THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM has taken a novel twist Down Under with a new school pledging to put a stop to it.
A full stop that is, for the terrorism in question is linguistic and the school run by one of Australia's most successful authors.
'Linguistic terrorism is the greatest enemy of the century,' said John Marsden, whose 32 titles have sold more than a million-and-a-half copies.
'We need to arm kids against it. Language is our greatest gift, very young children use it creatively, experimenting and having fun. But too often when they get to school, kids learn that language is a minefield. There are too many rules.'
His school, as yet unnamed - Greengate is a possibility - opened this month on his 1,000-acre property north of Melbourne.
Not that the word terror was the only reason he decided to open the school. There was also his observation that education was being hampered by poor morale among teachers. 'Teachers in Australia are suffering from poor levels of pay and low status and therefore we are getting fewer and fewer of the right standard entering the profession,' he said.
