Education is the key

This week is Victorian Education Week and this edition of The Weekly Advertiser includes a feature to recognise the occasion.

What’s been clearly evident in talking with school leaders across the region as part of the promotion is how passionate people are about providing educational opportunities.

From representatives from the biggest schools to the smallest, all had a similar message in that they were committed to providing the best environment possible to promote learning.

Some of the comments were uplifting, others encouraging, and they clearly displayed regional desire to open young minds to the world.

Ignorance provides a path to the worst of all human evils and the better educated and informed we are, the less chance there is of ignorance dictating critical decisions.

We should never take the value of high-quality education for granted and take our hats off to resilient members of the teaching fraternity driven to help even the most difficult of students.

There has been plenty of discussion of late about the best levels and ways of directing government investment into schools.

It has left us with no doubt debate about how much of the country’s financial pie goes to public and private schools will continue unabated. It seems the inevitable truth is that we need both systems to meet our educational demands.

But what is also obvious is that our political leaders, when attempting to balance the books and answer voter demands, must ensure the base level of education for everyone in Australia, regardless of where they live, is of the highest quality.

When it comes to education, no Australian child is better than another, nor deserves greater opportunity than someone else.

Politicians must never be allowed to wander too far from the philosophical ideal of Australia providing free education – it is a cornerstone of what makes Australia great.

People in charge should also never consider the free elements of education easy targets for cost-saving measures and resist putting an unreasonable financial squeeze on schools.

Many parents with children in public schools have, in the past few years, noticed a stronger drift to a subtle user-pays-for-opportunity system.

For example, if you can’t pay the excursion fee, your child can’t go on the class excursion. Sound familiar?

We have to find ways of nipping this in the bud.

Education provides the bedrock foundation for all elements of a progressive and healthy society.

Putting human frailties aside, the more informed we are, the better chance we have of doing well and less chance we have of failing.