Maths1, Maths2, Physics & Chemistry

are now the preferred subjects of students doing Year 12, or the Matriculation year in South Australian secondary schools. Please note - preferred. That is what the latest report from the Board in charge of Matriculation examinations would have us believe. They say that a majority of students no longer want to study the humanities or languages and that arts subjects are out the window. Even biology is seen as a 'soft' option.
It seems that the push to get students to study science has worked at last. We need scientists! We need mathematicians to support scientists! We need people to develop the new wonder drugs! We need people to spend their days in laboratories or building infrastructure. We don't need people who know about poetry, literature, music, history or even geography. (A certain amount of cartography might be useful to make sure the maps are accurate but that can be a science.)
I know science is important. I am only too glad that some people want to do it. We do need the people who do it.
I did science at school. I had no choice. The Area Schools I attended catered for boys who were presumed to want to do science. We girls were merely tolerated in the class. I had no interest in science. It was badly taught by people who were not trained to teach it. That just made it worse.
I never had the opportunity to do a modern language. Those things were not taught in the schools I attended. Everyone did Maths 1 Maths 2, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography and then the two 'arts' subjects, English and History. I did some Latin as an 'extra' subject - my father gave me the book and told me to learn it. He occasionally tested me - and the other girl who was doing it with me. History (Australian of course) was not taken seriously. Everyone was bored with it by then. We had done nothing but Australian history, unlike our city counterparts who could at least learn about the Egyptians, the Romans, the Greeks, Roman Britain and then the Tudors etc. It was just the way things worked. I read history out of school hours but it was not Australian history.
Now it seems that, despite the push for a national curriculum in history, many students are not even going to be doing history. "You can't do anything with an arts degree" and "There are no jobs in humanities" students are being told. It is as if that is reason enough not to study these things. What is the point? You need a really good mark to get into your chosen course at university. You may not want to be an engineer or a physicist or a computer programmer let alone a doctor or a dentist. The point is that, if your marks are good enough, you can be one of these people and society needs these people so you will get a good, well paying job in an industry where people will respect you. That you may never really enjoy your working life is beside the point. That is life. Put up with the boredom or the constant anxiety about the responsibility in an area where you never feel fully confident because it was not your first choice.
It also means that students have not been confronted with the big ideas about life. Including a compulsory unit on 'ethics' in some courses is of course seen as a way of overcoming the failure to provide students with the cultural, social and moral underpinnings of our society. Can ethics taught in isolation from literature and language give students the same understanding of society? I think not.
But apparently none of this matters. Science is being studied. We will have scientists in order to research, invent, provide services and keep the economy running and GDP rising etc etc. Or will we? To me there is a small problem. Research takes creativity. Without imagination there can be no creativity. Imagination comes not from strict observation it comes from asking, "What if...?" and that comes from reading "What if...?" as well.

Why would you close a community centre

which has 20,000 users a week? Why would you close a gym, a swimming pool, meeting rooms, a workshop, and a hall? Why would you give 85 community groups nowhere to meet? Above all, why would you close a library - with the books, the DVDs, the CDs, the magazines, the computer terminals and the staff with the knowledge that rivals that of any Citizen's Advice Bureau? What is more, why would you do it in an area with a low socio-economic status? It may have improved slightly over the years but the area is still not upper middle class professional suburbia.
Our state government plans to do just that. Indeed the deal has gone through and it will be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse. They have sold the land on which the Parks Community Centre sits for a mere $17m - far less than the value of the centre to the surrounding community.
There is, rightly, an outcry in and through the media. All this came out in the Budget. It did not come out at election time. The government has, ever since elections have taken place in this state, taken for granted the votes of the people who live in that area. They will, despite all this, probably be able to go on taking for granted the votes of these people. It is one of the advantages, from the politician's point of view, of compulsory attendance at the ballot box.
But, it will not bring back the Community Centre. There is no plan to replace it, or any of the services it provides. The government claims that there will be Centrelink (social security) and health services in the new development. They will need both. I hope the health services provide a big mental health unit. They will need it to cover what the Community Centre now does. The government clearly has not understanding at all of the wider benefits of any community centre. They just see it as costing $5m a year to run - cheap when you consider the cost of running a mental health unit and cheap when you consider the numbers involved.
No, I do not live on that side of the city. My library is probably safe. It sits in a memorial park. It is unlikely that even the government would dare to touch the park. I have always thought of my library as safe too. I have thought of it as a community asset. I have thought of it as the social hub of the community.
The same is true of the Parks Community Centre. Why would you close it?

