Ned Manning's article ('Our schools won't match Finland unless students come first', April 12) touches on many of the complexities in education that politicians just don't "get". It's so easy to blame "teacher quality", rather than the lack of funding and resources, for any perceived problems in education.
I wonder what sort of "quality" Mr Turnbull would deliver if he had to cope with broken printers and computers, no heating or cooling in his workplace, a devastatingly flawed software system (in the case of TAFE), and insufficient funding to access the required reading and other resources necessary to do his job? We can't expect to become an "agile" and "innovative" nation without a well-resourced public education system capable of producing very large numbers of agile innovators. To achieve this, decent funding for our public education system must be a top priority.
Illustration: Alan Moir
Pam Timms Suffolk Park
As a recently retired teacher, I couldn't agree more with Ned Manning. I now watch my friends and former colleagues spend hours after school filling out multiple risk assessments, and remember with horror the multiple outcomes required on every report when all that parents want to know is the mark, position in class or year and whether their child is behaving appropriately.
Illustration: Simon Letch
All of this time consumed on meaningless tasks contributes nothing to their child's education and very little if anything to their understanding of the educational process. Nothing can replace the enthusiasm and capability of a teacher who understands their discipline and has an extensive knowledge of it.
Vivienne Parsons Thornleigh
Several years ago, I visited an Australian friend of mine who had been living in Singapore for almost a decade. It was fascinating to hear him speak of how in that nation, both the educated and those who educate were revered, and not simply the popular athletes and vacuous celebrities.
Herein lies a central issue. When comparisons are made with the successful school systems in Asia, we need to remember that in their civil and familial framework, teachers are respected and parents are still viewed as cooperative authority figures.
Too often in Western culture, we actively undermine such required reverence. Whether it be children being allowed to casually call teachers by their first names or disgruntled parents chastising staff members for enforcing the school rules, it is often not possible for hard-working educators to fully make up for what has been left out at home.
Teachers are not surrogate parents. It is ultimately the family culture that needs to set the tone for a lifetime of learning to come.
Peter Waterhouse Craigieburn Vic
Ned Manning's superbly debated case should be read by all those politicians and decision makers who haven't been inside a classroom for years except for a photo opportunity - and are being paid triple the salary of a teacher to create the barriers. I congratulate all those teachers who, despite the constant knocking of their abilities, keep on teaching the children of Australia as well as they are permitted to, with all the barriers in their ways.
Di Derenzie North Sydney
Simeon Glasson is incorrect when he says that every child, no matter their background or financial situation, should have equal taxpayer funding (Letters April 12). It is wrong in the same way that every child is entitled to have the government pay for tickets to the opera or accommodation at a luxury resort is wrong. Every child should have access to public education. If their parents don't want to participate, then they should not expect taxpayers to pick up the tab for their private school purchases.
David McMaster Cremorne
'Fistful of dollars' behind Powerhouse move
No one would seriously propose moving the Smithsonian Institution from The Mall in Washington to somewhere in Maryland, or the Deutsches Museum to suburban Munich, or the Science Museum in London from Kensington to Slough. Yet that is what Mike Baird is doing with the Powerhouse Museum. There are lots of fine words of how this will benefit western Sydney but I can't help feeling that the real reason is that the state-owned Powerhouse site can be flogged off to some developer for a fistful of dollars.
Bill Tango Manly
As the Powerhouse Museum takes its name from the power station that previously occupied the site, I assume that when it moves to Parramatta it will become the David Jones Carpark Museum. That will really bring in the crowds!
Brooke Broughton Leura
Lack of unity at core of banking industry troubles
In his article about why there should not be a royal commission into the banking industry, Peter Reith claims that APRA, the RBA and ASIC already have the powers of a royal commission ("Shorten's call for a royal commission into banks is an unnecessary election stunt", April 12). If this is correct, one then has to ask why there continues to be so many issues within the banking sector. Perhaps the problem is that these organisations are three separate entities which do not work in unison.
Mr Reith fails to examine any of the recent banking disasters but instead goes on to detail his unrelated experiences at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, before getting into his favourite topic of union bashing. My expectations of Mr Reith's musings do not scale any great heights but readers interested in the possibility of a royal commission deserve better than this.
Peter Nash Fairlight
If ASIC, APRA and ACC all have the powers of a royal commission, why did we need Dyson Heydon to undo the CFMEU?
John Walsh Watsonia (Vic)
I suspect that Malcolm Turnbull is unhappy with Bill Shorten's banking industry Royal Commission distraction, because it has created a distraction from his very fast train distraction.
Graham Lum North Rocks
Helicopters can save lives in the bush
Much as it contradicts my ideals to give support to the National Party, I find myself compelled to defend the deputy Prime Minister in his use of helicopters in the pursuit of the reality of the vast distances involved in providing care for his constituents (Letters, April 12). Unlike those cosseted on the affluent coast, where clever people think that a half-hour commute to employment is the ultimate in social harmony and leisure, I had to insist that an ambulance guide me and my exquisitely painful septic wrist to a regional hospital in a journey that took over 2½ hours.
