Many, many years ago—long before blogging or Facebook—I was asthmatic. At high school I used to carry around so much medication in my pencilcase that I was called a walking apothecary. My triggers were a list of allergens including dust mites and cats, as well as vigorous exercise. I missed several weeks of school in Year 11, because I simply couldn't sleep properly; lying down exacerbated my asthma, so I spent all night and much of the day sitting more-or-less upright in a lounge chair.
As I left my teens behind, I gradually found I needed less medication. And then one day I read about the link between sulphur dioxide (additive 220, used as a preservative) and asthma, removed it from my diet, and what little asthma I had left stopped almost overnight.
Or so I thought.
Over the last ten years or so, I've had asthmatic symptoms maybe a handful of times. On most occasions a hot shower was all I needed, the warm moist air alleviating my discomfort within a few minutes. (And on every occasion I prayed!)
Until this year.
So far this year I have had several significant asthma attacks. So much so that during Easterfest in Toowoomba I bought some Ventolin and I have actually used it more than once (for the first time in over ten years).
Apparently I'm not alone. I have read and heard from many others with allergy / hay fever problems that this year is a very bad year. The reason may be that due to the flooding that has broken the drought out west, there's a whole lot of plants (mostly grasses) that are suddenly flowering for the first time in, oh, probably at least ten years, releasing pollens to drift around the continent on the wind.
I'm not looking forward to August and the westerlies.
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Friday, May 20, 2011
Friday, February 6, 2009
25 Random Things
On Facebook at the moment, there's a meme going around, where you are supposed to write a note with 15 or 25 (depending who you ask) random things, facts, habits, or goals about yourself, and then tag some friends who you want to do the same. I thought my blog might also be an appropriate place to publish my reflections. So here goes:
1. Jesus first, my wife second, everything else third.
2. I believe that “We die only once, and then we are judged.” (Hebrews 9:27) If you die tonight, will you go to heaven? If you are not certain, talk to someone about it.
3. I believe the world was created in six days. I used to think otherwise, but in the mid-1990s I decided I was tired of just accepting what everyone else told me, so I did my own research. The evidence to my mind is overwhelmingly in favour of the universe having been created by an astoundingly clever designer.
4. I'm not the man I used to be, and that's a very good thing. God has done the most amazing miracles in my life. Not the “ta-da! magic” kind of miracles. He has changed my heart. I am actually amazed that some of my old friends who knew me as an arrogant, noisy schoolboy stuck with me long enough to see the changes. Thank you! (You know who you are.)
5. The older I get, the more comfortable I'm becoming with mystery. As a teenager I wanted to know and understand everything. The unknown was just a few books or semesters away. But now I have begun to recognize the unknowable. Some things I will simply never know, never understand. And I'm okay with that.
6. I was dux of my high school, got a TE score of 990, and was awarded an Australian Student Prize without even knowing such a thing existed. (The $2000 prize literally floored me when I got the letter about it. I sank to the floor in surprise.)
7. When I was a child, I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. Both my parents had been maths teachers.
8. But I got side-tracked by my own intelligence—or perhaps more accurately, by my scholastic success. I got to the end of high school, and couldn't decide what to do at uni (uni was never optional for me), until one of my teachers showed me that I didn't have to choose between maths and computers, I could study both at the same time (in a Bachelor of Science course at UQ). At the end of my pass degree, the most natural thing to do was to continue on into honours. And the only honours course I qualified for was combined maths and computing.
9. At the time, and for a very long time afterwards, my honours year was the hardest work I'd ever done. Some of my maths subjects were so esoteric, my friend Scott and I would go to the refec after each fifty-minute lecture and spend a couple of hours talking it through, trying to get our heads around it.
10. My honours research project was in combinatorics. Specifically— actually, no, I won't bother trying to explain it. Ask me if you're interested.
11. My honours project was published in a journal (The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, vol.14, p.109), and I was sent to a conference in Geelong to present it.
12. I nearly went broke while I was there. (My bank account got down to about $4.)
13. During my honours year I lived in a house in St Lucia with (variously) 4-6 other uni students. Only two were on the lease, which meant inspections were… interesting. Don't ask about meals, shopping, cleaning rosters or the TV. Or the car seat we used as a couch. Or the mangoes that fell into the pool. Come the think of it, I could probably write 25 random things just about share-house living in Brisbane—but I don't have to, because John Birmingham already did.
