Story here. I suppose this is commendable, so let's give credit where it's due, but I love the excuse that they didn't know what was in the course materials at the time they opposed the trial. The general nature of the course materials was not a secret. Even I, who had no involvement whatsoever in the process, had a rough idea and plenty of opportunity to find out more detail. They knew a great deal about it - they knew exactly what the approach was, and if they wanted to know how the approach would pan out in actual classrooms, well that's the whole point of having a trial.
Anyway, it looks like Fred Nile and his group are now isolated and that the ethics classes are likely to be retained, despite the change of government in NSW at the last election. I thought they were imperilled, with a Coalition government coming in ... but at this stage it looks like I was wrong. And this is a good thing.
About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
2 comments:
I'd still be worried about Nile. It wouldn't be the first time a government or government agency has caved to pressure from a narrow, divisive special interest group *coughACLcough*
Awesome. I really hope these ethics classes continue.
SRE should also be replaced with comparative religion classes and there should be an introduction of philosophy classes. You could even include the comparative/history of religion in philosophy and/or history classes.
It's much more important to teach people how to think rather than what to think.
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