I believe it is "Banned Books" week

which brings me to this article.
http://newhumanist.org.uk/2404/banned-the-hidden-censorship-of-childrens-books

It also brings me to some thoughts about things that have been banned here at various times. Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" was banned at one point because it was thought to be "too frightening" for young children. It is now regarded as a classic of children's picture book literature.
All Enid Blyton was banned from school libraries at one point. I think the reality of that ban was that books that were already there stayed there but librarians were simply not permitted to buy any more books by Enid Blyton. The reason for that ban was that someone decided EB was a "bad writer". She was superficial and, like a diet of nothing but icecream, not going to give you a balanced reading diet but - bad?
There was Judy Blume's "Deenie", "Forever" and "Then Again Maybe I Won't" - and these are still banned in some places because they mention teenage sex.
Questions were asked whether William Mayne's work should remain on the shelves after his conviction for child sex offences. They stayed - but only after a committee had carefully examined each one.
At the same time "Go Ask Alice" was left on the shelves because of the "dreadful warning" about the dangers of drugs. Blume's books are now available in some public libraries but "Go Ask Alice" does not seem to be there. Perhaps it should be.
I was once responsible for a school library and the buying of new library books. I was told to take Jill Paton Walsh's book "The Dolphin Crossing" off the shelves because it deals with war and a death occurs. The real problem for many of the parents was that the book does not glorify war but rather tells of the brutal reality of boys trying to do a job that not even men should be asked to do. What about the Silver Sword or The Ark or I am David?
What sparked this blog post off was the mention of Bette Greene's "The Summer of My German Soldier" - first published in 1973. Apparently it is still seen as being about 'consorting with the enemy' and it is still banned in some places.
I read Sons and Lovers in my teens. My father gave it to me. I found it dull.
Now David Hicks is about to publish a book. That is his right. He will not actually have written it although it will be touted as his autobiography. I do not believe he should be permitted to make money from the venture. He went in active search of adventure and, in doing so, cost the Australian tax payer a vast sum of money. Anything he earns should be returned to the taxpayer. Banning the book however will merely make it more desirable.
Unfortunately banning books for children is not quite the same thing. They tend to get really banned. They do not even get published. Nobody is quite prepared to take the same risk. If, as Anne Rooney suggests in her article, books are being banned on nothing more than an image of what might be a Tibetan flag on top of a roundabout/merry go round then we really have something to worry about.
It is time we started to worry the thought police.

I am being told that I should be

preparing for Christmas. This seems a little early to me. However my sister informs me that "Christmas" will be held at their place this year and my brother-in-law is already feeling concerned about the state of the cobwebs in the unreachable corners of their garden shed. Then someone else informed me that they have bought all the presents they intend to give and have them wrapped and hidden in the wardrobe. Now someone else has announced that she was having a Domestic Goddess day and has started to make her Christmas cake - which has led to the discovery that someone else has already made theirs and has it "nicely maturing in alcohol". I am allergic to alcohol so the maturing part does not interest me but the part about having already made the cake worries me. (The same paragon informs me that she has made her Christmas puddings as well.)
There are other little things that are happening that say Christmas and then...Christmas. The calendars have appeared at the newsagent. The cards have appeared. The wrapping paper has appeared. There are suggestions that this or that or the other things would make a good present.
Sorry I only give two sorts of present, something I have made myself or a book. All the children of my acquaintance prefer books rather than toys. I have trained them to prefer books. Books are easy to wrap...indeed the local bookshop will even do it for me on occasion.
I suppose I had better start considering which books to give. I should make a list. I should be organised.
I should also make a list of fruitcake ingredients. I am the one who makes the cakes - yes cakes in the plural. I make one for my father and another for my sister. I make shortbread - but that can wait. Perhaps making the cake can wait too. I am not a Domestic Goddess.