14. I got first class honours, with a GPA over the four years of around 6.5 (two 5s were my lowest results: in statistics and ODEs). I was awarded a university medal.
15. I nearly did a PhD. I applied for, and was granted, an APA scholarship for computational combinatorics.
16. But I took a job as a programmer instead, because it paid more.
17. I'm one of a relatively small number of people in the world who actually understand C++. Even pointers and memory management. Yes, even template instantiation.
18. I can still remember the opcodes for programming in 6502 machine code. I also speak Z80 and 68000. I like the 68000 the best. I was delighted when I discovered recently that my graphics calculator, a TI-84+, is driven by a Z80!
19. I nearly wrote my own operating system, twice. First time in high school, for an Apple ][e. Second time at uni, for a PC. Both times I decided in the end that the extant offerings would do, even if they weren't perfect.
20. I don't think computer programming should be called software engineering. Engineering as a discipline has been around for, what, maybe a thousand years? Computers have been around for less than a century. When we understand what we're doing a little better, and can reliably build software that does what we want, without failures requiring a restart, without annoying glitches, without blowing out the budget before we even get started… then perhaps we might be able to consider associating software with the dignified profession of engineering.
21. I stopped being a professional programmer in 2004. One morning I prayed that God would take away from me anything that stopped me from doing his will. By lunch time I had lost my job.
22. I started studying to be a teacher at QUT, but hated it.
23. I have lived in four countries and visited many more. I haven't been to South America or Antarctica. I speak two languages fluently and smatterings of a couple of others. I like languages and I'm fascinated by cultural differences.
24. But at the end of the day I like four countries the best. Scotland is very pretty (when it's not drizzling) and the people are nice. Germany appeals to my logical and organised side. Ireland stands for peace on the international scene. But Australia is where I consider my home to be.
25. Learning to play the violin and viola is quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to do. (Come on, I could hardly get to the end of this list of 25 things without mentioning music, now could I?) It's much harder than driving a car. I used to think I had poor motor skills and coordination, until I thought more carefully about just what exactly is involved in playing fiddle. But playing viola in chamber groups, right in the middle of the harmony and the sound… that's where I like to be.
1. Jesus first, my wife second, everything else third.
2. I believe that “We die only once, and then we are judged.” (Hebrews 9:27) If you die tonight, will you go to heaven? If you are not certain, talk to someone about it.
3. I believe the world was created in six days. I used to think otherwise, but in the mid-1990s I decided I was tired of just accepting what everyone else told me, so I did my own research. The evidence to my mind is overwhelmingly in favour of the universe having been created by an astoundingly clever designer.
4. I'm not the man I used to be, and that's a very good thing. God has done the most amazing miracles in my life. Not the “ta-da! magic” kind of miracles. He has changed my heart. I am actually amazed that some of my old friends who knew me as an arrogant, noisy schoolboy stuck with me long enough to see the changes. Thank you! (You know who you are.)
5. The older I get, the more comfortable I'm becoming with mystery. As a teenager I wanted to know and understand everything. The unknown was just a few books or semesters away. But now I have begun to recognize the unknowable. Some things I will simply never know, never understand. And I'm okay with that.
6. I was dux of my high school, got a TE score of 990, and was awarded an Australian Student Prize without even knowing such a thing existed. (The $2000 prize literally floored me when I got the letter about it. I sank to the floor in surprise.)
7. When I was a child, I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. Both my parents had been maths teachers.
8. But I got side-tracked by my own intelligence—or perhaps more accurately, by my scholastic success. I got to the end of high school, and couldn't decide what to do at uni (uni was never optional for me), until one of my teachers showed me that I didn't have to choose between maths and computers, I could study both at the same time (in a Bachelor of Science course at UQ). At the end of my pass degree, the most natural thing to do was to continue on into honours. And the only honours course I qualified for was combined maths and computing.
