I must confess that, the less cynical part of me supports Howard's plan to make it compulsory for year 9 and 10 students to study at least 150 hours of Australian history. It is a bit disturbing to see the perception among school children that, simply because history does not appear relevant to a particular career paths, it is a waste of time. It is important to know our past in order to put our present and future in context, to learn about where we come from so as to know where we may be going. It may be cliched to say "those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it", but those who don't know or care about the past can hardly be relied upon to build a future. 

In fact I think that both history and civics/politics should be compulsory throughout secondary school. Not because it is important for getting a particular job, but because it is important for functioning as a citizen within our society. So why does the more cynical part of me have a problem with Howard's plan?

Perhaps it is the fact that, once again, he is using compulsion, (ab)using the fiscal strength of the Commonwealth to force the State governments to do it his way. Tying school funding to getting his own way with the school curricula appears to be yet another example of Howard's "attack the states" election strategy. However, there is a more fundamental problem. Throughout his rule, Howard has been persistently manipulating and changing the public discourse and mindset in ways that are disturbing, to say the least, making his view of the world the only "legitimate" view. He has done it subtly, persistently and very successfully. Those who object to dehumanisation of refugees are bleeding heart liberals who want to see Australia overrun, those who remember that our history includes massacring indigenous people, stealing children from their families and taking indigenous land are black armband historians, those who speak against Howard's policies are the lunatic fringe.

In light of this, it is difficult to believe that Howard would not impose his prejudices on the history curriculum that he wants to control. Ensuring that children across Australia learn history the way he wants them to learn it and ultimately perceive the world the way he wants them to perceive it. Howard is the consummate politician - whatever he does, he must derive a benefit from. If the only benefit he's after is to pursue his war on states electoral strategy, so be it. But if the benefit is to control what children learn about our past and consequently the way that they perceive the future, then it is yet another reason why this government should go.