With all the debate over the government’s My School website, it’s interesting how much the debaters  have in common – and how wrong they have all got it.

The media quote a “Christian College” principal — one of those criticising schools being awarded rankings based on students’ test results.

“A school is far more than a test,” he said, “A school is what takes place in a classroom, what takes place socially preparing kids for later in life, building their self-esteem.”

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What? Why bother having a so-called “independent” school — in this case, an allegedly Christian one — if its spokesman happily conducts conversation about policy in social-worker, agnostico-comfy jargon?

“Self-esteem” means pride — exactly what a Christian College must, by definition, be trying to eradicate from the students’ mentalities.

“Preparing kids for later life”, he says. What later life? Is God, in fact, going to give these children a later life? How about preparing them for Judgement Day? That’s something they are definitely going to have.

Less preparing the students to fit in nicely in materialistic junglesville — and more Confessionals — that would be the way to go for those liking to be called “Christian”.

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Again, we could learn much from Mother Mary MacKillop, who, back in the 1800s, ran her schools as though top priority was making students capable of keeping God in the centre of their thinking all day long, every day – as well as making sure they could read and write.

That is what education has to do, unless we want to keep on churning out further generations of ambitious, me-first, individualists.