9. At the time, and for a very long time afterwards, my honours year was the hardest work I'd ever done. Some of my maths subjects were so esoteric, my friend Scott and I would go to the refec after each fifty-minute lecture and spend a couple of hours talking it through, trying to get our heads around it.
10. My honours research project was in combinatorics. Specifically— actually, no, I won't bother trying to explain it. Ask me if you're interested.
11. My honours project was published in a journal (The Australasian Journal of Combinatorics, vol.14, p.109), and I was sent to a conference in Geelong to present it.
12. I nearly went broke while I was there. (My bank account got down to about $4.)
13. During my honours year I lived in a house in St Lucia with (variously) 4-6 other uni students. Only two were on the lease, which meant inspections were… interesting. Don't ask about meals, shopping, cleaning rosters or the TV. Or the car seat we used as a couch. Or the mangoes that fell into the pool. Come the think of it, I could probably write 25 random things just about share-house living in Brisbane—but I don't have to, because John Birmingham already did.
14. I got first class honours, with a GPA over the four years of around 6.5 (two 5s were my lowest results: in statistics and ODEs). I was awarded a university medal.
15. I nearly did a PhD. I applied for, and was granted, an APA scholarship for computational combinatorics.
16. But I took a job as a programmer instead, because it paid more.
17. I'm one of a relatively small number of people in the world who actually understand C++. Even pointers and memory management. Yes, even template instantiation.
18. I can still remember the opcodes for programming in 6502 machine code. I also speak Z80 and 68000. I like the 68000 the best. I was delighted when I discovered recently that my graphics calculator, a TI-84+, is driven by a Z80!
19. I nearly wrote my own operating system, twice. First time in high school, for an Apple ][e. Second time at uni, for a PC. Both times I decided in the end that the extant offerings would do, even if they weren't perfect.
20. I don't think computer programming should be called software engineering. Engineering as a discipline has been around for, what, maybe a thousand years? Computers have been around for less than a century. When we understand what we're doing a little better, and can reliably build software that does what we want, without failures requiring a restart, without annoying glitches, without blowing out the budget before we even get started… then perhaps we might be able to consider associating software with the dignified profession of engineering.
21. I stopped being a professional programmer in 2004. One morning I prayed that God would take away from me anything that stopped me from doing his will. By lunch time I had lost my job.
22. I started studying to be a teacher at QUT, but hated it.
23. I have lived in four countries and visited many more. I haven't been to South America or Antarctica. I speak two languages fluently and smatterings of a couple of others. I like languages and I'm fascinated by cultural differences.
24. But at the end of the day I like four countries the best. Scotland is very pretty (when it's not drizzling) and the people are nice. Germany appeals to my logical and organised side. Ireland stands for peace on the international scene. But Australia is where I consider my home to be.
25. Learning to play the violin and viola is quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to do. (Come on, I could hardly get to the end of this list of 25 things without mentioning music, now could I?) It's much harder than driving a car. I used to think I had poor motor skills and coordination, until I thought more carefully about just what exactly is involved in playing fiddle. But playing viola in chamber groups, right in the middle of the harmony and the sound… that's where I like to be.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Seven Deadly Sins
I love having time to read for pleasure (and learning, and self-development)!
Still Deadly: Ancient cures for the 7 sins is a collection of short essays edited by Andrew Cameron and Brian Rosner. Each chapter consists of a Christian reflection on and response to one of the (in)famous “seven deadly sins”, based on the work of a particular historical Christian figure; the chapter titles are: Luther on Greed, Augustine on Lust, Basil of Caesarea on Envy, Clement on Gluttony, Aquinas on Anger, Reinhold Niebuhr on Pride, and Calvin on Sloth. I picked up my copy at CMS Summer School in January, and have finally made time to read it.
The prose is academic, but in very readable style. The historical opinions are carefully considered in light of Scripture (compare Acts 17:11). The result is a challenging and at times confronting look at human nature and my own sinful attitudes and behaviour. But I found this book helpful and enjoyable, as well as challenging. The authors use their historical sources to provide a positive and encouraging approach to countering temptations and following God whole-heartedly.
