Current affairs program, Today Tonight has, yet again, targetted young people and left-wing state governments for viewers’ entertainment in tonight’s episode.In a “disturbing” report,the show tested one group of 7-10 year old children, and one group of 11-13 year old students, with Mathematics and English exams that were standard in 1976. The results were “shocking”, with an average score of 40% in both groups.

There are instances where this report “disturbed” me…

I’m not sure if I missed the information, but at no point was it stated where the children came from or their current academic successes at school.

In a news segment that lasted more than seven minutes, where the opening argument was that “our education system is failing children, with more than 15% of students illiterate and innumerate”, less than 30 seconds of the segment were offered to the opponent viewpoint:

  • one line from the reporter stating, “To be fair, today’s children could access the internet without breaking a sweat, and could show their parents how to make a PowerPoint presentation with no worries,” and
  • the introduction of an expert, being an ex-school principal who found a “more lucrative” career in private tutoring, advocating for teachers who are responsible for the proper delivery of an increasingly broader curriculum.

Yet the other six-and-a-half minutes were devoted to:

  • the examiner’s response to the examination results (and he was prompted by the reporter to describe it as “horrifying”)
  • reports that kids are “dependent” on computers with spell-checkers and calculators to get by in life with no knowledge of the basics
  • reports by the parents who are “shocked” and “dismayed” by what they have found.

Once again, Australian television news takes a swipe at those who can’t swipe back, for the entertainment of its viewers. We can be safe in the knowledge that even our education system was better in the golden years – when people could spell “arithmetic”, when Bosnia was Yugoslavia, when Italian was ethnic and when bigger cars were better. And so the world of young people becomes increasingly foreign and suspicious to the newstainment viewer, fuelling their resolve to discourage change and keep old white men in power. And we can feel safe to continue our cultural abuse of an already powerless generation.