Headlines decrying Australia’s slipping educational standards are becoming increasingly common. The triennial PISA results, the TIMMS data, the OECD TALIS results all show Australia slipping in the international rankings (although not Australia’s independent schools). As always, rankings are pernicious and ignore considerations which can make all the difference for an individual school or family trying to assess its relevance and implications for them it. However we understand the results, though, the resulting debate is always around the educational decisions: should we test children more often? Should we have smaller class sizes? Should we train teachers differently? Should we change the underlying structures?
In Assembly this week I spoke to the Senior School girls about a suggestion that the problem may have nothing to do with the education system. The suggestion comes from Professor Cres Eastman, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Sydney University, and rests on his lifetime of work on the effects of iodine deficiency. Those interested can read a short piece by Professor Eastman here and there is a background story about his remarkable career and impact on the health of millions which is discussed with Richard Fidler here and which might make for enjoyable weekend listening if you are interested.
The story per se is one worth hearing, and the link he suggests between iodine and exam results may or may not be true, but the point I wanted to make to the girls was this: different ways of thinking lead to different solutions. What if something we assumed was a complex matrix of social, economic and philosophical elements was actually just a simple problem of biochemistry? (And wouldn’t it be lovely if it were that simple?) Sometimes science can illuminate other fields, and sometimes the humanities will provide the insights necessary for effective science. It is the interplay that is important. (It is hard to imagine an answer to climate problems which would not rely heavily on both.)
This is one of many reasons we are so firmly committed to a liberal education. We might have our individual strengths and interests, but we are all enriched by exposure to different ways of thinking. Flashes of genius can’t be manufactured, and there is no point trying to contrive them. But we can create the right foundations because those sudden creative leaps can only be made by curious, disciplined and well-informed minds. How can you see an undiscovered link between two unrelated things unless you have a rich understanding of both? How can you see that a problem might not really fit in a given category if you are only thinking inside it?
In the last few days I have enjoyed watching the Year 12 girls embarking on their final months of school and the Kindergarten girls on their first full week. (The peepholes in the corridor are perfect for this – and no disruption to their new routines.) The great reward of teaching is to be able to walk with the girls along this path for a period, knowing that when the time is right they will be ready to walk it in independence.
Ms Elizabeth Stone
Principal