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The Age
Wednesday June 2, 1999
Cartoon clout
POLITICAL satire is under the academic microscope, and Dr Robert Phiddian and Dr Haydon Manning are generally disappointed at the efforts of political cartoonists in the last federal election - with honorable exceptions.
They conclude that penetrating satire was conspicuous largely by its absence, with most cartoonists reserving their only real barbs for Pauline Hanson.
Dr Phiddian, a senior lecturer in English at Flinders University, South Australia, says that with the notable exceptions of a handful, including The Age's Bruce Petty and Ron Tandberg, most cartoonists gave both Liberal and Labor an easy ride. Maybe it's because everybody was bored, he surmises.
Parks website
STUDENTS will soon be able to talk to Parks Victoria rangers anywhere, from any school, gaining latest information on the web address www.parks.vic.gov.au/education.
A new education program features interactive activities such as letting students and teachers question rangers face-to-face at parks across the state. The website - some of it already running - is based around the curriculum, including the VCE.
Exam tails
VCE students had better forget any ideas of taking animals or alcohol into the exam room next week. The presence of pets or booze is expressly forbidden in the Board of Studies exam rules, along with a host of other misdemeanors like writing or drawing anything offensive in a script book. Also leave the CD player, radio or television at home, the rules warn, ("unless their use has been expressly permitted").
© 1999 The Age