Muslims must assimilate, says PM

PRIME Minister John Howard said today he unapologetically used the word "assimilate" when it came to absorbing Muslim citizens into the community. Mr Howard said assimilating new citizens into the wider community helped tackle radicalism among a minority of Muslims. In Tuesday's Budget, Treasurer Peter Costello allocated $461,000 to programs that help Muslim communities integrate.

"I think it's in the interests of everybody," Mr Howard said on Southern Cross radio. "There's every reason to try and assimilate - and I unapologetically use that word 'assimilate' - a section of the community, a tiny minority of whose members have caused concern. "After all, once somebody's become a citizen of this country the best thing we can do is to absorb them in the mainstream."

But he denied the measure was about trying to assimilate people's religious beliefs. "The reason that religion is used as a descriptor is it's a small category of radical Muslims that have adopted attitudes that we think are bad for the country and the most sensible thing to do is try and change those attitudes."

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Australian journalists' sources to be protected

FEDERAL laws protecting journalists' sources will be introduced before this year's election, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock promised yesterday. The announcement of the new shield laws followed the launch of a free speech campaign initiated by News Limited, publisher of The Australian, and unveiled by media bosses in Sydney yesterday.

The unprecedented campaign is aimed at both sides of politics to remove restrictions on free speech. It is backed by Fairfax Media, the ABC, the commercial radio and television industries, SBS, Australian Associated Press and Sky News. More organisations are expected to join the free speech campaign within days, News Ltd chief executive and chairman John Hartigan said. The group will commission an audit of restrictions on the media, produce a green paper on areas that need reform, and will recruit a chairman to lead their lobbying efforts. Mr Hartigan warned that restrictions on free speech meant Australia was "a lightweight democracy" compared with countries such as Canada, New Zealand and Britain. "Two international studies ranked Australia 35th and 39th on a world press freedom index," he said. "We should be up there with other democracies that are way in front of us." Mr Hartigan said the campaign was not intended to target any particular political party as both sides of politics had allowed press freedom to erode.

Mr Ruddock said the commonwealth intended to press ahead with shield laws regardless of whether state governments overcame objections to the commonwealth's scheme. "We will shortly introduce legislation to protect journalists when they are dealing with confidential sources, within certain limits," he said. Mr Ruddock's spokesman said the Government still hoped the states would introduce similar shield laws, but the commonwealth would legislate unilaterally if necessary. "I can promise that the legislation will be introduced. Whether it passes before the election is another matter," Mr Ruddock's spokesman said. Mr Ruddock has been unable to win support for his scheme from all states because of concerns that it may not work unless accompanied by federal protection for public service whistleblowers.

The Attorney-General said free speech was very important but "no freedom is absolute". "Governments and the judiciary have to balance different rights and responsibilities," Mr Ruddock said. He said it was important to protect people's privacy and reputations, as well as national security.

Labor's legal affairs spokesman, Joe Ludwig, said the Government had permitted the development of a culture of concealment and cover-up. The party's platform commits a Labor government to introducing "proper" freedom of information laws and shield laws to protect whistleblowers and journalists' confidential sources. A Labor government would also review federal laws that criminalise the reporting of matters of public interest. [Given the freedom from information policies of many Labor-run State governments, Mr Ludwig would seem to be talking to the wrong people]

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Standardised tests fail students, say teachers

What a crock! Particularly coming from one of the major culprits in the decline of educational standards. When the people in charge of teaching kids how to read and write and add up fail to do so, just who is failing whom? Matthew 7:3-5 applies

NATIONAL literacy and numeracy tests are invalid measures of student ability because they cannot assess a child's "sense of wonder" and levels of cowardice or arrogance.

In a submission to the Senate inquiry into the academic standards of school education, the Australian Education Union argues against the use of standardised tests to measure student achievement and says "there is no crisis in standards". "The AEU has long been cautious about the use of basic skills tests and other standardised tests as a means of measuring the wellbeing of Australian schools," it says. "Much of what is important in schooling is not measured by standardised tests."

The submission from the teachers' union includes a list of 24 examples of qualities the AEU says are "exceedingly difficult" to measure in tests, ranging from skills that tests purport now to measure, such as critical thinking, curiosity, question asking and creativity, to more esoteric qualities such as a sense of beauty and humour, courage, humility and spontaneity. While the union acknowledges that 7-12 per cent of students failed to meet minimum standards in literacy and numeracy, "this does not indicate that standards are falling or that standards are worse in Australia than elsewhere". "The simplistic approach of subjecting students to exam-type situations to determine literacy and numeracy levels is not educationally or statistically valid," it says.