Urban folk take such basic services for granted. Come here, to the Upper Hunter Valley, and see what it takes to access a specialist for ordinary services. Come here, and appreciate the cash-starved workers needing care over distances that would make an Uber driver weep with joy.
There are some circumstances where the use of a helicopter saves lives.
Sally Creasey Scone
For protection, Reef needs dollar value
Imagine if the true universal value of the Great Barrier Reef was carefully calculated and made public (Letters, April 12). Just as stocks, shares have a universally accepted monetary value, our natural environment's greatest global asset could have a calculable fiscal figure. Perhaps then we would all act with greater care and consideration in our role of custodianship of our natural environment's gems, instead of the abject disregard we consistently display.
Cleveland Rose Dee Why
Spieth sets good example
Jordan Spieth, reports Andrew Webster, showed us all how to handle a disappointing defeat as he splashed away his chances of a memorable Masters victory ("Meltdown is not only good for golf, it's good for me, too", April 12). The rest of us hackers can take heart that even a superstar can have a meltdown but then show the grit of a true champion and come close to staging a remarkable comeback. Other top sports persons please take note. Well done, Jordan Spieth.
Denis Suttling Newport Beach
Bottle shops part of the problem
Terry Mott is right ("Bottle shops are a part of the global city, too", April 12)). Clover Moore's consulting process for the submission to the Callinan lockout law review was fatally flawed: I never heard from her either. Yet continuing to close bottle shops at 10pm should remain in force, as these outlets often drive pre-fuelling. They are part of the crucial quotient which measures cumulative impacts of alcohol abuse on the streets, and are therefore a determining factor in whether an area has reached saturation point.
Bottle shops are part of the problem, not the solution, to creating an attractive global city.
Andrew Woodhouse Potts Point
Extreme jealousy does fuel violence
I'm sorry, Germaine, but the psychiatrist is right – and wrong ("Germaine Greer slams claim 'extreme jealousy' causes domestic violence", smh.com.au April 12). It is extreme jealousy that fuels domestic violence. If the man was just violent, he would be violent in other areas towards men. Blaming women for their choices and for falling in love is not helpful and takes the focus off the violent man as well.
This personality type does not present as violent at the start of a relationship – not until the woman has fallen for him and he has managed to separate her from any support network she might have. Once the violence starts, the woman is fearful for her friends and family as well as herself, and if she is pregnant or has a child through the relationship, her situation is extremely precarious because the man knows she wants to leave, so he is by turns loving and violent.
I wish people who have never experienced this situation would not feel so free to blame. Violent, jealous men are often paranoid schizophrenics. Please tell me when the psychiatric profession is prepared to deal with that, because women clearly cannot.
Jan Carroll Potts Point
It's simple, we came second
People are entitled to a view of history that suits their sensibilities (Letters, April 12). However, is it not very sad that the destruction of the local Indigenous population for simply "being in the way" of settler progress is treated so dismissively? Surely "acknowledgement of country" is simply a recognition that when Europeans settled here the Aboriginal nations had already lived on the same land for tens of thousands of years. Why is the concept that "they were here first" so challenging?
Jennifer Newton Coogee
We need a Settlers Museum
With all the discussion about a new museum in Sydney we could borrow an idea from our NZ neighbours ("Future of Ultimo site uncertain as Powerhouse rolls west", April 12). In Dunedin there is a Settlers Museum which displays the history of the Maoris, the white settlers and other peoples who have migrated there.
I volunteer in tourism and am frequently asked by visitors with limited time about a place where they can observe our heritage in one location. Unfortunately, I have to say we do not have any such museum.
Adele McWhinney Woollahra
Palmer's fan club in the dark
Why is it that the 25 signatures on a petition calling on the ABC to give Clive a fair go ("ABC journalists hit back at Palmer's claim of bias", April 12) reminds me of a remark I heard a magistrate make about the referees who provided a person before the court with character references obviously not knowing that person very well?
Col Shephard Yamba
Get a decent tailor - it's what leaders do
I do wish that Bill Shorten would do me a favour and buy shirts that actually fit him. And ditch the red ties (Letters, April 12). It is such a bad look to think so little of your personal appearance that you cannot find a shirt that fits you around the collar.
It's not hard. I mean, Bill, you already appeal to the "blue collar worker'", whether your shirt collar fits or not. So why not reach out to the aspirational elite and get a decent tailor? It's what leaders do. Looks are everything. And I earnestly hope you spend a little of your spare time in the weekends cleaning your shoes.
Michael Slocum Ascot Vale (Vic)
Does a new banknote design featuring prime hydroponic buds and a monarch looking completely wasted indicate our Reserve Bank is being run by subversive republican stoner sloths?
Peter Fyfe Eskineville
Malcolm Turnbull will never really be in favour of a train which is faster than his NBN.
George Baumann Balmain
My wife recently received birthday cards from our state and federal members of parliament. Were these supplied at taxpayer expense? If so, can my wife claim them as campaign contributions to the Liberal Party? As a Green, she would have preferred a recycled card or a small packet of bird seed.
Bruce Ryan Kiama