Recommendation: Academic, but an easy read. Humour aplenty. Just be ready to hear God speaking to you as you read…
Still Deadly: Ancient cures for the 7 sins is a collection of short essays edited by Andrew Cameron and Brian Rosner. Each chapter consists of a Christian reflection on and response to one of the (in)famous “seven deadly sins”, based on the work of a particular historical Christian figure; the chapter titles are: Luther on Greed, Augustine on Lust, Basil of Caesarea on Envy, Clement on Gluttony, Aquinas on Anger, Reinhold Niebuhr on Pride, and Calvin on Sloth. I picked up my copy at CMS Summer School in January, and have finally made time to read it.
The prose is academic, but in very readable style. The historical opinions are carefully considered in light of Scripture (compare Acts 17:11). The result is a challenging and at times confronting look at human nature and my own sinful attitudes and behaviour. But I found this book helpful and enjoyable, as well as challenging. The authors use their historical sources to provide a positive and encouraging approach to countering temptations and following God whole-heartedly.
Recommendation: Academic, but an easy read. Humour aplenty. Just be ready to hear God speaking to you as you read…
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Whitsunday Cruise — Solway Lass
Last week Laetitia and I went on a sailing cruise around the Whitsunday Islands, to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. It was a fantastic experience!
On Sunday, before we left, we went and bought ourselves a new camera: an Olympus Stylus 1050 SW in “Pacific Blue”. (Other colours available: “Dolphin Grey”, “Midnight Black” and “Misty Rose”. Don't you just love those kinds of names?) We specifically wanted a camera that was (a) waterproof and (b) less hassle to worry about on a ship.
We left Mackay on Tuesday morning, just after Laetitia's parents left for Rocky. We drove to Airlie Beach, where we checked in for our cruise, then had time for lunch and a leisurely afternoon browsing the shops and reading by the beach.
At 7 o'clock it was time to board. The Solway Lass is a “tall ship”, a brigantine originally built in 1902 in Holland, to a German design and using German steel for the ribs and hull. The ship is set up as a pirate ship, complete with Jolly Roger. She's had various jobs during her lifetime, including cargo transport, being a Q-ship during the first world war, and even as an ice-breaker! She's named after the Solway Firth in Scotland, where she worked from 1924 until the second World War. Most recently she's been used as a tall ship for tourists in Sydney Harbour and now in the Whitsundays.
On Tuesday night we sailed to Nara Inlet, where we anchored for the night. Of course, we couldn't see much then, except for the lights from a few nearby boats. But I got up early the next morning and got some nice photos.
After breakfast we left Nara Inlet, travelling through Hook Island Passage and then south to Whitehaven Beach. The weather was fantastic (especially if you wanted to get sunburnt!) — bright and sunny, clear cool water.
I asked the skipper, Mark, about Hook Island Passage, because on their navigation assignment my year twelve maths students had avoided it due to how narrow and tricky it looked on their map. Mark laughed at that. Here's Solway Passage (yes, named after the same Solway Firth in Scotland), which my students preferred:
After lunch on Wednesday, Laetitia helped raise the sails (“Haul away, sailor! We want it up today, not tomorrow!”) and we sailed back northwards all the way around Pinnacle Point, to shelter in Luncheon Bay for the night. Dinner, breakfast and lunch were on a rotating, floating restaurant!
Thursday morning was snorkelling. The wind had really picked up, and the water was pretty cold. I decided to just enjoy the day and let Laetitia do the swimming and snorkelling! She didn't mind, she got to use the new camera underwater. Here's one of her photos (and only one; I'll let her show you the rest when she gets time to go through them):
(Laetitia also took her old film point-and-shoot camera on the cruise, because it's splashproof, though not actually waterproof. Of course, we're still waiting for the film from that camera to be processed…)
After lunch we set sail again, sailing north around Dolphin Point, at the tip of Hayman Island, to Blue Pearl Bay. The wind was so strong that we went even faster with less sails up than the previous day! Then in the evening we wended a path between islands, coral reefs and sand banks back to Hook Island, to spend the night at Stonehaven Anchorage.
Blue Pearl Bay was more snorkelling for the game; Laetitia and I instead went for a walk on the stony coral beach and up a dry creek bed. We enjoyed the shelter from the wind under the trees, and the company of quite a few butterflies.
After dropping anchor at Stonehaven we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset:
Friday was my birthday. After breakfast, I had a snooze in the bow net, which I found really peaceful.
Then there was the swinging competition. A knotted rope swung from the end of one of the yards, and the idea was to swing off into the sea in a spectacular (and hopefully not too painful) way. Following the pirate-ship theme, you were supposed to call out something clever and piratey as you went. I actually quite enjoyed it, although the current was surprisingly strong—it was quite a challenge to swim back to the ship! Laetitia took videos with our new camera of my two swings.
Finally, after lunch, we set sail again back to Airlie Beach. On the way, our cook, Kylie “the Legend”, presented me with a birthday cake: delicious fruit cupcakes, complete with cute pirate candles.
But this was not before two whales were spotted off the bow. I rushed out to the bowsprit to watch them pass. I even managed to get a (wobbly) video of them!
When we got back to Airlie Beach, we checked in at Airlie Waterfront Backpackers for the night. On Saturday morning we drove home.
Our crew really made the trip. They were:
From left: Inger, Chris, Kylie, Tess, Mark.
For more arty photos from the trip, see Flickr. For more people-oriented photos, check Facebook.
On Sunday, before we left, we went and bought ourselves a new camera: an Olympus Stylus 1050 SW in “Pacific Blue”. (Other colours available: “Dolphin Grey”, “Midnight Black” and “Misty Rose”. Don't you just love those kinds of names?) We specifically wanted a camera that was (a) waterproof and (b) less hassle to worry about on a ship.
We left Mackay on Tuesday morning, just after Laetitia's parents left for Rocky. We drove to Airlie Beach, where we checked in for our cruise, then had time for lunch and a leisurely afternoon browsing the shops and reading by the beach.
At 7 o'clock it was time to board. The Solway Lass is a “tall ship”, a brigantine originally built in 1902 in Holland, to a German design and using German steel for the ribs and hull. The ship is set up as a pirate ship, complete with Jolly Roger. She's had various jobs during her lifetime, including cargo transport, being a Q-ship during the first world war, and even as an ice-breaker! She's named after the Solway Firth in Scotland, where she worked from 1924 until the second World War. Most recently she's been used as a tall ship for tourists in Sydney Harbour and now in the Whitsundays.On Tuesday night we sailed to Nara Inlet, where we anchored for the night. Of course, we couldn't see much then, except for the lights from a few nearby boats. But I got up early the next morning and got some nice photos.
After breakfast we left Nara Inlet, travelling through Hook Island Passage and then south to Whitehaven Beach. The weather was fantastic (especially if you wanted to get sunburnt!) — bright and sunny, clear cool water.
I asked the skipper, Mark, about Hook Island Passage, because on their navigation assignment my year twelve maths students had avoided it due to how narrow and tricky it looked on their map. Mark laughed at that. Here's Solway Passage (yes, named after the same Solway Firth in Scotland), which my students preferred:
After lunch on Wednesday, Laetitia helped raise the sails (“Haul away, sailor! We want it up today, not tomorrow!”) and we sailed back northwards all the way around Pinnacle Point, to shelter in Luncheon Bay for the night. Dinner, breakfast and lunch were on a rotating, floating restaurant!Thursday morning was snorkelling. The wind had really picked up, and the water was pretty cold. I decided to just enjoy the day and let Laetitia do the swimming and snorkelling! She didn't mind, she got to use the new camera underwater. Here's one of her photos (and only one; I'll let her show you the rest when she gets time to go through them):
(Laetitia also took her old film point-and-shoot camera on the cruise, because it's splashproof, though not actually waterproof. Of course, we're still waiting for the film from that camera to be processed…)
After lunch we set sail again, sailing north around Dolphin Point, at the tip of Hayman Island, to Blue Pearl Bay. The wind was so strong that we went even faster with less sails up than the previous day! Then in the evening we wended a path between islands, coral reefs and sand banks back to Hook Island, to spend the night at Stonehaven Anchorage.
Blue Pearl Bay was more snorkelling for the game; Laetitia and I instead went for a walk on the stony coral beach and up a dry creek bed. We enjoyed the shelter from the wind under the trees, and the company of quite a few butterflies.
