Howard: Schools are too PC

2004-01-21 10:37

Sydney - Prime Minister John Howard was accused on Wednesday of being a narrow-minded snob after he touched off a political storm by claiming Australia's public schools are losing students because they are too politically correct.

The conservative leader told reporters in weekend interviews that some schools were taking an increasingly antiseptic view about values, such as thinking that some people would be offended by nativity plays.

He said parents were increasingly shunning public schools in favour of private schools and accused teachers' unions of being out of step with mainstream views.

He was backed by education minister Peter McGauran, who cited the example of two schools banning nativity plays for fear they might offend non-Christians and a school cancelling its Anzac Day celebration, which commemorates allied landings at Gallipoli in World War I.

But parents' groups, teacher organisations and opposition parties said they were appalled by Howard's narrow-minded claims and called on the government to provide evidence.

Myths

Government Primary Principals Association president John McMillan said claims that public schools were cancelling Christmas or Anzac celebrations were myths.

"I can only remember one incident where a school was accused of abandoning activities to do with Christmas and this was proved to be totally incorrect," McMillan told ABC radio.

He called on Howard to visit a public school during Anzac Day, Easter or Christmas celebrations to see for himself the values being instilled in students.

"Public schools are the backbone of every local community. They are the bastion of Australian society and for Mr Howard to insult them in such a malicious way is an outrage," McMillan said.

Greens leader Senator Bob Brown accused Howard of taking a "small town snob attitude" to the issue, while opposition education spokesperson Jenny Macklin said Howard's comments were insulting to the 70% of parents who sent their children to public schools.

"In this country, most Aboriginal kids, most Muslim kids and even most Catholic kids go to the public school systems and the Prime Minister should be backing them to the hilt," he said.

Tolerating the intolerable

Instead of that he was waging war against the public school system because it happens to treat tolerance, compassion and honesty as good old fashioned Australian virtues, Brown said.

Independent Education Union acting secretary Gloria Taylor described Howard's comments as "generally provocative, unhelpful, divisive" and unnecessary.

Howard declined media requests that he provide examples to back his claims, but Health Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that politically correct educators claimed to teach the value of tolerance while sometimes in Australia "tolerating the intolerable".

- AFP