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…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins