THE Hothouse experience was a worthwhile undertaking for those outside education to peel off their collective wishlist for education in this state.
It is everybody’s right to contribute to a public concern, and the energy with which participants made their cases was commendable, as were the 12 ideas distilled from so many thoughts.
Few teachers were part of the process and particularly no teachers from schools in areas we classify as low socio-economic status (SES). This is a great pity because it is from this demographic that Tasmanian society is affected by low literacy in adults (now a shameful 51 per cent statewide), high illness due to smoking and general habits which schools should be able to iron out of all teenagers but somehow fail to do.
The Hothouse participants have little (if any) experience of what it takes to confront a class full of dissenters.
A former teacher took the microphone at the public forum and declared he could only withstand two terms at one of our most challenging high schools. It drew nothing but pin drop silence from the audience.
