- Samuel's Blog - https://samuelgordonstewart.com -

Schools and saying sorry for the stolen generation

Good evening Stuart,

I'm hardly surprised by this story about a "sorry song" being part of the New South wales curriculum. Unfortunately this biased politicising of the curriculum, especially around NAIDOC Week, has been going on for a very long time, and is not likely to stop any time soon.

I remember when I was in primary school, when NAIDOC Week came around (and oh how I dreaded that week for the simple reason that my primary school went nuts over it) in 1998 when I was 11 years old, the class I was in had to write our thoughts on saying sorry to the stolen generation. I remember writing "I don't think we should say sorry" and then explaining my reasons, and the teacher forcing me to cross that out and write "We should say sorry to the stolen generation".

Incidentally, yesterday there was a concert somewhere down here in Canberra to celebrate aboriginal culture…oddly enough the concert seemed to mostly contain R&B and rap music…hardly a celebration of aboriginal culture.

Best wishes,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra