Wednesday 27 August 2008

Turning The Tide Down Under…

A school has banned pupils from doing cartwheels and handstands in the playground. Students were told that all unsupervised gymnastic movements outdoors were not allowed in an effort to protect the children from injury.
Sounds pretty typical, doesn’t it?
The move has caused such a backlash from parents the school is now being forced to review its decision after the education minister suggested it should be overturned.
But that’s new.

The reason? This happened in Australia.
The education department said in a statement Wednesday that the school was reviewing its decision and would work with parents and the community to find a balance between student safety and "their right to engage in gymnastic activities."
So, it can be done. Though it probably helps if you have an Education Minister like this one:
(Education Minister) Welford said that teachers sometimes feared parents would sue their schools if students are involved in accidents.
"I think the decision by the principal in Townsville the other day was prompted by the fact that increasingly we as a community are wrapping our children in cotton wool," Welford said. "I think our generation of parents are mollycoddling their children."
Hear, hear! And how very refreshing

4 comments:

DJ said...

Same deal as the last post. Personal injury lawyers can write to schools and effectively say 'Pay us 10K now, or crush us in a later court date, and still end up forking out 50K' (of which only about 5K will be counted as 'costs').

Anonymous said...

Sadly so. And unless they are faced down by some brave souls (or thwarted by legislation) it'll keep on happening.

Makes me wonder if they don't have ambulance-chasers down under, or if they do but just treat them with the contempt they deserve?

Anonymous said...

They have a left-wing government in Australia, as I recall.

The divide between nannying and freedom can't be put on the left-right axis. There are more than enough authoritarians and paternalists on the right, and some libertarians on the left, though admittedly not enough...

Anonymous said...

"The divide between nannying and freedom can't be put on the left-right axis. There are more than enough authoritarians and paternalists on the right..."

There certainly are. It's what makes me so wary of Dave's BluLabour...