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Australia to Rid School History Lessons of Politically Correct Marxist Revisionism

By Hilary White
 
CANBERRA, July 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Australian federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has announced the government’s plan to end the marxist-inspired history curriculum that has been standard fare in Australian schools. Bishop said she will press the states and territories to adopt “traditional Australian history” along the lines of that adopted in New South Wales by former premier Bob Carr.
 
The Australian reports that the government is planning on forcing the issue, saying that refusal would mean the change would be included in the next funding agreement.
 
Bishop said, “I want to work with the states on this. I want them to come along with me in a renaissance in the teaching of Australian history.”
 
The change in curriculum would mean a “narrative” approach that would focus on learning dates and names and events of history, instead of cultural analysis that many have criticized for a heavy leftist bias.
 
New South Wales premier Bob Carr told the Australian that he was willing to help with the re-orientation back to traditional history and national identity in schools. "I'm happy to talk about it anywhere," Mr Carr said yesterday. "I support any initiative to have history rescued and taught as a distinct discipline and to relegate cultural studies."
 
"Australian history has fallen victim to a crowded curriculum that has squashed it together with other social and environmental studies," Ms Bishop said. "I intend to consider ways the federal Government can encourage state education authorities to make teaching of Australian history a critical part of the syllabus."
 
Bishop believes that the re-routing of history into the more subjective material of courses on “social and environmental studies,” has left children without sufficient national identity. She said students had a right to learn the history of their own country as that would make them more informed citizens.
 
"I think school systems have become afraid of teaching Australian history for fear of saying something that isn't politically correct," she told ABC Radio. 

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