People seem quite fond of laying the blame at the feet of the pupils and their parents, but are generally keen to accept the competence (or lack thereof) of government workers, including teachers and the police, as a constant rather than an independent variable.

Last time I checked, I was paying the government a chunk of my pay check so that the children of lower income families — such as mine, when I was a child — could get a good education. I’m not saying we should shoot census workers and harass public unions like they do in America — which has a public education system comparable to ours — but that we should stop treating the education system like a golden calf, which it arguably isn’t.

Now, I’m twenty five, I don’t have children, and I’m seeking a private undergraduate education, so I haven’t had contact with the public education system in quite a while. However, I haven’t found any decent statistical comparisons (because Malta is too good for PISA), and the anecdotal evidence I heard is still negative.

Also, why aren’t teachers held accountable for the exam results of their students? This isn’t really an issue which is isolated to Malta. They tried to introduce such a system in the United States, along with a huge financial incentive, but teachers there were more keen to keep complaining about their wages, and to blame poverty for the students’ results.

In my opinion, there is a much deeper, untouched, issue here than all this shallow Victorian nonsense everyone keeps bringing up about discipline.

P.S. The schools weren’t really that disciplined when I was a child. Teachers were more apt to yell hysterically than to act like strong consistent figures of authority.

I think that this testimonial proves my last point quite eloquently. The Department of Education is not a hands-on organisation but rather a more or less rigid top-down structure where the top jobs are given to individuals who have worked for such posts.

Not that meritocracy is non-existent, but new ideas are lacking and fresh blood is a ‘non-concept’. This is a structural problem that needs to be overhauled for the benefit of the younger generation, particularly, those receiving state education.

I fully agree with your view. I may also add that the people who are in favour of divorce are the ones who truly believe in marriage.

The main reason for someone seeking a divorce is to be able to marry again and formalise the new relationship with a new-found partner. In my view this is much better than cohabitation which apparently the Catholic fundamentalists have no qualms about.

This in my opinion is unbelievable since according to my Bible when an unmarried couple are living together, they are living in sin, even more so when both or one are still married to someone else but only separated.

Dear Antoinette and all of your ilk, this is ADULTERY, but to our church and the Talibans in the No campaign it does not matter as long as officially we remain the only country in the civilised world that has no divorce. What a bunch of hypocrites.

“A counter-argument would be: If there is a way out of marriage, why cohabit and not marry?”

Cohabitation does not need formalities to be terminated pack up your clothes and go” , no claims for maintenance, (if there are children the mother just claims she doesn’t recall who the father was), hassle free and no legal fees to pay.

With the introduction of the pill people were led to believe that they can have fun without the responsibility of having children, then people started trying to do away with the pill because abortion became available.

When we are presented with ‘instant solutions’ for our problems we tend to go for the ones which bear less negative consequences on our individual lives.

@Josephine,

Not quite correct but almost.

If both spouses, even if they both signed that document, choose to apply for an annulment in a civil court then that’s fine but if one will only accept a church annulment, then the civil courts have no say – in effect allowing one spouse to blackmail the other.

Il-Muzew! Biex it-tfal jiehdu sagrament iridu jmorru kuljum il-Muzew. X’pussess ta’ knisja.

@yor/malta. I remember something like that too, even though I never got that treatment. If the thuggish teacher you speak of taught P.E., I believe I know who you are talking about and what school you went to.