Lesser and Greater Faults in Australian Education

The federal Education Minister, Christopher Pyne, is justifiably concerned that some teachers are biased and unfair, knowingly or unknowingly, in their presentation to students of controversial issues. Yet this is part of the paradox of freedom. We want to teach what we believe to be true, and fear the effects of those who teach what we believe to be false, even if those who teach it are sincere.

Many issues are essentially contestable. Men and women of equal intelligence, experience and integrity may legitimately come to different and even incompatible conclusions from studying the same evidence. This does not mean that anything goes. David Hume was surely right in noting that the consistent appearance of phenomena is not a logical basis for certainty that tomorrow tides will still be influenced by the relationship between Earth and Moon, but he also argued that common sense compelled us to assume that our experiences of the past are the most reliable basis for our expectations…