Fear in Australia

Doing the rounds on the internet at the moment is the case of the minilegends, Al Upton’s class blog and its closure by the Department of Education and Childrens services in South Australia. Visit the site to read some of the comments, many posted by the children themselves and gain some understanding of this issue. Also worth a look is Miguel’s tongue in cheek comment on his blog.I’ve always been fairly un-pc and a believer that fear drives consumerism so this whole issue just brings up the nanny state issue again as well as the obvious lack of understanding on the part of some.I do worry about safety but then I remember going on Form 2 camp and kayaking across Lake Whakamaru with a group and my father was the only parent/guide. Guess I survived but no we couldn’t do that now, someone might drown.I wonder about Shedds’ quote “A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for” and how this applies to the current generation. Already we see few males in teaching as they are scared off by the negative press around issues such as this, after all it was only a week ago we had the intrepid teacher resigning over what seemed similar issues. So overall this isn’t so much a post but rather some worry, after all I’m 30 tomorrow.