Engaging students in understanding and seeking to resolve the pressing issues of their time could underpin the curriculum.

I’m in Year 6 at South George Town Primary School and the United Nations has dedicated 1986 as the International Year of Peace. My class, and presumably multiple grades that year, invest their time, at the instruction of teachers, filling graph paper with dots. We engage in this exercise for many hours over several days, often times being required to complete the exercise in complete silence. Bryce and I make it into a game; seeing who can complete a full sheet of dots the fastest without error. We try so hard our hands cramp and our pens run out of ink, or jam up from our rapid fire and forceful dotting technique.

The whole exercise is disconnected from the real world. There is no study of international conflicts, there is no discussion of Australia’s role as an ally of the United States of America. I do, however, recall an assembly where the sheets of dots are acknowledged and the promise of sending them somewhere to someone is mentioned, but its irrelevance sticks with me. What did this have to do with seeking peace? What did I learn? How did I grow?

Meanwhile, in another school in southern Tasmania, 14 year old Melinda Maddock (as detailed in her book, How to Train your Political Animal) is shocked by the news of the United State of America bombing Libya. With the support of her teachers she commences a petition to call upon Australian Parliament to work toward world peace. Her efforts catch the eye of a Tasmanian Senator who helps the Year 8 political activist to create a template that is circulated to schools and students across the nation. Approximately 75,000 people sign the petition nation-wide, a record at the time. Before the year is out, young Melinda travels to Canberra with the Tasmanian Senator to present the petition to Prime Minister, Bob Hawke. Handing over the petition she seeks his support to table it in Parliament, and in doing so completes an educational experience that sets her on a path that leads to a career in public policy, political advising, and positions as a senior bureaucrat in the Tasmanian public service.

Wow… what a contrast in learnings. What a contrast in the ‘opportunity’ presented to children the same age, at schools in the same State. What a missed opportunity to engage the students at South George Town Primary School in the pressing issues of their time. The design of the curriculum, and its execution, is not a matter of chance. What is taught and how it is taught is a social construction orchestrated by people in power. It reflects the attitudes and biases of those in the political class. It also explains why I was taught about the colonials – the early settlers in Tasmania, and the Indigenous people of North America in Grade 4, but never learned about Tasmanian Aboriginals in my entire school career (see related post).

What a waste of my time in Grade 6; and what a wasted opportunity to engage the next generation in things that matter.