Ethics teaching brings its own presumptions

Baulkham Hills

A number of letter writers seem to think scripture in schools is all about ethics. I have been helping teach school scripture for five years, and I can confidently say there is almost no ethical instruction involved. What we teach is that when we fail ethically - as we all do - forgiveness and change are possible through the power of the risen Lord Jesus. That is a far more potent message than any ethical instruction can give.

But if the community decides ethical instruction in schools is necessary, there is a problem. If that instruction is given at the same time as scripture, children in scripture classes will miss out on something people seem to think is important. That is hardly fair, as even someone with my limited command of ethics can see.

Reverend Gordon Cheng

Gladesville

The State Government's religious education advisory panel's plan to fight the introduction of ethics classes for primary school children who opt out of scripture comes as no surprise. Since I was in primary school, more than 30 years ago, the people of NSW have had to suffer the intolerance of members of the religious community who insist those who do not attend religious instruction classes are not worthy of alternative instruction.

Time and time again we have requested that alternative instruction be made available to children who have no faith or do not wish to practise their faith during school hours. My seven-year-old daughter has seen the same episode of Magic School Bus every week since the start of the year.

That some parents wish to indoctrinate their children is up to them. That they stand in the way of our attempts to educate our children demonstrates why religious instruction should be cut from our state education system once and for all.

Simon Njoo Rose Bay

How would religious parents react if non-religious parents tried to prevent them sending their children to scripture lessons or religious instruction? Not well, I think. So why do religious leaders think they should have a say in ethics teaching for children of non-religious parents?

Could they be concerned that their spot on the moral high ground might be undermined by ethics lessons? Or are they simply worried about losing market share?

Eve Moyse Dora Creek

Curbing greed would give taxpayers a bonus

Joe Hockey has criticised the move to legislate to curb excessive executive bonuses on the grounds that these obscene amounts of money come from shareholders, not taxpayers (''Warning on executive pay'', September 28). I hold no shares in a bank or in my credit card company, so the substantial fine I am obliged to pay for being two days late in paying my credit card bill goes towards shareholders' dividends and huge, often undeserved, salaries and bonuses for executives. From my point of view the sooner this situation is remedied the better.

Ian Edwards Glebe

The Federal Opposition urges the Government to tread carefully in dealing with executive salaries, and Joe Hockey says shareholders should determine executive remuneration. What a joke.

Voting on executive salaries is dominated by institutional investors, whose representatives have a vested interest in maintaining high executive payments. Even if small shareholders hold the majority of shares their vote is hard to organise and can be ignored by the company's board.

I will believe the Opposition is serious when I hear it has at least made a start on controlling executive remuneration by agreeing to shareholders having a mandatory vote rather than just an expression of opinion that can be ignored by the directors.

Ken Knight Hornsby

Four-legged villains

Unlike Marc Hendrickx (Letters, September 26-27) I am not sure broadacre farmers are off the hook for the quantities of soil lifted eastways recently. But I am certain a lot of the blame can be sheeted home to their pastoralist cousins for the destructive impacts of the plant-eating, sharp-hooved sheep, goats, pigs and others, both confined and feral, on the ecosystems and hence the soils of central Australia.

Keren Lavelle Marrickville

Tweet nothings speak volumes

Thanks to Darryl Hull (Letters, September 28) I now understand why the NSW Government has appeared to have no interest in what its constituents want - we have not been communicating correctly. It is clear emails, letters and street demonstrations make no impression on this unrepresentative rabble.

So get on the internet and start tweeting, blogging, foruming, using FaceBook and MySpace and any other form that allows you to pretend you are under 18. Say what you want, vote on it, and the Government will allocate the funds.

Perhaps that way public transport and infrastructure will be planned before every available bit of land is handed over to developers, money will be allocated to schools and hospitals, rail lines will be built to country areas instead of being sold and lobbying by developers will be banned.

Peter Thompson Killara

Fossil fuel fallacy

Wayne Swan and Ian Macfarlane rush to say we do not subsidise fossil fuels (''End to fossil fuel subsidy won't affect Australia'', September 28). What world are they living in? Federal and state governments, through tax and fuel rebates, incentives and concessions, pay hundreds of millions of dollars annually in company car rebates, and to coal and oil miners and airlines.

Phil Crooker Bridgewater

Machines do not cause autism

Tim Hawkes says it is ''small wonder the number of boys being treated for attention deficit disorder is growing dramatically'' (''The fear is boys who will be boys forever'', September 26-27). He bases this theory on hours of computer use changing the brain and the way it functions. Attention deficit disorder is on the autism spectrum, and recent research shows it is not increasing, just being diagnosed more efficiently. What Dr Hawkes must consider is that autism spectrum is genetic, and includes Asperger's syndrome, which is common in children obsessed with technology.

Perhaps the real situation is that these boys inherited autism spectrum disorders and are able to be ''out and proud'' now that their obsessive behaviour and lack of empathy is legitimised by machines designed and built by their autism spectrum cohorts.

There are two worlds operating here: that of the neurotypical and that of the autist. Society must come to grips with these two worlds: that of the touchy-feely, neurotypical brain and the calculating, empathy-lacking brain. That is what is real - not brain changes, but brains changed at birth.

Judith Morgan Scarborough (Qld)

Wise heads needed

The reclaiming of Aboriginal skulls from the museums of Europe is something all Australians should support (''Return to country: Netherlands to hand back remains'', September 28). But let's try to get it right. It is highly unlikely any skulls Joseph Banks gave to the Netherlands before 1819 are from the Bundjalung lands of the far North Coast, as Europeans had not yet made their way into that area at that time. It is much more likely they are from the Sydney area and even possible that one could be that of Pemulwuy, the early resistance figure, which was sent to Banks by Governor King in 1802.

Paddy Cavanagh Katoomba

Bradfield's Brit

Paul Fletcher must renounce his British citizenship before he can enter Parliament as the new member for Bradfield. Why didn't he renounce it before preselection?

Kate Skrzynecki Eastwood

If Paul Fletcher has to renounce his dual British/Australian citizenship to serve the Australian people as an MP, isn't it time the same rules applied to our flag?

Jackie Blackledge Lindfield

Greenback's fate in China's hands

Tony Smith (Letters, September 28) is right that the US deficit is very important. The global financial crisis is about US debt.

The reason US bankers had so much money to lend, despite the US being in deficit almost continually since 1970 and having a huge debt, was that China bought US bonds. That kept US interest rates low and allowed the Chinese to sell their goods to the US on credit.

The US is now printing money Zimbabwe-style to keep things going. If China stops buying US bonds, the dollar will collapse and China will lose much of its existing investment, but there will be a tectonic shift in world relationships, with the English-speaking powers no longer so dominant. My son is learning Mandarin.

Arthur Chesterfield-Evans

Woolwich

When China finally comes to collect the outstanding debts owed to it by the United States, they may just negotiate a settlement. Taiwan, perhaps?

Ian Newman Willoughby

That other arsenal

Given the UN's determination to have a world free of nuclear weapons, when will Israel admit it has an arsenal of them and take steps to get rid of it (''Iran heightens nuclear tension with missile tests'', September 28)? How would it react to talk of a strike on its stockpile in the interest of world peace?

Brian Haill Frankston (Vic)

Maths students get sums wrong

Garry Feeney (Letters, September 26-27) and Bob Dengate (September 28) make valid comments about the appropriateness of the NSW school curriculum. As a retired head teacher of mathematics, I have witnessed many students who would not benefit from an enforced extra 18 months' schooling. Indeed, in some cases, their presence would be extremely detrimental to the achievements of others, due

to disruptive behaviour brought about by frustration and boredom.