The federal Government has forced the introduction of common national literacy and numeracy tests in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 from next year, replacing the existing system where every state sets its own test. But the union fears the introduction of national results is part of a federal government attempt to control schools, and would result in the compiling of league tables of schools, identifying some schools, and teachers, as poor performers. The submission to the Senate inquiry by AEU federal president Pat Byrne and federal secretary Susan Hopgood cites international tests showing Australian students are among the best in the world to argue there is no crisis.

But leading education research centre the Australian Council for Educational Research says in its submission there are wide variations in students' levels of achievement.

The union says the main problem evident from international and national tests is the low achievement by disadvantaged students, including indigenous, rural and remote students.

But the ACER, which runs the tests cited by the union, says socio-economic background is correlated with school achievement but it is not high. While Australian 15-year-olds performed well on average in the OECD literacy test, the ACER says there is significant variability between students, with 7 per cent of Australian girls and 17 per cent of boys at the lowest international standard. "(This means) they are likely to be able to locate specific details in text but unable to connect ideas or to draw conclusions from a piece of writing," it says. "In some areas, few Australian students perform at very high levels. For example, in international tests of year 8 mathematics knowledge, only 7per cent of Australian students performed at an 'advanced' level compared with 44 per cent of Singaporean students." The ACER says Australia has one of the lowest high-school completion rates in the world, with almost one in five 20-24-year-olds neither finishing high school nor in education. "Many young people leave school in Australia with only minimal standards of education," it says. "A significant number of students appear to become disenchanted with and disengaged from schooling during their secondary years."

The AEU submission argues the debate about falling educational standards is hysterical, based on "myths, misconceptions and deliberate deceit" that makes scapegoats of teachers for their students' failings. "Generic and ill-informed hysteria around 'standards', the quality of teachers or the quality of schools is totally unproductive," it says. The union accuses the Howard Government of using the debate to hide its inequitable funding of public schools, and says the ALP has been hijacked by the debate so it "also feels it expedient to develop policy designed to deal with the 'crisis"'.

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The intangibles of education

HOW much value should we put on a child’s “sense of wonder’’ and levels of cowardice or arrogance?

In a submission to the Senate inquiry into the academic standards of school education, the Australian Education Union argues against the use of standardised tests to measure student achievement because such facets of a child cannot be tested objectively.

“The AEU has long been cautious about the use of basic skills tests and other standardised tests as a means of measuring the wellbeing of Australian schools,” it says.

“Much of what is important in schooling is not measured by standardised tests.”

The submission from the teachers union includes a list of 24 examples of qualities the AEU says are “exceedingly difficult” to measure in tests, ranging from skills that tests purport now to measure such as critical thinking, curiosity, question asking and creativity to more esoteric qualities such as a sense of beauty and humour, courage, humility and spontaneity.

It’s true that such qualities should not be ignored or trivialised, but is it necessary to include them in a national skills test for children? Surely it would be possible to test the quantifiable facets of a child while allowing their senses of humour and wonder to flourish without the pressure of comparison?

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Your government will protect you

Hijacker gets a day on town

A PARANOID schizophrenic man who tried to hijack a Qantas jet has walked from the Thomas Embling psychiatric hospital on day leave without minders, according to an insider. Sources said David Mark Robinson walked from the secure hospital about 1pm yesterday with no visible staff to monitor him. Executive director of the Department of Human Services' mental health and drug division, Dr Ruth Vine, last night did not deny Mr Robinson was absent. She would only confirm he was a patient, saying she could not talk about specific cases. The Thomas Embling source told the Herald Sun: "He walked out on day leave with no escorts. It's crazy."

The State Government also declined to comment. Dr Vine said many patients had access to a day-leave program. "As part of (the Crimes Mental Impairment Act) it is expected some patients at stages during treatment will access a leave program. That program is carried out under very strict supervision and criteria. "It is closely monitored."

Mr Robinson, 43, is serving an indefinite sentence at the hospital after being found not guilty of attempted hijacking, attempted murder and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm on the ground of mental impairment, relating to an unsuccessful attempt to hijack Qantas flight 1737 from Melbourne to Launceston in May 2003. He was armed with sharpened wooden stakes, a cigarette lighter and aerosol cans to use as flame-throwers, and said to be suffering "grandiose religious delusions". A cabin manager and flight attendant thwarted his attempt to kill all 56 passengers.

A court heard it was Mr Robinson's second attempt to hijack a plane, after a locked cockpit door prevented him trying to take control of a Hobart-to-Melbourne flight four months earlier. The hospital and adjoining Statewide Forensic Services centre was recently branded by a whistleblower as one of the worst centres of its kind in the state for security.

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