Page 1918 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
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area of education nonetheless attracted such a large number of speakers that I think it is a testament to the fact that this was not a waste of time, this was an important debate, and the comments from those opposite really did not have any foundation. It is also remarkable that not one of the speakers from the Labor Party opposite appeared to refer to the contents of the paper. There are many important matters outlined in it, such as the ACT's schools council proposal, the literacy and numeracy discussion paper, school review - - -
Mr Stevenson: I thought I mentioned things like that.
MR HUMPHRIES: Yes, indeed. Both Mr Moore and Mr Stevenson made reference to these things but none of the Labor Opposition members referred to them. They were obviously more interested in scoring a few cheap points in respect of the issues that they think will attract some votes. They might be very sorely mistaken. I want to refer to the comments of some of the speakers in the debate. Mr Moore indicated that we should not be tampering with a good system.
Mr Moore: That is not what I said at all.
MR HUMPHRIES: Well, the effect of what you said was that we should leave well enough alone, and I think that that is a sentiment which has been expressed in many other areas of this debate and should be commented upon. If we fall into the trap of assuming that our education system is perfect or nearly perfect, we will inevitably reach the stage where the excellence of our system ossifies and the strengths of our system become weaknesses. In those circumstances it is important to be constantly reviewing the direction and the qualities of our system to see whether there are ways of improving and enhancing them. Already I know that there are weak points in the ACT's education system.
One of those weak points is undoubtedly our high schools. There is strong support in the community and elsewhere for our primary and preschool systems, for our secondary college system unquestionably, but there is certainly some concern about the direction our high schools take. That is not a reflection on the quality of the teaching and study going on in our high schools but on our need to ensure that we provide for some models of improvement in that process of development.
In addressing the point that Mrs Grassby made about the need for improvement in other areas it is important that we do prioritise, not just as between education and other areas of government spending but within areas of education. We have to work out what is important and what is less important, what needs money spent on it and what does not require so much money spent on it. I personally take the view that bricks and mortar are not what education is principally about. I think that we should be concentrating on the quality of education in the classroom. The exact
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