After dropping anchor at Stonehaven we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset:
Friday was my birthday. After breakfast, I had a snooze in the bow net, which I found really peaceful.
Then there was the swinging competition. A knotted rope swung from the end of one of the yards, and the idea was to swing off into the sea in a spectacular (and hopefully not too painful) way. Following the pirate-ship theme, you were supposed to call out something clever and piratey as you went. I actually quite enjoyed it, although the current was surprisingly strong—it was quite a challenge to swim back to the ship! Laetitia took videos with our new camera of my two swings.
Finally, after lunch, we set sail again back to Airlie Beach. On the way, our cook, Kylie “the Legend”, presented me with a birthday cake: delicious fruit cupcakes, complete with cute pirate candles.
But this was not before two whales were spotted off the bow. I rushed out to the bowsprit to watch them pass. I even managed to get a (wobbly) video of them!
When we got back to Airlie Beach, we checked in at Airlie Waterfront Backpackers for the night. On Saturday morning we drove home.
Our crew really made the trip. They were:
- Captain: Mark. Fount of useful information, about the Whitsundays, sailing in general, and the history of the Solway Lass, which he's been sailing since its time in Sydney. Just laughed when we mutinied and tied him to the mainmast.
- Bosun: Millsy. “Ready on the main staysail?” (To which you reply, “Aye aye, bosun!”) He quickly put on more sail when Whitsunday Magic tried to race us.
- Deckhand: Tess. Always smiling, whether hauling on a halyard, dangling precariously over a yard-arm, or ferrying people around in the tender.
- Deckhand & Barman: Chris. Made a mighty lemon, lime and bitters! And his weight and strength came in helpful when raising sails.
- Cook: Kylie. I cannot praise this young woman higher. Our special diets can sometimes be a challenge, but Kylie fed us fantastic meals every time. Whether climbing the rigging in boxers (!) or cooking up a feast in the galley, Kylie was a real legend.
- Volunteer: Inger. From Norway, previously a passenger, now helping out the crew in the kitchen and on deck.
From left: Inger, Chris, Kylie, Tess, Mark.
For more arty photos from the trip, see Flickr. For more people-oriented photos, check Facebook.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The other Boleyn girl
This afternoon, it being Tuesday and me not having to be at school, we went to the movies. We saw “The Other Boleyn Girl”.
I liked it, although I would have enjoyed it just as much with less sex scenes. (The ones there were, were done relatively tastefully, and a few were merely implied; but I'd have preferred more of the latter.) An exciting storyline, convincing characters, and a very dramatic historical setting. Considering that you already know who gets it in the end, they did a marvellous job turning it into a gripping movie.
Whether Anne really was that sly and conniving (and whether she really did commit incest) will remain a mystery, but I had no trouble suspending disbelief for the sake of being immersed in the storytelling.
We found the very end of the credits rather odd. There was the usual notice about “entirely a work of fiction, and any similarity to any real persons alive or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional”. Unintentional? Surely not!
Recommendation: See it, if you're over 18. (If you're not, you may not even understand it.)
I liked it, although I would have enjoyed it just as much with less sex scenes. (The ones there were, were done relatively tastefully, and a few were merely implied; but I'd have preferred more of the latter.) An exciting storyline, convincing characters, and a very dramatic historical setting. Considering that you already know who gets it in the end, they did a marvellous job turning it into a gripping movie.
Whether Anne really was that sly and conniving (and whether she really did commit incest) will remain a mystery, but I had no trouble suspending disbelief for the sake of being immersed in the storytelling.
We found the very end of the credits rather odd. There was the usual notice about “entirely a work of fiction, and any similarity to any real persons alive or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional”. Unintentional? Surely not!
Recommendation: See it, if you're over 18. (If you're not, you may not even understand it.)
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Towards Reconciliation
We in Australia are part of a frighteningly racist society. Cherbourg School Principal Chris Sarra recently spoke at a ‘Towards Reconciliation’ Indigenous Education Conference. When I read the following excerpts from his speech, I was … well, okay, not really shocked. I did already know how racist people are. But I guess I'd hoped for more from fellow teachers.