Mathematics courses do exist for these students. The problem with those mentioned by Bob Dengate is that they have been hijacked by more capable students who mistakenly believe a high "raw" mark in the HSC will enable them to gain entry to the tertiary course of their choice.

Unfortunately, many of these students have subsequently found that the level of mathematics they studied at school has not equipped them with the skills they need for their chosen course. During my time as a teacher and a volunteer tutor I have witnessed the tears and frustrations as they struggle with, and often drop out of, their tertiary course.

There has been much criticism of the Board of Studies' scaling procedures for the calculation of the UAI, but it should be acknowledged that these procedures recognise the need to reward those students who attempt more demanding courses, in all subject areas (''How HSC students won the right to know'', September 28).

This is well illustrated by the differences between Hugh Parsonage's raw exam marks and his final mark.

Kelvin Ward East Morriset

Echoes of Bondi in north shore protest

I couldn't help but roll my eyes when reading that Michael Caton is back on his soapbox again (''Tell 'em they're dreaming - north shore gets bolshie'', September 28). What noble victory is he aiming for this time? I am still suffering from his 1998 overthrow of the proposed Bondi Beach rail project.

The Save Bondi Beach group, put together by Caton and Kate Ceberano, cited reasons such as ''a new influx of people'', ''increase in crime'' and ''a substantial rise in beach rubbish'' to successfully lobby the government to back down from what would have been a low-impact solution to reducing visitor and resident traffic to Bondi.

Now, during peak hour, commuters can sit on a bus (if they can fit) or in a car for up to 30 minutes just trying to get up to Bondi Junction. On behalf of this fed-up group of residents, I beg Michael: can we please have a train to Bondi? I can hear his imperious reply: ''Tell 'em they're dreaming.''

Jamie Carroll Bondi

Responsibility is a two-way street

I am disturbed on two counts by the decision to ban young players from a rugby league competition on the basis of antisocial behaviour (''Blacktown brawl gives club black eye'', September 24). Sport provides structure and community of enterprise, it occupies time and provides an excellent physical and emotional outlet. Depriving these young men of the discipline of regular sport relegates them to inactivity and lack of structure - exactly the things that could repair them.

Second, where is the responsibility of the organisation of which they have been a part for their rehabilitation? It is like schools expelling troubled and problem students, leaving them to seek their redemption - where?

I do not discount the ghastliness of their actions but if we ask the young men to take responsibility for their actions, which they should, why do organisations just cut them loose? It seems to tell them responsibility is not

to be taken and leaves them entirely adrift.

Fran Kirby Castle Hill

The classics are not past it

To suggest, as Peter Fleming does (Letters, September 28), that Australian theatres should not stage the great European classics is as ludicrous as to suggest that the Sydney Symphony should deny us Beethoven and Bach, or the Art Gallery of NSW should cease to show exhibitions of Rembrandt or Manet. It will be a tragic day when Australian audiences cannot see productions of the classics. No one is arguing that contemporary plays should not be produced, but heaven help us if the past is disallowed.

Derek Parker Mosman

The auteur route to beating the system

Is Dennis Ferguson kicking himself for not taking the easy road? Just become famous like Roman Polanski and you can make the jump from ''convicted pedophile'' to ''award-winning director'' (''Polanski arrested ahead of extradition'', September 28). Skip out on your guilty plea, flee the country, live it up in France for 30 years and then, when you finally get arrested, the President of France will back you up.

Paul Wright Ashbury

Too uncool for school lunchboxes

One can only assume the American owners of Vegemite are of the belief that any publicity is good publicity, with the ludicrous choice of ''iSnack 2.0'' as their new product name. I'll risk contributing to the publicity bandwagon - this is the most cringeworthy attempt at being ''cool'' I can remember. Instantly dated and inappropriate, it is so embarrassing I couldn't put it

in a shopping basket. So there is one family of consumers lost.

Try again.

Grant Ayre Granville