Is it possible that literacy standards are falling because young Australians are growing up in a culture in which they can be entertained and informed, and in which they can communicate effectively, without having to master any but the most rudimentary literacy skills?

Hugh Mackay

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

Hugh Mackay

So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?

Hugh Mackay

A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn?

Hugh Mackay

I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.

Hugh Mackay

The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.

Hugh Mackay

The question is, will we continue to fight what may be a rearguard action to defend universal literacy as a central goal of our education system, or are we bold enough to see what's actually happening to our culture?

Hugh Mackay

But the rule seems to be that the bigger and more life-changing the decision, the less it will seem like a decision at all.

Hugh Mackay

No one welcomes chaos, but why crave stability and predictability?

Hugh Mackay

It's Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it's human to do them.

Hugh Mackay

I'm in total sympathy with Dick Smith's sentiments; I only wish there were grounds for saying we Australians would never tolerate such appalling treatment of refugees being carried out in our name.

Hugh Mackay

Still, most of those effects occur in the context of harmless play and it is patently obvious that children are not normally turned into aggressive little monsters by TV or video games, since most children do not become aggressive little monsters.

Hugh Mackay

Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

Hugh Mackay

It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.

Hugh Mackay

Actually, I can't imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.

Hugh Mackay

Some researchers sensibly suggest that rather than worrying too much about which programs our children are watching, we should concentrate on trying to reduce the total amount of time they spend in front of the screen.

Hugh Mackay

Is it possible that literacy standards are falling because young Australians are growing up in a culture in which they can be entertained and informed, and in which they can communicate effectively, without having to master any but the most rudimentary literacy skills?

Hugh Mackay

Perhaps it's the people whose lives have taken sudden new twists - people who have learned to embrace the creative possibilities of change - who stand the best chance of penetrating life's mysteries.

Hugh Mackay

Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.

Hugh Mackay

One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.

Hugh Mackay

I wish we didn't have to own up to a policy deliberately designed to inflict suffering on people who have already been traumatised in the countries from which they've fled.

Hugh Mackay