAL COST: $2,416,141.00

Other ones I noted included:

Our schools get a FAIL!

That this report card comes as a surprise will surprise many. Our educators spend too much time with socialist indoctrination. Students are being taught what to think rather than how to think. The results have been obvious for a long time.

GC. Ed.

Australia ranked 27th out of 45 countries for reading, with 21 of those countries performing significantly better. Hong Kong topped the rankings, with Finland, Russia, the US and England outranking Australia.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/maths-and-english--nation-could-do-better-20121211-2b7vl.html#ixzz2Em1HfXFY

Only 10% learning to talk the PM's message

To dream is to soar but it must be done with two feet firmly planted on the ground lest one plummet earthward. Ms Gillard has not said how her dream will be financed. With a litany of financial disasters on file, why would this plan be any different to the NBN, pink bats, BER, live cattle export, etc, etc? 

Anna Patty in the SMH writes about Ms Gillard's ambitious dream to infuse Asian languages into our daily lives. Being multi-lingual is a practical pursuit. While Ms Patty highlights the shortage of teachers and other obstacles, completly omitted is COST!

SMH: JUST under 10 per cent of NSW public school students are learning Asian languages - far short of the Prime Minister's ''Asian Century'' target to give every child the opportunity.

Figures from the NSW Department of Education show that of 726,870 public school students in kindergarten to year 12, just 71,343 were learning an Asian language last year.

Julia Gillard says she wants every child to have the opportunity to learn either Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese or Indonesian by 2025 and every school must be linked with a school in Asia.

Only 17 students studied Hindi for the Higher School Certificate exams this year and none were taught at school.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/only-10-learning-to-talk-the-pms-message-20121029-28fqo.html#ixzz2AiqaAJMg

News Limited reported: The Asia Education Foundation yesterday estimated it would cost about $100 million a year to double the number of students studying an Asian or other foreign language.

Brain Science Education: A new era of educational innovations

Sun-Yong Kim offers his views on the new field in teaching - Connectomics.

It is an indisputable fact of life that the technological revolution has come to dominate most aspects of modern life. In recent times, it has filtered through towards the education sector in ways that has the potential to fundamentally transform the way we teach children for the better. The development of the new field of Connectomics holds the ability to modify and adapt teaching strategies towards new understandings of how the student brain operates. By being able to create a map of the brain through neural imaging and histological techniques, connectomics will allow educators to craft educational strategies directly aimed at increasing the speed, efficiency, and resolution of neural connections in the nervous system in a way that will maximise learning speed.

The beauty of Connectomics lies in the understanding that it gives educators in relation to the inherent structure of the human brain. Our most basic endeavours into Connectomics have taught educators a great deal. In essence, the brain possesses 100 billion neurons that are connected to each other by 10,000 times as many connections, the jungle of our densely packed neural wires run millions of miles in our brains. Connectomics tells us that it is precisely in these connections that our soul is encoded – the way we understand the world, reflect on our experiences, feel sorrow and joy, accumulate memories, and decide how and when to act. By understanding the way our neurons connect – our connectome – we would be able understand ourselves. By understanding ourselves, it will be made very easy to maximise learning speeds. Fortunately Connectomics allows us to do just that and the effects on effective teaching are already paying off. Consider the case of Scientific Learning.

What’s really wrong with National History Curriculum

Alessia Maruca presents her view on the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority.

It was with great trepidation at 8:30 this morning I clicked on the headline link ‘Howard revives History Wars’ on my daily Capital Circle email from the Australian. The media love ‘the history wars’. It’s a debate that has no real finite conclusion and is a story that ‘just keeps giving’. But it’s not the real issue here.

To preface the rest of this article I must declare that I agree we need a national curriculum. I agree with John Howard’s assessment of what historical events and changes should be included within our national history syllabus. But I also acknowledge Professor Barry McGraw AO’s rebuttal statement, on behalf of ACARA, that specifically details where within the proposed curriculum students have the opportunity to learn about Australia’s western heritage.

However, that is not the real problem.

The real problem with the proposed national curriculum is the actual criteria students are assessed against. As a history minor, it makes me physically terrified.  To illustrate the entire point of this article, I have prepared a handy example comparative table using a Queensland context.

Gonski - and the illusion of education

Colin Robinson makes sense about education, tradies, Gonski and a better way to spend $5.5 billion. He proves a degree is not prerequisite to be smart and to have a grasp on reality.

 Almost thirty years ago our then Prime Minister made a declaration that Australia stop being the "Lucky Country" and becoming the "Clever Country". It has a nice ring to it; Clever Country. People have used it a lot since. But what does it mean? For Bob Hawke it meant getting kids to stay at school longer and get their Higher School Certificate instead of their School Certificate. He did this for a reason. He wanted the unemployment hike that happened every February as those kids left school to look for a job, didn't find one and ended up on the dole. This looked very bad for a Labor Prime Minister. This was still in the days when unemployment mattered to the Labor Party. By having these kids join the dole queue it showed up the lack of work for our youths and the generally high unemployment figures in general. By declaring that he wanted to make us the Clever Country he, with the help of vested interests like the Teachers Union, started a push that is still going on today. Make kids get their HSC! Without the HSC you have no future! The HSC is the gateway to wealth! Education is the gateway to improving your lot in life!

On School Chaplains and Religious Freedom

Bill Muehlenberg looks at today's High Court decision on school chaplain funding, and asks whether it might not be time for Christian organisations to start refusing taxpayer funding:

A High Court ruling has declared that government funding of the school chaplaincy program is invalid according to the Australian constitution. This ruling raises many issues and many questions, and is a very important decision indeed.

One news report covers the story this way:

The High Court has ruled that the national school chaplaincy program is constitutionally invalid because it exceeds the Commonwealth’s funding powers. In a landmark decision that could cast doubt on other areas of Commonwealth funding, the court this morning upheld a challenge to the scheme by Queensland father Ron Williams.

The Howard government introduced the scheme in 2007, offering schools up to $20,000 a year to introduce or extend chaplaincy services. One of Australia’s leading constitutional lawyers George Williams said the implications of the case were massive and could potentially affect any program directly funded by the federal government.

The ruling came about as a result of a challenge a Toowoomba father made about the chaplaincy program. The ramifications of this decision may well be far reaching, and it is too early to tell just what all the implications of this will be.

The report continues: