How the national history curriculum sells out our Western heritage
Given the nation’s celebration of Australia Day, it’s timely to ask the question: what does it mean to be Australian and how are we different to the rest of the world?
One answer, best illustrated by the new ALP-inspired kindergarten to year 10 national history curriculum, released last December and to be finalised by October this year, is that we are part of Asia and a multicultural and secular society that is characterised by diversity and difference.
Instead of celebrating Western civilisation, Christianity and Australia’s Anglo-Celtic heritage, priority is given to “Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia”, along with “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures” and politically-correct issues like the environment.
In relation to Asia, teachers are asked to make students Asia-literate and teach about the, “histories, geographies, cultures, arts, literatures and languages of the diverse countries of our region”.
When talking about migration, students are told that they should study “the long history of migration to Australia by people from Asia and appreciate the contributions made over time by Asian Australians to the development of Australia’s culture and society”.
The history writers are also happy to state that, “The Australian Curriculum: History values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures” and that students should be taught about the “principles and virtues that are deeply embedded within these communities”.
Ignored is the role of the British Empire in spreading trade, technology, education, medicine and a commitment to the Westminster system of government throughout the world and the significance of the Commonwealth of Nations.
On reading the national history curriculum, one searches in vain for a proper acknowledgement that modern Australia is Anglo-Celtic in origin and that our history can only be fully understood in the context of the nation’s Western heritage and Judeo-Christian beliefs and values.
When Christianity is mentioned it is usually in the context of other religions, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism, and there is little recognition of the central role of the Catholic Church in European history and Western culture. A clear example of this attempt to airbrush Christianity from history, under the heading historical terms and concepts, is to replace BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) in favour of the more politically correct, secular alternatives, BCE (Before the Common Era), BP (Before Present) and CE (Common Era).
The Australian reality, based on 1999 figures, is that whereas approximately 67% of Australians are Anglo-Celtic in terms of ethnicity, the equivalent figure for indigenous Australians is 1.51%. Also ignored is that Christianity is the most widely adopted religion in Australia with approximately 64% of Australians describing themselves as Christian.
It’s ironic that when many talk of the clash between Islam and the West, and Australia is involved in wars against Islamic extremism in Iraq and Afghanistan, that we appear unwilling or incapable of teaching future generations about the unique nature of Western civilisation and the very values, beliefs and way of life that protect us and offers sanctuary to thousands from overseas.
There is an alternative to the national history curriculum’s politically-correct focus on diversity and difference (code for multiculturalism) and the belief that all cultures are of equal value and worth.
While geographically close to Asia, Australia is a Western nation, proven by the fact that our political and legal institutions and much of our language and literature are derived from Britain and Europe. Concepts like habeas corpus, separation of powers and innocent until proven guilty are unique to Western civilisation.
It’s no accident that the Preamble of the Australian Constitution contains the words, “humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God” and that the Commonwealth Parliament begins each daily session with the Lord’s Prayer.
While it’s true that since federation, and especially in the years after the Second World War, Australia has become a more culturally diverse nation, the reality is that the overwhelming majority of those living here can trace their ancestry back to the UK, Ireland and Europe.
It’s also true that the reason why so many millions of migrants have come to live here is because of the peace, prosperity and tolerance that characterise our way of life. A way of life that that will quickly disappear if we fail to teach future generations about what truly unites us as Australians.
Dr Kevin Donnelly is Director of Education Standards Institute. The Donnelly family migrated from King’s County, Ireland in the 1850s and settled in Wagga Wagga, NSW.
Dr Kevin Donnelly is director of Education Standards Institute. Dr Donnelly is the author of Australia’s Education Revolution: How Kevin Rudd Won and Lost the Education Wars and Dumbing Down : outcomes based and politically correct – the impact of the Culture Wars on our schools. The Donnelly family migrated from King’s County, Ireland in the 1850s and settled in Wagga Wagga, NSW.
Look at the outcomes of the USA and Europe. There should be one set of rules for all Australians. It may be over for Australia as well.
I will admit arriving in 1965 when my then husband had been an officer in the RAF, and head hunted by QANTAS, we so called Poms were not well received.
We were not $10 Poms, nor where my parents in 1968 when my father was afforded a job with the Federal government as a Quantity Surveyor, changing to the State Government not long after wards.
However 46 years later, I am studying in a post graduate degree in colonial history, that Chinese were imported to work in the New England Area by government degree. (The AA company in the 1850s as willing laborers were hard to find). As were bonded servants to fill the cap of convicts and on license convicts. Opening up areas from Sydney to provide
wool for UK and later the gold rush that eventually became a gold stroll.
Especially in the new opened Gold fields. Some Chinese were murdered too.
We certainly have an English/Irish, Welsh and Scottish heritage. Whether you can all those can say they have Celtic heritage is debatable.
If anyone thinks that England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, was an easy place to live in the late 18th and 19th Century should read their history.
My focus on my thesis, was that Australia was a harsh country, and unforgiving environmentally for those who left the home country to be either
forcibly moved to Australia as convicts or came as bonded servants. Or those Chinese who came here as free laborers. The squatters were the exclusives but the free settlerers also needed convicts or bonded servants to survive and build their respective homes and settlements.
However, it was harsher back in their home countries. And it gave some
a chance to improve their social mobility that they would not have had in their respective home social environments.
“”A clear example of this attempt to airbrush Christianity from history, under the heading historical terms and concepts, is to replace BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini) in favour of the more politically correct, secular alternatives, BCE (Before the Common Era), BP (Before Present) and CE (Common Era)”"
I’m not sure why this has is happening and I wonder if it is indeed as the author suggests.
BCE and CE have been in common usage amongst Jewish people as long as I can remember.
“”Sadly our education system has turned from life skills and preparation for a career, to stuffing the minds of youths with the “correct” ideologies, as long as they can fill out the correct forms at Centrelink, and vote [1] labor.”"
I am in full support of that comment that also applies to migrants, who are taught their way around out Social Services
I have an ex daughter-in-law, who during her 500 hours of FREE English lessons at TAFE, was introduced to Centrelink and all it had to offer.
As if Feminism wasn’t scourge enough with its gynocentric superiorism and politically correct misandry, now we have the resentful, truculent adolescent anti-anglo runaway from home mob agitpropping the kiddies. I am surprised that the ‘diversity’ exaulted doesn’t seem to include homosexual Latte providers and lesbian culinary enhancements. We are Multi-lingual and cunnilingual now.
“Instead of celebrating Western civilisation, Christianity and Australia’s Anglo-Celtic heritage, priority is given to “Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia”, along with “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures” and politically-correct issues like the environment.”
Modern Australia – its society, polity and economy – is a product of European civilisation. One simply cannnot hope to understand Australian history without studying the British and European heritage of our nation.
By failing to properly teach our nation’s history to the current generation of young Australians, we risk creating an entire generation of ignorant, deracinated citizens and destroying any possibility of the trans-generational cultural transfer that is essential to the continuity of any people.
“…we risk creating an entire generation of ignorant, deracinated citizens and destroying any possibility of the trans-generational cultural transfer that is essential to the continuity of any people”
But all that has been government policy now for decades.
If there is one thing I am quite sure of, it is that those who have commented on this article so far have not atually read the curriculum.
If they had, they would realise the good Drs article is ideological bunk. Yes the items he mentions are included, but they are there along with a strong and balanced view of ancient to modern history, including industrialisation, European Colonisation, our part in the wars, Federation and a whole range of other important parts of our European/Western history.
This article is both missleading and irresponsible in its presentations. History is viewed by all of us through an ideological lens, but we hope that we are at least armed with the facts before we form these views.
Dr Donnelly would deny our children these facts in his missguided pursuite of some kind of a Conservative Christian Utopia.
If you have read the national curriculum you would know that every subject has to be taught through a PC prism involving Asian, indigenous and sustainability perspectives – they are put front and centre and given priority. The most recent history document is an improvement on earlier ones but, it lacks a strong narrative about the historical importance of Western civilisation and Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage. Just count the number of times there are references to Aboriginal and Torres Strait histories and cultures and it will soon be obvious how undervalued the Western perspective is.
Fair enough. If our culture needs to be adjusted to address the requirements of some non-adjusting arrivals, then it ought to be equally acceptable to have similar adjustments made, on our behalf, to the cultures of the countries from which they come.
Lets see how that works out!
The answer as to the responsible party for changing what is taught in the national curriculum is ACARA.
http://www.acara.edu.au/default.asp
At some point in the recent past it was decided by Australia’s ruling elites to transform the country from a western society into an Asian one. If you accept the reaility and inevitability of a predominantly Asian Australia in the near future then the new national curriculum makes perfect sense.
It isn’t leftists academics alone that are driving this process of transformation. It’s predominantly driven by business interests that have an insatiable appetite for a bigger domestic markets and a bigger pool of cheap labour.
When you can combine the powers of academia, the media, politicians and big business then you don’t need to consult the people about changing the national identity and not even the “western democracy” that is lauded in the article above makes a jot of difference to the outcome if the voters are simply ignored as they have now been for decades.
sorry.
i forgot this.
The old Jesuit saying, “Give me a child….. until he is seven, and I will give you the man” , displays a clear recognition that the earlier you can gain access to a child’s mind the stronger control you have over the formation of that child’s character and beliefs.
What about job skills….
well stated.
it is a brainwashing exercise.
St. Francis Xavier “Give me the child until he is seven and I’ll give you the man.
Its confusing to whom this new curriculum is trying to placate. Do our neighboring countries care even slightly if we mention Australias roots in British Colonialism? As if to say that the influence of Britain and other European powers was somehow not felt throughout the entirety of the world? Perhaps we will next deny the Holocaust?
There doesnt seem to be even any point to these changes, except to placate some extremely small groups of individuals who are offended by even the smallest references to Christianity (yet arent quite against it enough to not participate in its holidays, so long as they are rebranded appropriately).
Sadly our education system has turned from life skills and preparation for a career, to stuffing the minds of youths with the “correct” ideologies, as long as they can fill out the correct forms at Centrelink, and vote [1] labor.