Chris said (in part):
I had to challenge teachers and students who were colluding and reinforcing this notion that Aboriginal children were to be feared or despised, or at best helpless and pitiable … You see I wanted our children at Cherbourg to act like Aborigines and not like delinquents and not like no hopers. I wanted them to act like Aborigines and this was the space that we created for children and this is what we got.
I did challenge teachers about their restricted beliefs of children in school and I did say to them what I believe: that our children can leave here with a very strong and very positive sense of what it means to be Aboriginal and they can leave here with educational outcomes that are just as good as any other child in any other school in Queensland. I did say to them ‘if you don't believe this, then you will have to go’ and it is true that half the teaching staff got up and left.
Half the teaching staff did not believe that Aboriginal children could either (a) achieve a positive sense of Aboriginal identity or (b) achieve as well academically as any other children. I'm disappointed.
And just in case you agree with them, let's look at the results:
When I was principal at Cherbourg school, I saw the true colours of Aboriginal children … I saw Year 2 literacy improve from a point where no children were at expected reading levels in 1998 to a point where 52% of Year 2 children were at expected reading levels just two years later. I saw Year 7 literacy improve to the extent that all children were at rock bottom in state-wide diagnostic tests in 1999, to a point where 17 out of 21 Year 7 children were within the state average band for literacy in 2004. I saw unexplained absenteeism reduced by 94% within 18 months. I saw real attendance improve—62% in 1999 to 93% in 2004.
The bottom line for teachers?
Teachers in schools need to know just three things if they want to get great things from Aboriginal children: high expectations, high expectations, high expectations.
(Quotes taken from ‘True colours—strong and smart’, Independent Education, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 8–10.)
Sunday, December 9, 2007
The Poisonwood Bible, or Tata Jesus is Bängala!
Finally got around to finishing off The Poisonwood Bible. I found finishing it hard, and not only because the end of the school year got in the way. The last part of the book seemed … well, a bit weird, actually. To me.
The story is “about” a Baptist missionary family from the south-east of the USA, who go to the Belgian Congo in 1959, shortly before that country's independence. It is also, more accurately, about the history of that independence, and the nature of its effects on the local people and the international scene. It is about culture, mission, and human nature.
The story is told in the voice of the four daughters of the evangelistic patriarch (with introductory narratives by their mother). Right from the word go, I picked Adah as a mathematician—which says something either about me or about Barbara Kingsolver's ability to portray characters well. Actually, I think Kingsolver's characters are excellently developed and very cleverly portrayed. But in the end I think I liked Adah's perspective the most.
The first two-thirds of the book are a narrative of the family's arrival and gradual adjustment to the local culture. Then the critical event happens (sorry, no spoilers here). The last part of the book describes the aftermath and legacy. The mother and daughters each reflect on their experiences.
I do recommend you read this book, if you haven't already. It provides an illuminating perspective on the history of the Belgian Congo / Zaire / D.R. Congo. The cultural and historical processes involved are discussed clearly and critically but without absolute moral judgement. And it is also an enjoyable read (my earlier comment about the latter part of the book notwithstanding).
The story is “about” a Baptist missionary family from the south-east of the USA, who go to the Belgian Congo in 1959, shortly before that country's independence. It is also, more accurately, about the history of that independence, and the nature of its effects on the local people and the international scene. It is about culture, mission, and human nature.
The story is told in the voice of the four daughters of the evangelistic patriarch (with introductory narratives by their mother). Right from the word go, I picked Adah as a mathematician—which says something either about me or about Barbara Kingsolver's ability to portray characters well. Actually, I think Kingsolver's characters are excellently developed and very cleverly portrayed. But in the end I think I liked Adah's perspective the most.
The first two-thirds of the book are a narrative of the family's arrival and gradual adjustment to the local culture. Then the critical event happens (sorry, no spoilers here). The last part of the book describes the aftermath and legacy. The mother and daughters each reflect on their experiences.
I do recommend you read this book, if you haven't already. It provides an illuminating perspective on the history of the Belgian Congo / Zaire / D.R. Congo. The cultural and historical processes involved are discussed clearly and critically but without absolute moral judgement. And it is also an enjoyable read (my earlier comment about the latter part of the book notwithstanding).
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