Nile’s Unchristian Attack on Ethics

Fred Nile, speaking while introducing a Bill to remove ethics classes in the Legislative Council on 5-August, said:

''It's relative ethics, which is the basis of secular humanism,'' Mr Nile told parliament. ''I believe this is the philosophy that we saw during World War II with the Nazis and with the Communists.'' ¹

He also asked a Question Without Notice to the Hon. Duncan Gay, representing the Minister for Education in the Legislative Council.² The purpose of the question is to try to undermine ethics classes, which only began in Term 1, 2011. Information about the program can found at
Wikipedia ³ differentiates relative and absolute Ethics in the following terms:

There is a distinction between relative (or personal or cultural value) and absolute (or noumenal) value … Relative value is subjective, depending on individual and cultural views, and is therefore synonymous with personal and cultural value. Absolute value, on the other hand, is philosophically absolute and independent of individual and cultural views, as well as independent of whether it is apprehended or not.
Relative value may be regarded as an 'experience' by subjects of the absolute value. Relative value thus varies with individual and cultural interpretation, while absolute value remains constant, regardless of individual or collective 'experience' of it.

In terms of Rev. Fred Nile’s criticism of relative ethics, and his desire for absolute, God-commanded, morals/ethics, consider the following situation as told by Norman Anderson, and published on biblicalstudies.org.uk ⁴  (pp32-33):

“Imagine that I was standing on a lonely heath, where a single path divided into two―the one branch winding down into a wood and the other running up over a hill―when suddenly a little girl ran along and took the path into the wood, followed, some two minutes later, by a man with wild eyes who demanded to know which path she had taken. What should I do in such a situation? The ideal solution, perhaps, would be to take him home for a cup of tea or coffee; but he might not accept the invitation! The next best thing might be to engage him in conversation until he became calm and rational and the little girl had had plenty of time to get away. But suppose neither of these alternatives seemed feasible. In such circumstances I should myself unhesitatingly point to the path up the hill and tell him that she had gone that way―knowing perfectly well that I was telling him a downright lie. I hope, moreover, that I would realise that to tell lies is to go against a principle of abiding moral validity, and that it is intrinsically evil.”

Fred Nile would, guided by his absolute ethics/morals, be bound to tell the truth, almost certainly to the young girl’s peril. But he would have been ‘absolutely moral’ in telling the truth!  Of course, the most moral & the most ethical action is to lie, in order to ensure the girl’s safety, but this relies on Relative Ethics.  Rev Nile’s argument that relative ethics is the same as the philosophy used by the Nazis and Communism is nonsense, and unchristian in its proposed treatment of other people, in particular the students and parents. It is worth noting, too, that Rev Nile is bound by a Parliamentary Code of Conduct ⁵,  based on … relative ethics! I’m not sure how he feels about that.

As a Catholic, I'm offended by Fred Nile's stance on Ethics, by his attempt to impose a theocratic rules on secular, public education, and by his unchristian treatment of the people of NSW.

You can read more about the NSW Public School School Ethics Program at www.primaryethics.com.au  and http://parents4ethics.org
In preparing this post, I looked at:

1. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nazi-ideology-in-ethics-classes-says-nile-20110805-1ifft.html#ixzz1UJLdw0UT
2. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20110803012?open&refNavID=HA8_1
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_(ethics)
4. http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/vox/vol09/ethics_anderson.pdf
5. http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/web/common.nsf/key/membersethics 
6. http://www.primaryethics.com.au/building.html 
7. http://parents4ethics.org/support-the-ethics-classes/

John

MySchool Website

The MySchool website (www.myschool.edu.au) was launched this week, amid much controversy. As you read it, remember to "never confuse a test score with an education". The website crashed for significant amounts of time. From an IT perspective, that was either poor planning, or poor implementation because that traffic was foreseeable. I suspect the problem is more likely to be underlying database errors. Serious questions have also been asked about the following:

• the resultant league tables created by the media. Remember the media do this simply to make a quick buck from sales, and possibly to denigrate some schools, or school system.
• the site does NOT give amounts of Federal and State funding in total, or per student. That might well have been politically damaging for Julia Gillard, and the Federal and State Governments. Some reports say such information will be included in the a later version.
• the site makes comparisons between statistically dissimilar groups/schools. eg boys-only schools with girls-only schools; high schools with primary schools; comprehensive schools with selective schools
• the site assumes that all students from a school conform to the demographics of the suburb/town in which it is sited.
• NAPLAN testing and performance does not measure an education.

Nevertheless, it was announced with much fanfare, and many media appearances from the Federal Education Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. This gives some clue to the sites real purpose: it is politically-driven. Ms Gillard wants to fight public and private school teachers, and state education systems. She wants what every Minister for Education wants: to be the 'Great Education Reformer'! The tests of reform will not be the media interviews, the press releases (with photo), or Parliamentary comments. The test of her reforms will be: more equitable distribution of public resources; provision of more staff for public schools (lower class sizes have been shown to improve educational outcomes). While she's at it, Ms Gillard might work to restore Federal funding for TAFE and Universities to reasonable operating levels. They have been screwed for money since Paul Keating was Prime Minister, and John Howard continued the policy almost relentlessly. I think that Julia Gillard won't do it, in which case she will have failed the public education reform test.

As for the MySchool site, and its data:

• remember, like investing, "past performance is no indicator of future returns"
  and
• "Never confuse a test score with an education" (John)

John