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>> However, I have a couple of questions (mainly so I can argue this topic with
>> others). First, when/where/what was the affirmative action that started letting
>> low-achievers into the teaching profession? Affirmative action was in all aspects of employment and tertiary enrollment
in the '80s. It was no secret. In the case of teaching, many (probably most, I don't know) of the Tertiary
institutions which trained teachers based their entrance not just on previous
qualifications, and an entrance exam, but on 'interviews' conducted with the
applicants. Even the feminists (and pro-feminists) I used to argue with at
the time didn't deny this bias - why should they: they were proud of it, and at
the time knew they could get away with doing pretty much what they wanted to. >> Second, feminisation of the
>> curriculum? I must say I didn't see much of that, except maybe in some of the
>> texts chosen by english teachers. Careful - I said 'feminisation' not 'feminism'. Despite the efforts of some of
the student unions of the time (the NUS) to have feminism and lesbianism taught
as compulsory school subjects, there was never a formal 'feminism' subject. By 'feminisation' I mean the deliberate modification of the syllabus to make
girls out-perform boys, and deliberate discrimination against boys to favor
girls. For instance, it was recognized that boys would respond to a science
curriculum which involved gears and moving parts, whereas girls would respond
to one involving the chemistry of hair dye. The course content was changed
accordingly. There were workshops such as girls-only Information Technology
classes (because more women were 'needed' in IT). Google for WITS workshops
(Women In Information Technology). Some of them are still running today. One of the better known feminists (I forget which one) justified this by
saying 'What's the point of teaching boys to read and write if they are going
to have a female secretary to do shorthand and type for them?'. What
percentage of men have secretaries? It was recognized that boys in class asked more questions than girls - this was
reclassified as being 'disruptive' and regarded as intimidating the
girls, so they were made to sit up the back. Is it any wonder that boys
felt alienated from the education system? It is it any wonder that so many of
them just dropped out? I think in one year in the ACT in the early '80s, all girls' marks were
moderated up by 1.0 as 'compensation'. Now that girls outperform boys in every subject, do we moderate the boys' marks
up in the interests of 'equality'? I could go on and on - and yes, my mother is a qualified teacher, so I got to
see much of this pretty close up. It still disgusts me. And my mother goes very
quiet when the subject of the feminist excesses of the '80s are raised. It is unfortunate that much of this was done before the internet took off, so
the records of the arguments are sketchy, and doing a proper expose of this
would require more time than I have available. But the story should be told as
one of the most horrible things we have inflicted on children in modern history. At least most of the WWII Nazis went to trial or were publically disgraced. The
perpetrators of this injustice are still enjoying the fruits of affirmative
action at the taxpayer's expense.
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