Well said Nicholas!
I should have added to my last email that one of my reasons for drawing attention to this article was that it was published in one of Australia's most reputable newspapers, which also publishes a Higher Education Supplement on Wednesdays which advertises academic jobs, publishes news on the higher education sector in Australia and journalistic articles by academics. If Auty's article had appeared in some obscure sensationalist rag it could safely have been passed over in silence.
This debate about the evil influences of postmodernism on the Australian curriculum has been going on for quite some time now and the Australian prime minister, John Howard has made at least two or three statements condemning the pernicious influence of so-called "postmodernism" on the Australian curriculum in schools - notably in the disciplines of history and English. This so-called "posmodernism" is being blamed for producing illiteracy and too much political consciousness (!)
That such a badly informed and virulent diatribe as that produced by Giles Auty should be published in the national press in the context of public debates over education is problematic to say the least.
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postmodernism? The gem of truth to be found in this steaming pile of textual malarkey is the good fortune that Mr. Auty's claims are so easily discredited so as to render his essay meaningless in the most postmodern way: by virtue of its neoconservative and mass-produced, reactionary ignorance.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18874034-601,00.html
Clare
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Clare O'Farrell
email: c.ofarrell@xxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.michel-foucault.com
****************************************
I should have added to my last email that one of my reasons for drawing attention to this article was that it was published in one of Australia's most reputable newspapers, which also publishes a Higher Education Supplement on Wednesdays which advertises academic jobs, publishes news on the higher education sector in Australia and journalistic articles by academics. If Auty's article had appeared in some obscure sensationalist rag it could safely have been passed over in silence.
This debate about the evil influences of postmodernism on the Australian curriculum has been going on for quite some time now and the Australian prime minister, John Howard has made at least two or three statements condemning the pernicious influence of so-called "postmodernism" on the Australian curriculum in schools - notably in the disciplines of history and English. This so-called "posmodernism" is being blamed for producing illiteracy and too much political consciousness (!)
That such a badly informed and virulent diatribe as that produced by Giles Auty should be published in the national press in the context of public debates over education is problematic to say the least.
_______________________
postmodernism? The gem of truth to be found in this steaming pile of textual malarkey is the good fortune that Mr. Auty's claims are so easily discredited so as to render his essay meaningless in the most postmodern way: by virtue of its neoconservative and mass-produced, reactionary ignorance.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18874034-601,00.html
Clare
****************************************
Clare O'Farrell
email: c.ofarrell@xxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.michel-foucault.com
****************************************