Neil Holm

Geoff Masters, (Oh, for scores without borders, Sydney Morning Herald, August 10), what a bland, boring depressing column. You seek sameness, comparability, uniformity, boring undifferentiation. You need a new metaphor. How about a musical score? Oh, that our national education system might be a musical score without borders! A composition that allows for diversity, variety, changes of pace and variations in tone that all come together in an inspiring performance of beauty and creativity that includes virtuoso contributions backed by depth and breadth.

We are so worried about being competitive that we are in danger of winning the race to find that the prize is not worth it. We might reach the top before anyone else but what if the view is grey, cloudy, flat and uninspiring?

Let’s lift our eyes beyond utilitarian consistency and comparability. Why should students in different states and territories be taught the same facts, principles and skills? Such a national vision creeps back into individual classrooms that in their turn become flat and grey with every child being forced into the same mould, becoming another bland person in an increasingly undifferentiated society.