Bruce Logan: Expert? Yet again, former ACT List MP Muriel Newman is touting Bruce Logan as an 'expert' on her website, the New Zealand Campaign for Political Research. Granted, Logan does have an MA in education. However, his article is about the subject of educational policy, with the same usual tired rhetoric about 'neo-marxism' as one of the chief influences related to active citizenship education in New Zealand public schools. Now, the lesbian and gay communities have done well out of this- we now have anti-bullying policies, youth suicide prevention frameworks and comprehensive sexuality education to encourage educational retention, acquisition of tertiary or vocational qualifications, and positive social behaviour models, at least in larger urban centres. Logan is about twenty five years out of date. Neo-marxism went out of vogue when it became obvious that its theoretical models weren't precise enough for the social sciences, which meant that post-marxist and post-structuralist social theories became useful as research tools. And again, here's the rub. Both Logan and Newman make conspiracist claims about the dominance of centre-left educational models and social theories, and cannot actually demonstrate what they're saying with evidence-based proof and original research. Of course, given Logangate, that might be difficult to achieve. However, this is typical of Newman. Never resort to hard scientific or social scientific evidence when populist attacks on 'expertise' or professionals can do. And given the circumstances of his retirement from the Maxim Institute, Logan is hardly an 'expert' on educational matters... Craig Young - 8th October 2007