If you could pick one moment, one person, to help us sort the bloody mess we are in, you’d have to say the vice chancellor of the University of Sydney had luck – and love – on his side.
uncertain
chancellor → pick → side
I’m not the most sentimental or even the most superstitious of people but Mark Scott’s appointment of former NZ PM and flag-bearer for decency Jacinda Ardern as a professor of practice may, could, should be a turning point in our politics.
uncertain
appointment → ’m → politics
In the same month that the member for Indi, Helen Haines, was brutally attacked, in the same month that those who should know better called for Anne Aly to be stoned in the square, in the very same month that Victorian MP Georgie Purcell got a message from a constituent saying he wished the young Animal Justice Party representative had been the victim of the Haines attack – Ardern’s appointment must work as an antidote to all that.
asserted
appointment → attack → that
Universities are still the places that educate our leaders.
asserted
that → educate → leaders
The University of Sydney has taught eight prime ministers.
asserted
University → teach → ministers
It’s a place that helps those who will be powerful one day to totally get their responsibilities.
asserted
who → ’ → responsibilities
I understand the gatekeepers who think no one should be a professor without a PhD.
asserted
one → understand → PhD.
But after 14 years teaching at UTS I came face to face with the realpolitik of academic appointments and promotions.
asserted
I → teach → appointments
First, some folk with PhDs suck.
asserted
folk → suck → PhDs
They might have written thousands of words on one obsessive topic but that doesn’t make them good teachers or leaders.
uncertain
them → write → topic
People who get promotions are, um, occasionally undeserving, while others wait in the eternal queue of unfairness.
asserted
others → get → unfairness
Sure, there are plenty of professors of practice who should never be let anywhere near an academic environment.
asserted
who → be → environment
They’ve got no idea what intellectual scholarship looks like, they don’t understand how universities work (cross social capital, intellectual capital, gender and bureaucracy) and they come in, elbows out, blundering from crisis to crisis, sometimes tossing in a pinch of harassment (pinch being the operative word) along the way.
asserted
pinch → get → way
Ardern has the intellectual capacity required of academic work.
asserted
Ardern → have → work
The woman has read and digested thousands and thousands of pages on policy.
asserted
woman → read → policy
But she will bring much more than intellectual capacity – and that’s the empathy, the kindness, the patience required for a change in the way we do politics.
asserted
we → bring → politics
She is a radiating anti-MAGA totem and, my goodness, we need those.
asserted
we → radiate → those
We need far less toxic grandstanding and far more of the decency and human kindness for which Ardern is famed.
asserted
Ardern → need → which
Can you teach that?
asserted
you → teach → that
I bet you can.
asserted
you → bet → ?
Role models matter.
asserted
models → matter → ?
Now, did the money to fund Ardern’s appointment come from teaching and learning or research?
asserted
money → fund → teaching
It came from a pot of kindness.
asserted
It → come → kindness
As Lucy Macken wrote , Mudgee and Sydney Boys High teacher Kathleen Laurence died suddenly in 1972.
asserted
Mudgee → write → 1972
She left her house to Sydney Uni with the catch that her sister Angela must be allowed to live in the property until she died.
asserted
she → leave → property
House worth $700,000 in 1972 gave the university more than $5 million 50 years later.
asserted
House → give → million
I’m not a very gentle person myself, so I admire those who can lead and be lovely and, more crucially, get stuff done.
asserted
stuff → ’m → those
Ardern acted swiftly after the Christchurch mosque murders, kept COVID deaths to a minimum, tried and failed to act on housing, tried and (more or less) failed to act on child poverty.
asserted
Ardern → act → poverty
She was better at including people of all kinds than any other politician I’ve ever seen in action; a lover, not a hater.
asserted
I → include → action
We could do with much more of that.
uncertain
We → do → that
I did one while working full-time.
asserted
I → do → one
I’m pretty sure that if she could be bothered she could easily manage doing one since she ran a country, had a baby and a relationship all at the same time.
uncertain
she → ’m → time
She quit before she was pushed.
asserted
she → quit → ?
I even have quite the idea for a field of study: models of modern leadership.
asserted
I → have → leadership
I’m glad she moved to Australia.
asserted
she → ’m → Australia
I’m thrilled she’s going to teach at a place where young ambitious people will have the chance to learn from those who’ve succeeded in doing politics differently.
asserted
who → ’m → politics
And haters are always going to hate.
asserted
haters → go → ?
Let’s ignore them.
asserted
’s → let → them
Those who complain about her kindness and empathy prefer the world we are in right now.
asserted
we → complain → world
God help us all.
asserted
God → help → us
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
