8:58pm, January 11, 2008 - Changes to the HSC Syllabus
January 11th 2008 10:30
Category: No Category
My mum is watching a biography of Elizabeth Taylor on Foxtel with rapt attention, smiling enthusiastically at the voice-over and leading me to roll my eyes whenever I look her way.
I just had three phone conversation with some of the guys in my life, temporarily relieving me of my boredom.
I don't know much about this, but apparently the Preliminary and HSC has been changed again, reverting to its pre-1999 status, free of an emphasis on postmodern theory. I am frankly horrified. I was enlivened and encouraged by the syllabus when I went through it and was so thrilled that something like it existed. It gave me a lot of hope, and it's sad to hear that postmodernism is off the menu for the future generations.
How do you guys feel about this? Does anyone have any information on this?
Next thing you know universities will be getting more conservative too... I'm a bit worried about this trend. I read an interview with David Cronenberg in which he reported that two members of the clergy has a ceremonial duty in sitting in on the ratings committee, an action that has been a recent introduction. How far into conservativism are we heading, and when will we emerge? Anyone have any ideas?
Modification at 10:09pm -
I just found the article I was looking for, and it appears only the elective 'Postmodernism' will be dropped from the syllabus, not the general teaching tactics. I am relieved but still saddened to hear that this gorgeous course (which I didn't have the fortune of doing) will no longer be available.
Check out the article below -
Shakespearean Marxism axed
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
By Bruce McDougall
January 07, 2008 12:00am
DESPITE his humiliating electoral defeat, former Prime Minister John Howard has won a final battle against some of his greatest foes - the left-wing forces of political correctness.
Postmodernism, under which senior high school students were controversially asked to interpret Shakespeare from Marxist, feminist and racial perspectives, has been quietly dumped by the NSW Board of Studies.
The board is adamant it is just a "normal turnover" of the list of elective subjects offered to HSC candidates in the English Extension 1 course - rather than a reaction to critics who savaged postmodernism as subverting the classics by failing to help students appreciate them or gain full meaning of the texts.
But students who opted for the postmodern elective in previous years are horrified at its passing, among them outstanding all-rounder Mikah Pajaczkowska-Russell.
The former Sydney Girls High School student, who has just scored a UAI of 99.75, said critics misunderstood the value of postmodernism for HSC English.
"It is so easy to criticise texts . . . but they are not about undermining Shakespeare or traditional texts," she said. "They look at truth and reality . . . I find it invigorating."
Ms Pajaczkowska-Russell, who will take an arts/law degree at Sydney University this year, singled out the postmodernism elective for special praise among her 11 HSC units.
But to Mr Howard, who campaigned long and hard to reinstate traditional values in school curriculums, postmodernism was "anything I don't like".
His government threatened to cut education funding to states that did not fall into line on a raft of Commonwealth demands.
Postmodernism will be dropped from the list of electives available to students in HSC English Extension 1 from 2009.
I just had three phone conversation with some of the guys in my life, temporarily relieving me of my boredom.
I don't know much about this, but apparently the Preliminary and HSC has been changed again, reverting to its pre-1999 status, free of an emphasis on postmodern theory. I am frankly horrified. I was enlivened and encouraged by the syllabus when I went through it and was so thrilled that something like it existed. It gave me a lot of hope, and it's sad to hear that postmodernism is off the menu for the future generations.
Next thing you know universities will be getting more conservative too... I'm a bit worried about this trend. I read an interview with David Cronenberg in which he reported that two members of the clergy has a ceremonial duty in sitting in on the ratings committee, an action that has been a recent introduction. How far into conservativism are we heading, and when will we emerge? Anyone have any ideas?
Modification at 10:09pm -
I just found the article I was looking for, and it appears only the elective 'Postmodernism' will be dropped from the syllabus, not the general teaching tactics. I am relieved but still saddened to hear that this gorgeous course (which I didn't have the fortune of doing) will no longer be available.
Check out the article below -
Shakespearean Marxism axed
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
By Bruce McDougall
January 07, 2008 12:00am
DESPITE his humiliating electoral defeat, former Prime Minister John Howard has won a final battle against some of his greatest foes - the left-wing forces of political correctness.
Postmodernism, under which senior high school students were controversially asked to interpret Shakespeare from Marxist, feminist and racial perspectives, has been quietly dumped by the NSW Board of Studies.
The board is adamant it is just a "normal turnover" of the list of elective subjects offered to HSC candidates in the English Extension 1 course - rather than a reaction to critics who savaged postmodernism as subverting the classics by failing to help students appreciate them or gain full meaning of the texts.
But students who opted for the postmodern elective in previous years are horrified at its passing, among them outstanding all-rounder Mikah Pajaczkowska-Russell.
The former Sydney Girls High School student, who has just scored a UAI of 99.75, said critics misunderstood the value of postmodernism for HSC English.
"It is so easy to criticise texts . . . but they are not about undermining Shakespeare or traditional texts," she said. "They look at truth and reality . . . I find it invigorating."
Ms Pajaczkowska-Russell, who will take an arts/law degree at Sydney University this year, singled out the postmodernism elective for special praise among her 11 HSC units.
But to Mr Howard, who campaigned long and hard to reinstate traditional values in school curriculums, postmodernism was "anything I don't like".
His government threatened to cut education funding to states that did not fall into line on a raft of Commonwealth demands.
Postmodernism will be dropped from the list of electives available to students in HSC English Extension 1 from 2009.
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