From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli

How could it be? The 2024 NAPLAN results show: one-in-three Australian school students is not meeting literacy and numeracy benchmarks. One-in-ten requires additional support.

It is, by any standard of educational/academic reckoning, a national disgrace. It is impossible to comprehend how Australia’s education system has arrived at this parlous state. Would it be outrageous to suggest a degree of incompetence on the part of previous minsters for education, and the supporting staff. There has been an implacability to dismiss any learning methodologies deemed ‘old fashioned’.

By definition, learning is ‘old fashioned’. It is a tedious process. It requires preparation, application, and repetition. You read a document once to know; twice to understand; and three times to retain detail. It is how actors learn their lines. They say it over-and-again. They learn by rote.

Vocal chanting the times table is not dissimilar to saying the Rosary; or Om. Vocally chanting numbers clears the mind, sharpens the focus, and induces a calm. For whatever reason, and most baby boomers survived the experience — it is now deemed unacceptable to have a classroom of children chanting their tables!

What became of spellings books — or more accurately: My Word Book? I suspect their elimination was the whim of some hubristic 30-something who assumed they knew better. Rarely, if ever, did I have to write-out a word ten times. We tested each other. We all remember the basic rules: I before E, except after C! The opportunity to put to the literacy/numeracy test those whose remit it is to implement learning decisions would be fascinating. The cracks appeared when we allowed American spelling to pollute our English heritage. Imagine a spelling competition today.

The solid learning instilled me from primary and secondary schools has served me well. It was a deliberate process of inculcation. I learned by the fear method! I am not a grammarian, but daily one hears and reads linguistic solecisms. Collingwood HAVE come in and kicked a goal! NO they have not! Collingwood HAS kicked a goal. If the subject is singular, and Collingwood is a singular entity, then the verb is singular. The rule is simple:

ONE – IS, TWO – HAVE. Singular subjects joined by ‘and’ take a plural verb.

Collingwood has kicked over 50-goals. NO, again! You go OVER a bridge! They have kicked MORE than 50-goals!

The subjunctive form has all but disappeared from the lexicon. If I WERE a rich man. If I WERE you. It is the hypothetical; the second-person singular, past tense of the verb ‘to be’.

Personal pronouns she/him I/me are a constant sources of bewilderment. The rule is constant: who or what before the verb? Him and me went down the street. Who went down the street? He went; and I went. So, she and I went down the street. Not her and me! In the same manner: who and whom are not interchangeable.

I cannot envisage life without education. I hanker not for the days of yore; simply, I recognise what is being denied our youth. My state education has taken me to the most magical of places. A free, comprehensive education is the immutable right of every Australian child. The vicissitudes of our dubious social mores notwithstanding, something needs be done. The task is herculean, but not outside the broad sweep and scope of the government’s might and power. Education is becoming a wicked problem!

Roland joins Brett Macdonald radio 3BA 10.45 Monday morning. Contact [email protected]