Kathy Lette: My favourite school teacher

“With a history dating back to the Public Instruction Act of 1880, Australia’s state-resourced and run public education system is part of the country’s social fabric. Today is Public Education Day , which is being marked by the Australian Education Union (AEU) with the launch of a video series, Class Acts , celebrating the power of public education. “Public Education Day is a day to celebrate Australia’s Public Education system, the teachers, principals and education support staff that work within the system, and the students that attend public schools, preschools and TAFE,” AEU federal president Corenna Haythorpe said. “The documentary series Class Acts provides an opportunity to showcase the positive impact of Australia’s public education system, and publicly reinforce Australia’s world-class public education system.” The series reunites prominent Australians with a public school teacher who they say changed their lives for the better. Australian author Kathy Lette went to Sylvania High School in Cronulla, Sydney, where she says she was “wild and wicked”. She also remembers the significance of one of the teachers there. “Everybody’s got one teacher who inspired them, and they can think back where one stands out. And for me and my girlfriends it was definitely Mr Adams,” Ms Lette said. Rob Adams was Ms Lette’s English teacher in Years 9 and 10. He remembers her as a “lively person. Very smart, very intelligent. You had to be on your toes when you had Kathy in your class because she had a mischievous streak.” “You know often you’re teaching kids who are smarter than you are – you’re just older, and you have a bit more experience,” he said. Mr Adams’ classes had a significant effect on Ms Lette. “He never made me feel small, he used to make me feel big and it gave me confidence. When I wrote my first novel [1979’s Puberty Blue s], aged about 18, I don’t know whether I would have had the confidence to have done that without his encouragement,” she said. “What I loved about him was that he didn’t talk down to us. From the minute he walked into the room he treated us as equals. And he didn’t judge us. He didn’t have a condescension chromosome.” Federal Education Minister Jason Clare, who was educated in the public school system, said today is “a day to celebrate the incredible public school teachers, principals and education staff right across the country.” “Education is the most powerful cause for good. It doesn’t just change lives. It changes communities and it changes countries. It’s public education that does a lot of the heavy lifting. It plays an outsized role in educating the most disadvantaged children in this country.”

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