The ALP is to offer high academic achievers financial incentives to choose teaching as a career. I am all in favour of policies that would increase the quantity and quality of teachers entering the profession but there is a problem with this policy.
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The problem is that it begs the question as to whether all high academic achievers would necessarily make good teachers. There are other criteria that need to be considered.
One important aspect of teaching that has guided me throughout my teaching career was the answer to a question that I put to a highly regarded senior teacher in my first year of teaching.
My question was, "What makes a good teacher?" and his answer was, "You have to like the little bastards." Not all high academic achievers will meet important subjective criteria such as this. A high degree of empathy also needs to be identified.
John Martin, Woonona
Keep Australian jobs here
Former state transport minister Andrew Constance says he will always listen and work hard for Gilmore.
Well, he didn't listen or work hard to ensure 600 jobs on the South Coast were kept here.
He says not one hand was put up for tender. Complete dishonesty.
Stadler Australia put their hand up to create 600 indirect jobs to build and maintain the new trains here on the South Coast.
Constance believes in privatisation, so he sent Australian jobs offshore to South Korea.
When he was NSW transport minister, he rushed ahead with plans to privatise scores of bus routes in Sydney's inner west.
He wanted driverless buses and trains so he wouldn't have to deal with workers and unions and wanted that to start in 2019.
"No more drivers, no more union members", his words.
Audrey Hutchison, Nowra
Gotcha moments irrelevant
Honestly who really cares if politicians can't do memory recall in regards to gotcha questions from Channel Nine, Seven and Sky? We should be caring about their integrity and the policies they actually enact.
Matty Ryan, Fairy Meadow
Man of many talents
Richard Burnett asked readers "which Albanese are Australian voters likely to finish up with as PM?" Possibly the more interesting question Richard could have posed was :"Who is Morrison?" Is he RAAF fighter pilot? The airline senior pilot? The commander of an ADF tank? The loader of the artillery piece? The warship builder? The research worker? The wool classer? The winemaker? The beer brewer? The pastry cook. The noodle maker? The carpenter? The incompetent welder? The factory machinist? The coal industry worker or the ladies' hairdresser?
Barry Swan, Balgownie
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