Apparently the much anticipated

"big match", the grand final was not final at all. The match ended in a draw.
Now I have no interest in football and spent the afternoon cosily tucked up in the local library with the somewhat depleted knitting group. We spent some time investigating the intricacies of the Norwegian cast on as one of the group wants to try it on a hat. Football did not even get mentioned.
Out in the real world it was a different story. As we left the library I could hear the match being relayed over loud speakers from the pub a little further down on the opposite side of the road. The assumption seemed to be that everyone passing also needed to know what was going on. This is Aussie Rules football and everyone is interested right? Wrong. I am not. My father is not. There are many other people I know who are not - and there are other people I know who are fanatical about football.
Something did interest me however and that was something that occurred at the pre-match shenanigans. As always the Prime Minister gets invited to the breakfast. Now anyone living here will know that the new government has had a problem with finding a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker.
Finding a Speaker should not have been a problem at all. The previous Speaker was still available. Given a casting vote he would do the conventional thing and side with the government. He is also considered to have been good at the job and much more even handed than most Speakers. So, what's the problem? The problem is that he has been good at the job and that he has been even handed and that he is respected by the Opposition. The government has the slimmest of margins and they did not want someone like that. They wanted one of the 'independents' to give up their voting rights instead and thus give them an extra vote instead. They also wanted someone who would be less even handed - and it would have been in the interest of the independent to favour the government, keep them in power and not go to an election.
They will, all going to plan, end up with the previous Speaker. This is almost certainly the best outcome for democracy.
The problems do not end there. They also need a deputy for the Speaker. They want that person to be 'paired' with the Speaker, again so that their own slim margin will not be affected. 'Pairing' arrangements allow people, such as Ministers, to be absent from parliament by prior arrangement but pairing arrangements do not and should not apply to the role of Speaker. This is constitutionally unsound. It also erodes democracy. There have been mutterings of "if both sides agree to the arrangement then what's the problem?"
The first problem is that the opposition member 'paired' would lose the right to represent their electorate. (The Speaker does not because s/he has a casting vote in the event of a tie.) That denies people their voice in parliament.
The second problem is that it interferes with the wider democratic process. A Bill passed under these circumstances could be open to legal challenges.
If we end up with a draw in parliament then that seems to me to be a much more serious thing than a draw on the football field. The latter is really of no importance at all.

