Beginning with this article in the Australian a few weeks ago, the debate over postmodernism in English classes has surfaced again. The debate has been spurred mostly by comments made by the Prime Minister. These follow similar comments made by Howard on the use of relativism in history classes  and last year''s debate over postmodernism in English and on report cards, which was kindled by then education minister, Brendan Nelson.

Postmodernism (as practicised by most) is a valid candidate for criticism. It is wordy and woolly, and by emphasising that everything can be put into many contexts and given many interpretations, postmodernism makes it nearly impossible to compare things. Despite these problems, it does have some useful ideas — ideas that seem not to have been taught in the past, but that every student should understand.

One of these ideas is deconstruction — put simply, ''to deconstruct'' is to find the hidden assumptions and meanings in what people say or write. This is a useful skill to have. In fact, most of us already have it; for example, we use it when dealing with a liar or someone we don''t trust, or even when arguing with someone with whom we disagree. From a parent''s perspective, this would be a valuable skill to develop further as a way of protecting our children from being taken advantage of or tricked.

Where things get out of hand is when students are guided towards finding certain types of hidden assumptions and meanings: in the current climate, students tend to be guided by Marxist or feminist views, but we can imagine students being guided by conservative views, and this would be equally wrong. Furthermore, there is usually little emphasis on gathering supporting evidence for what one has uncovered in a speech, a piece of writing, a film or ad (at least, with the kind of deconstruction done in school).

There are other ideas within postmodernism that I think are valuable. One of these ideas is that interpretation (that is, listening, reading and understanding) can be very subjective, which has consequences for the way we try to communicate. Another idea is that what is ''valuable'' is defined socially — and different societies at different times will value different things.

But beyond this, I believe postmodernism should be kept out of the classroom. And perhaps I''m wrong, but I''d be surprised to find much disagreement with this, be it amongst students, teachers, parents, or even the liberal left and conservative right.

Sources and related articles:

• 26/1: Howard claims victory in national culture wars (Age)
  
• 15/4: Elite girls'' school ''kills the study of literature'' (Australian)
  
• 21/4: PM canes ''rubbish'' postmodern teaching (Australian)
• 29/4: The expectations are far too great (SMH)
• 29/4: Other traditions have classics too
• 1/5: Why Howard is wrong
• 1/5: Thick lit?