Australian curriculum advisors think maths is ‘systemically racist’ and ‘boomerangs led to the invention of propellers’

Yesterday, Advance wrote about the thousands of Aussie parents who saw their once care-free kids become sucked into the climate cult during Greta Thunberg’s “climate strikes”.

Today we’re looking at why the same children could be coming home from school talking about systemic racism, Australian colonialism and the evils of Australia Day.

In an investigation by James Morrow, it’s been uncovered that several advisors to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) on the inclusion of Aboriginal themes in the classroom are activist academics who believe “this country is born of racism”.

Below are four of these curriculum advisors and several statements they’ve made about Australia, our history and what our children should be taught. 

Luke Pearson Chris Matthews Theresa Sainty Cindy Berwick

 

Luke Pearson – Curriculum advisor and CEO of activist organisation IndigenousX:

  • Luke believes Australia is “founded on white supremacy”.
  • He thought it was appropriate for a Sydney school to display posters saying “stop killer cops” in classrooms because children “can have an understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement and understand that there is a lot of racism within policing in Australia”.
  • In 2020, Pearson tweeted “f … your flag”, which was retweeted by fellow curriculum advisory group member and self-described “Aboriginal mathematician” Chris Matthews.

Chris Matthews – Self-described “Aboriginal mathematician”, environmental academic and Chair at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mathematics Alliance:

  • Chris argues the teaching of maths is systematically racist because it “devalues indigenous culture”.
  • He encourages the “incorporation (of) aspects of indigenous culture and indigenous perspectives into the pedagogical approaches to mathematics education in order to instil a strong sense of pride in the students’ indigenous identity and culture”.
  • Note this idea is echoed in the proposed new maths curriculum which states, “content elaborations in mathematics have been structured around identified themes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ mathematical thinking, understandings and processes”.

Theresa Sainty – Senior Indigenous Scholar at the University of Tasmania:

Cindy Berwick – President of NSW Aboriginal Education Consultation Group, “an independent Aboriginal community-controlled organisation recognised as the peak advisory body on Aboriginal education and training in NSW”:

  • On Q&A in 2018, Cindy said, “we actually look at mathematics and science and technology through a cultural lens, and so we actually teach aerodynamics through the boomerang, ‘coz the boomerang actually led to the invention of propellers, which then led to flight, then led to, you know, the invention of drones, which now patrol our coastlines, and save us from sharks…”.
  • In the same episode, she criticised NAPLAN tests for being written “through the cultural lens of the dominant society” and slammed former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s then-role as indigenous envoy.

 

This is totally unacceptable, and Education Minister Alan Tudge needs to do everything in his power to protect our impressionable young children from these ideas.

Afterall, Australians have every right to be proud of our past considering Australia has been the opposite of an oppressive, racist state from the very beginning.

For instance, when Phillip became Governor in 1786, he declared “there is one (law) I would wish to take place from the moment his Majesty’s forces take possession of the country: That there can be no slavery in a free land, and consequently no slaves”.

After Phillip was ordered by King George III to “endeavour, by every possible means, to open an intercourse with the natives, and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all subjects to live in amity and kindness with them”, he announced that “any Man who takes the life of a Native, will be put on his Trial the same as if he had kill’d one of the Garrison”.

And even when speared through the shoulder by an Aboriginal warrior at Manly Cove in September 1790, Phillip refused to retaliate, resulting in the re-establishment of good relations with Bennelong coming to Sydney with his wife in November 1790.

You don’t hear about this on the ABC, do you?

Well, neither do our children in schools we pay for…