Jerusalem

We watched Hugh Bonneville’s ‘Countdown to Calvary’ again today because we wanted to watch something related to the story of Easter. It’s a lovely thought-provoking documentary about the historical and political context of the Easter story.
 
Watching the documentary which is set in Jerusalem sent me straight back to my brief visit to Jerusalem in 1980. I had gone there to meet with one of my academic heroes, Professor Gavriel Salomon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He had written a book the previous year titled ‘Interaction of Media, Cognition and Learning’ which was ground-breaking. I had received a study grant to investigate the status of Mass Media Education around the world and took the opportunity to meet with my ‘hero’. Gavriel gave me a lot of his time and his family were lovely and very hospitable. I spent a few days wandering around Old Jerusalem by myself and I found it absolutely enthralling.
 
I don’t wish to sound parochial but what I found as a result of two months visiting the US, UK, Europe and Jerusalem was that, at that time, Australia was well ahead in the field of Mass Media Education for the school years K to 12.