Alan Reid

Public Education Day
Since
public schools exist in every local community and are accessible to all, they
are microcosms of that community, reflecting a rich diversity of cultures and
backgrounds.
There
are a number of benefits that flow from diversity being stitched into the
fabric of every public school. For a start, local and international research
demonstrates that the greater the social mix of a school, the better the
academic outcomes. But beyond the academic outcomes are the rich social and
cultural learnings that accrue from students doing the hard work of learning
from and through the diversity that is part of the daily life of every public
school.
This
experience serves to stretch personal horizons beyond the familiar, encouraging
the capacity to appreciate and respect difference, even while it contributes to
enhancing the cohesiveness of a multicultural society. In brief, public schools
provide spaces in our society where young people can be inducted into a civic
culture of recognizing and vigorously engaging with their differences. Such
opportunities diminish in schools which comprise more homogenous student
populations.
Thus,
public schools are a major means by which our society can continue to nurture
and build our democracy. For this reason alone, it is clear that the grossly inequitable
funding arrangements which have short-changed public education for so long can
no longer be tolerated.
On
Public Education day 2021, Australia needs to recognize and celebrate the
wonderful work that public schools do, through their diversity, to make for a
more cohesive society.
Professor Emeritus Alan Reid AM
University of South Australia
May 2021