At 16.42 yesterday afternoon I pressed

the button and sent a submission off to the government. I hope it is the last time I will have to do such a thing.
The report has gone to the Social Inclusion Unit. This unit is supposed to be looking at Social Inclusion Disability Reform. I wonder if it really will?
There will be submissions to the unit from across the state. Many of them will come from organisations that have been putting in submissions for as long as I can remember...and that is a long time. Other submissions will come from individuals, some of who, have also been putting in submissions for as long as I can remember. Both organisations and individuals are tough. They have to be. They are still making very little progress.
My submission will be different from anything anyone else has submitted. Their submissions will focus on issues specific to their areas of concern or look at the need for the supply of equipment and services, and the lack of special needs accommodation, transport, education, employment. They are perennial and urgent problems. Little will be done. There will be no increase in funding, indeed the last State Budget has effectively decreased funding yet again even while appearing to increase it. The need for assistance is growing now that the generation of people with disabilities who were "mainstreamed" in school and placed "in the community" are reaching an age where they need more physical assistance and their parents, who have undertaken most of their care are reaching an age where they have come to realise that they will not always be able to do it.
Siblings, who have married and have children and even grandchildren of their own, are not always able or willing to take on the care of a brother or sister with a disability - and yet this is, all too often, what is expected.
All these, and many other things, are issues. They are issues of concern and there is a growing awareness that the problem is going to grow rather than go away.
There is also an almost universal problem in the disability sector. It does not get acknowledged because it is not understood. It goes almost unrecognised and, when it is recognised, people have no idea what to do about it and even believe it "does not really matter".
It is a problem with communication. Put quite simply, many people with disabilities also have a communication disability and that disability will go unrecognised. There may be a casual acknowledgment that someone is not literate or has difficulty with literacy skills but that is seen as part of a wider problem rather than a problem in itself. It is not a visible problem and, for many, it does not exist because it cannot be seen.
Literacy skills are just a small part of the wider communication process. The research I did which forms the basis for the submission used the following as a guideline for a definition of being able to communicate independently,
The ability to make contact at any time with a stranger and ask for assistance without the assistance of or interference by any other person.
How many people do you know who would be unable to do that? Anyone unable to do that is at risk of abuse. That alone is why the problem of communication in the disability sector needs to be addressed. It is also why it will almost certainly not be addressed. Even acknowledging that
the problem exists would require a major change to the way in which we view the whole concept of disability.
I will leave it at that except to ask, "How would you feel if you were not free to ask for assistance when you needed it most?"

There was a helicopter circling

overhead for some time last night. In the darkness it was not possible to see whether it was the rescue, news or police helicopter. It was unlikely to be something belonging to the armed forces because, as far as I know, they have none stationed here.
We sometimes see a helicopter in daylight. They are normally rescue or police dealing with a major incident, sometimes just a major traffic snarl up. If the police helicopter circles in business hours we can be fairly sure that a bank or post office has been held up or some idiot is being chased through the suburbs. If it is the rescue helicopter we hope that nobody is too badly injured.
At night it is a different story. We cannot guess what is going on. Over the years we have had searchlights appear, powerful searchlights that light up the sky to unbelievable brightness. One night a couple of years back there was one of those gutwrenching brake screeching booms on a main road not too far from here. It was so bad that it sounded as if it had occurred in the next street not, as subsequent traffic noises told me, on the main road. A helicopter had been up for some other reason and, almost immediately, it was hovering over the scene with a search light. A little later it had left again. I assume it had informed the services on the ground of the situation because sirens sounded and traffic was still being diverted the following morning. A young man had chosen to end his life by crashing into what South Australians call a 'stobie pole' - concrete and steel poles that carry electricity across the suburbs. (They are named after the man who originally designed them.) It was close to home. We were shocked but we did not know the young man.
Last night was clear and cold and I was reminded of something else, an incident that occurred when we lived in a remoter location. Some of the local boys had cars, most of them could drive from an early age. There were accidents but nobody in the immediate district had, to that point, been killed or even seriously injured. One night however my father had a telephone call. It was the police from a town further along. Could he get some help and block off the road outside the school so that the crop-duster could land? (The crop duster was a light plane used to spray crops with fertiliser.) He was given fairly precise instructions and told "there has been an accident".
That night a young crop-duster pilot landed and took off outside the school house which was our home. He did it not just once but twice. Each time he had to fly with a critically injured patient to the city - and he had to go without any of the usual medical help because the little plane could only carry him and the patient. I still wonder what he saw and thought. He died several years later in what might or might not have been an accident.
At school the next day the students were unusually quiet. We knew what had happened because the school buses had been required to take a detour. We were relieved to find that those involved were not local. They had absconded from the reformatory in the city. We did not know them.
It always seems that way. We see an accident and we are shocked, perhaps even shaken but, unless we know those involved, the impact seems short lived. We view incidents on television with an internal remote control that causes us to 'switch off'. We read of incidents with the same internal remote control switched off. It is a survival mechanism. We really do not want to be involved.
I wonder why the helicopter was up there last night but I am thankful there were no accompanying sirens.