Education Rant
In Melbourne, it's all about the private schools. But education shouldn't be about cost. I still reel over the fact that highschool school final exams in Victoria require students to use scientific calculators. If your family can't afford a scientific calculator, or they rather spend their money else where, unlucky for the student. I pointed this out to a couple of students here. The idea had never occurred to them. "My parents would spend anything for my education," one replied. No kidding, Sherlock. So would most if they could. Turns out encouraging more schooling is a good thing:
Despite compelling evidence among OECD countries that for every one-year increase in the average level of education, a nation's GDP will increase by 3 to 6 per cent, Australia sits just 18th out of 30 developed nations when it comes to the proportion of that GDP that is spent on education: 5.8 per cent. A generation ago, Australia ranked 8th.
And without significant private-sector funding, that ranking is considerably worse, warned Barry McGaw, director of the University of Melbourne Education Research Institute.
Professor McGaw told the Making the Boom Pay conference yesterday that one step to improve participation rates could be more collaboration between public and private schools, a model already in use in South Australia, which could make more students employable at the end of their education.
"Australia has lower participation rates in upper secondary and tertiary education than the countries with which it competes," he said.
"For both individuals and the country, education pays. Those with higher levels of education enjoy higher employment rates and higher average earnings
While we're on the topic of education, I'm sick of hearing about these soft trendy highschool subjects, like the ones they have in Britain. A nation of uneducated:
Chatham High School at Taree, on the far NSW north coast, produced the nation's most senior economist in Ken Henry, but it's unlikely the Treasury Secretary's alma mater will produce the next generation of economists.
Despite having a qualified economics teacher on staff, Chatham High has no students sitting the economics examination in the HSC this year.
And it's a similar story at Taree High School, where the economics teacher has had no students for the subject for the past 10 years, and has been teaching computing after being retrained.
Dr Henry lamented on Thursday that economics was no longer taught at his old school, and said students favoured the "soft options" instead of academic studies such as economics, maths and physics.
In Queensland highschools they wisely inform you to do harder subjects as it increases your unverisity chances, and that's how it should be. However, fewer and fewer students study Mathematics C. Amazingly, many students wishing to study science, engineering, radiation therapy, economics, and other quantitative areas don't study Maths C. My first year of university was much easier because of it. Perhaps it's because most school guidance officers (the non-religious kind, that is) have arts degrees over maths degrees.
Despite compelling evidence among OECD countries that for every one-year increase in the average level of education, a nation's GDP will increase by 3 to 6 per cent, Australia sits just 18th out of 30 developed nations when it comes to the proportion of that GDP that is spent on education: 5.8 per cent. A generation ago, Australia ranked 8th.
And without significant private-sector funding, that ranking is considerably worse, warned Barry McGaw, director of the University of Melbourne Education Research Institute.
Professor McGaw told the Making the Boom Pay conference yesterday that one step to improve participation rates could be more collaboration between public and private schools, a model already in use in South Australia, which could make more students employable at the end of their education.
"Australia has lower participation rates in upper secondary and tertiary education than the countries with which it competes," he said.
"For both individuals and the country, education pays. Those with higher levels of education enjoy higher employment rates and higher average earnings
While we're on the topic of education, I'm sick of hearing about these soft trendy highschool subjects, like the ones they have in Britain. A nation of uneducated:
Chatham High School at Taree, on the far NSW north coast, produced the nation's most senior economist in Ken Henry, but it's unlikely the Treasury Secretary's alma mater will produce the next generation of economists.
Despite having a qualified economics teacher on staff, Chatham High has no students sitting the economics examination in the HSC this year.
And it's a similar story at Taree High School, where the economics teacher has had no students for the subject for the past 10 years, and has been teaching computing after being retrained.
Dr Henry lamented on Thursday that economics was no longer taught at his old school, and said students favoured the "soft options" instead of academic studies such as economics, maths and physics.
In Queensland highschools they wisely inform you to do harder subjects as it increases your unverisity chances, and that's how it should be. However, fewer and fewer students study Mathematics C. Amazingly, many students wishing to study science, engineering, radiation therapy, economics, and other quantitative areas don't study Maths C. My first year of university was much easier because of it. Perhaps it's because most school guidance officers (the non-religious kind, that is) have arts degrees over maths degrees.
posted by Engels at 10:26 am
9 Comments:
Jesus engels, you aren't very smart, are you? The guidance officers are always from the schools of liberal arts, because all the people who studied any science end up being maths teachers... sheeesh...
Ah, how stupid of me....I hate you.
When I was in secondary school ("high school"), they were just contemplating bringing in the "soft options" such as hairdressing, beauty therapy, woodwork etc.. and at the time, I agreed with what you're saying now.
However, when you look at most kids who fail the conventional education system (for whatever reason, lack of interest, learning difficulties not picked up early enough so that they struggle etc), I think it makes sense for them to at least prepare for a trade before they leave school.
Whilst I can see the importance of the "hard" subjects, as long as the basics are taught, then economics (e.g.) perhaps wouldn't have everyday relevance to someone taking up hairdressing (unless they were running the business, perhaps)and so could have less worth. If nothing else, at least upon graduating from school they aren't unemployed (or working selling alarms for a well known energy company..). Surely that's a good thing regardless of what they have studied?
na. fuck em. stupid cunts, deserve to burn!
I thought Jamie Oliver looked after the kids who couldn't do the hard subjects and fail under our education system
I agree with you, Jen, but when I say soft subjects, I mean soft subjects that are still intended for potential uni students. Someting like "secretary skills" definitely has a place, but not as a pre uni subject.
As compassionate as ever, Whitty.
Jamie Oliver does do that, but not our education system, the British education systtem.
I think everyone needs a trade of sorts, from boiler maker to doctor. My old man didn't have the choice of going to uni so he did an apprenticeship (diesel engineer for a company that was swalloed up by MAN trucks). Though he never used it directly he used the skills he picked up all through his life.
In other news, duck-witted Age employee Michael Leunig really needs help:
see here:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-message-of-the-mufti/2006/11/09/1162661830238.html
At some stage well into the journey you may notice a deluge of advertisements for drugs that help men to get erections, and you may find the city adorned with photographs of naked and semi-naked young women on billboards and magazines, and on the television you may see music clips featuring a continuous throbbing smorgasbord of models and dancing girls thrusting their oiled breasts and wet lips and glistening bottoms at you and groaning and clawing and stroking frantically between their legs - the place where babies are born from - and all around you will notice images of attractive, willing, hot, horny, pre-orgasmic, aching-for-penetration women gasping into the camera for you ...
Issues. He's got em.
But the mufti uses ripe, rustic language, earthy metaphors and unpleasant ideas. He is set up and set upon by a national newspaper and told to shut up and resign.
Is he actually supporting the old clown?
Well, I did say they had agreements, but this... Perhaps sexification is too common and pronounced in some areas of our society, but Leunig has lost the plot. Leunig probably thinks since the reporting of rape has increased over the years, rape itself has increased.
Something else that hits you at sixty, Leunig: the complete loss of your grip on reality.
Personally, I like my swamis, muftis and bishops to use rip-roaring colourful language, to be full-flavoured, overproof and offensive...
I challenge Leuni to do an offensive cartoon about Islam and Islamists, and not his usual, Jews and Israel.
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