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Dumbing Down: Outcomes-based and politicallyThe Tasmanian website, when outlining the benefits of critical literacy, suggests:
‘Critical literacy provides us with ways of thinking that uncover social inequalities and injustices. It enables us to address disadvantage and to become agents of social change.’
Tasmanian Department of Education, 2005.”
correct – the impact of the Culture Wars on our schools
This book describes Australia’s latest educational fad: Outcomes- Based Education (OBE). OBE has already come and gone in Ontario (during the nineties), but its influence lingers on – embedded in the curriculum and the EQAO tests based on that curriculum, and continuing to dominate educators’ thinking. In many educators’ minds, OBE justifies such things as automatic promotion, low standards, evangelistic environmentalism, fuzzy report cards, and child-centred learning. The excerpt discusses the true purpose of the modern emphasis on teaching “Critical Literacy” (known in Canada as “critical thinking”).
Excerpt (pages 146-147)
“The President of the Australian Capital Territory Association for the Teaching of English, Rita van Haren, in addition to acknowledging the influence of Paulo Freire, also argues that critical literacy has a powerful role to play helping students analyse texts in terms of power relationships. Ms van Haren suggests that one reason why critical literacy is under attack is the possibility that ‘government ministers do not want ordinary citizens to be able to question their political decisions.’
“The Tasmanian education department’s website, in outlining the importance of English as a subject, defines critical literacy as ‘the analysis and critique of the relationships among texts, language, power, social groups and social practices’.
“Those familiar with what was once termed clear thinking will appreciate that a vital aspect of English teaching has always been to instruct students how to critically evaluate arguments, to recognize different types of persuasive techniques and to understand how individuals, and the public more generally, can be manipulated. For many years, clear thinking was an important part of courses like Victoria’s Matriculation English Examination. It is also true that classic novels like Brave New World and Animal Farm and Swift’s pamphlet A Modest Proposal deal in a very explicit way with a range of persuasive techniques employed to control the way people feel and think.
“Within the culture wars, clear thinking is re-badged as critical literacy and given a left-wing slant. Students, no longer taught how to identify and deal with different persuasive devices, such as generalizations and ad hominem arguments, are instead taught to analyse texts in terms of power relationships and what is considered politically correct, especially in areas such as gender, ethnicity and class.
