Masking faces
Didn't Australian soldiers just spend 20 years in Afghanistan trying to give people basic rights, like the right of women not to wear a face veil?
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But now state premiers are enforcing face veils on millions of people.
Am I the only one who notices the irony and thinks this mandatory dress code is obscene?
Afghan Australians who fled the Taliban must find this terribly ironic.
Daniel Peckham, Tamworth
A problem with problem solving
The Australian Curriculum Authority has proposed concentrating on teaching problem solving in mathematics whereas surely the emphasis should be on solving the problems of mathematics teaching. Problem solving is an important skill, but the basics should be mastered first and fully as no one wants a mechanic who can fix an engine but doesn't know which fuel to use in it. Despite the silliness of the example, this could be the outcome when solving a Sudoku puzzle is more important than knowing your times tables. This problem occurs in most, if not all countries.
My own thirty-five years of teaching teenager's mathematics has seen a number of students struggle as they lacked the basics of numeracy and had a poor recall of the tables. Despite the pleasures gained by being able to solve Quadratic Equations most people need little more than their tables, the four main operations and a reasonable knowledge of fractions and yet not all master these skills.
The solution seems simple enough, have enough qualified and skilled maths teachers to deliver these lessons to all and effectively but there are not enough teachers and certainly not enough capable teachers.
Why is poor mathematics teaching still a problem when it has been known about for so long? Why is there not already a best way of teaching mathematics when little of the material has changed in centuries? Why aren't teachers more respected and better paid? Why is the change driven by the embarrassing results in international testing rather than the value of citizens being confident in their own abilities in mathematics?
There are many questions and solutions that can be proposed although the best approach may be to actually ask those that are and have taught for a long time what they suggest but that doesn't seem to happen that often. Old teachers, especially those from before the new mathematics, might be worth listening to. Please!
Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill
NDIS outrage
I refer to recent reports which states a father being confined to bed without company for 20 hours on the weekends.
This is thanks to a cruel $45000 a year cut to his NDIS package as a kick in the guts and its simply not good enough.
John Rumble, Albion Park
Coal fired power stations
The Grattan Institute's latest report once again highlights that there is simply no need for new coal-fired power stations, similar to what had been reported in last year's Australian Energy Market Operator's 2020 Integrated System Plan.
The hottest topic of late is the coming Upper Hunter by-election.
Instead of promising to open up more coal mines, how about election candidates be honest and pledge to support the good folk of Hunter for the inevitable transition to other industries as the coal mining sector closes down?
Ching Ang, Kensington Gardens
Gun lies
News headlines seem to have been outsourced to horror story authors this year, and none more so than the gobsmacking headlines saying that the proposed overseas bans on kangaroo meat and skins will cause more cruelty.
How much crueller can humans get than gunning down millions of our national animals annually? There is a "Code of Practice" for humane shooting (there's an oxymoron) of kangaroos and wallabies for commercial purposes.
It requires a lethal shot to the head, but up to 40 per cent of commercially shot animals are hit in the neck or elsewhere on the body instead, only to endure a long and painful death as a result of their injuries.
The code also requires hunters to decapitate or "crush the skull and destroy the brain" of pouch young, meaning that most joeys' heads are swung and smashed against hunting vehicles to kill them.
Many dependent joeys are just left in the field to suffer from exposure, starvation, and predation.
This is not about sustainability. To say kangaroos are damaging the land they've lived on for four million years is simply absurd. Overgrazing by introduced sheep and cattle is the real culprit behind land degradation. The best way to protect the environment and save animals is to adopt a vegan lifestyle.
Desmond Bellamy, PETA Australia's Special Projects Coordinator
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