farmdoc's blog post number 43

My sweetheart Vivienne and our daughters are readers. And, joyously, our granddaughter Indigo recently joined their ranks. Last Thursday, as I glanced at the receipt for books we had bought for our granddaughters, I was appalled – as I have been many times previously – that my government charges 10% GST on books. That is, it taxes knowledge and learning. No surprise from Mr Howard’s conservatives. But the allegedly progressive Mr Rudd, who pre-election promised an Education Revolution, has been prime minister for six months now, and still not a hint of it. The abolition of tax on books would be a powerful symbolic start to the Revolution. But it won’t happen, and nor will a large increase in teachers’ remuneration. An Education Revolution cannot occur unless teaching becomes a high status occupation which in turn requires a major increase in teachers’ salaries. A doubling, say. Last Friday as we waited to collect Indigo from school, Vivienne and I met her school principal – a polite, boyish looking fellow who told us of Indi’s reading prowess. I thought to myself that this man is responsible for the education of hundreds of precious children, yet in remuneration terms our society values him less than it should. Much less. Come the Revolution, the tax on books should be zero and the remuneration of teachers should be doubled. For a start.