School system just not right
TOO MANY BOYS ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND
We have a crisis in boys’ education. This week we learnt one in four boys are failing the NAPLAN tests.
Now I know no-one technically fails, but if you aren’t meeting the lowest standards, that’s what we used to call failure.
Twenty-five years ago girls were the ones being left behind.
Huge effort and energy were put into turning things around and now girls outperform boys in almost every subject at every level of school.
We need to keep the effort up to help girls, but the time has come to admit we have one heck of a problem with boys’ education.
Schools are like oil tankers. They take a long time to turn around and I for one am pushing the alert button now.
We can’t afford to wait until two in four boys are failing or we lose a whole generation of male students to mediocrity.
WINNING MIGHT BE LOSING IN BENNELONG
John Alexander won the seat but with a reduced margin which is a huge worry for the bedwetters on the Liberal backbench.
The upsurge of support for Labor in Bennelong will certainly ease pressure on Bill Shorten, but he remains an unpopular leader who may be seen as holding Labor back from winning the next election.
Perhaps the most interesting result was how the Australian Conservatives did.
Nearly five per cent of the primary – after a campaign dwarfed by the titanic ALP/Coalition one – is a huge first outing.
NO POINTS FOR BARILARO’S BACKFLIP
NSW Nationals Leader John Barilaro was the biggest loser last week. A fortnight ago he said Turnbull was the problem for the Government and he had to go by Christmas.
But this week he jumped on the radio to say a week is a long time in politics and he went too far.
Were you right then John, or are you right now?
Either way, you have lost the respect you got for breaking with the script and showing your true feelings when you bagged the PM.
No wonder people are going to One Nation in the bush.
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, ALWAYS
Like many super-nerds I went to one of those midnight screenings of the new Star Wars movie. Don’t worry, no spoilers. The buzz before the movie, as hundreds of people were showing their tickets to get into the cinemas, was wonderful.
So this summer, get off the couch and take your spot in a collective experience.
It’s a reminder that we are part of a bigger world and it’s not just background noise or a traffic jam. Joining Paul on the program this Monday are Graham Richardson, Ross Cameron and Janine Perrett.