Why send your kids to school? Well, apart from being compulsory, it serves
the useful purpose of having someone else mind them, while Mum (or Dad) gets
on with other matters.
But the kids are supposed to learn things which are of value in life -
such as how to read & write, count, and gain some knowledge of the world
about them.
What then are the most essential aspects of primary education?
Currently, there are eight main topics: (see "The Age" 2/
(listed alphabetically, not in order of relative importance):
1) Arts
2) English
3) Health and Physical Education
4) Languages other than English (LOTE)
5) Mathematics
6) Science
7) SOSE (Studies of Society and Environment) *
Technology
============
* History, Geography, etc.
=========================
It is proposed to reduce these to four core, or essential, subjects,
according to APPA (Austn Primary Principals Assn), namely:
1) English literacy
2) Maths (including numeracy)
3) Science
4) History (Australian)
=================
The other subjects would not be ruled out altogether, but would be
downgraded in emphasis.
Critics might question the four as unduly "academic", but are music,
drawing, physical activity, and diet, less academic in themselves, or merely
secondary in intrinsic importance?
After all, we all exercised the lungs as babes-in-arms, graduated in
finger-painting in kinder, run around at "recess" time, and eat constantly.
Surely, things which exercise the brain should now have a go?
I'd tend to re-name the four basic topics, at least when applied at most
junior level:
1) Reading and Writing (English) - which includes knowledge of the names,
and order, of the letters of the Alphabet; and such tests as -
Transcription, Dictation, Reading Aloud from a Primer, and Composition.
2) Adding, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division - using Processes, and
Problems.
3) Nature Studies - including the Environment, Health & Hygiene; leading on
to General Science in later years.
4) History & Geography (with some emphasis on Australian history). Note: it
would seem that SOSE is the equivalent of the Whole Word Method, and should
be dumped.
See: http://www.ourcivilisation.com

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