> Hi Jon and thank you for your kind words.
> Australians are as xenophobic as Americans in a generalist
> sense. It was
> only with the recent change in government that an apology
> for the treatment
> of our Aboriginal people was being formulated. The apology
> may have been
> made by now, but if that is the case I missed out on
> hearing about it over
> here.
> Although education is an essential part of the solution to
> the problem,
> there needs to be a broader response for this to work. This
> should IMHO
> include carefully monitored affirmative action programs.
> Positive role
> models in various positions in media also help mitigate
> bias. Community
> education projects can also help. Churches, and other
> institutions for
> social control and organisation, can have a great effect.
> We could also use
> are more activists like Mahatma Ghandi or Martin Luther
> King. I am sure
> there are many other approaches that will work as well.
>
> My comment about broadening the solution came from my
> experience as a
> secondary school teacher. Over the years, whenever there is
> a societal
> problem the call goes out "Get the schools to deal
> with it." Schools are
> instruments of social control and can be quite effective in
> that role.
> However, the more social programs foisted on schools the
> less time they have
> to devote to teaching thinking, researching, arguing,
> reading, writing,
> mathematics, science, history, geography and all the other
> important
> subjects that an educated person needs to know to
> effectively function in
> our society. It is a difficult job getting the balance
> correct and one that
> schools at home do amazingly well. I know so little about
> the system here in
> the US that I would not like to comment on how well things
> work here.
> Of course between you and me we can solve all the
> world's problems ;-).
> Regards,
> Maree Ludenia
> PS We are currently in Redding CA and moving south -
> Yosemite calls before
> it gets too cold. We may end up in the Santa Monica area
> and if we do I
> would love to catch up with you. ML
i hope so. i had such a lovely time down under. one family even pulled me
over on my bicycle and invited me to tea. they kept me for a week and offered
me a job when i was finished touring. there were places where i was mistaken
for part maori, or part aborigine, but when they heard my yank accent they
would say, 'you're alright, mate'...
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