Welcome To The Real World Kiddies

'Students have made an investment in their educations, then they come to the real world and they realize that that investment is essentially worthless.'

She's an arts graduate. Naturally.

-- Nora

Condemned To Repeat It

Experts have warned of the ‘death of History’ after shocking figures revealed the subject is becoming virtually extinct in some areas of the country.

-- Nora

Missing The Point

A fifth of applicants have failed to get the 60 per cent pass mark in the multiple choice citizenship test introduced in October last year.

(The) quiz tests participants on Australian history and values, and determines whether they have adequate English proficiency.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans told Fairfax the government would review the test in light of the poor test results.

"The citizenship test should be about increasing awareness of citizens' responsibilities and, of course, of the Australian way of life," he said.

Sorry Chris but the test is about testing 'awareness of citizens' responsibilities and, of course, of the Australian way of life'.

Promising to review the test in light of poor results (an 80 per cent pass rate is poor?) sounds suspiciously like offering to dumb it down so that every child wins a prize.

A lot like a modern education all round, really.

-- Nick

Bad Boy

Government has shock revelation - boys are different to girls - and gives surprising anti-PC advice:

Nursery staff are told in official advice to resist their "natural instinct" to stop under-fives playing with weapons in games with other toddlers. A new document issued by the Department for Children, Schools and Families said children should be encouraged to take part in play which "involves more action".

Teachers have unsurprising response:

...condemned the advice, warning that toy guns "symbolise aggression".

Meanwhile:

There is continuing concern over the gap in standards between boys and girls, which has failed to narrow in recent years. Boys lag behind at every age, and a report published earlier this year warned that inability to read and write properly at primary school was fuelling an "anti-education culture" which became more pronounced as boys progressed through the system. The new guidance aims for improvement by "creating the right conditions for boys' learning" before they start formal primary education.

But teachers may be offended by the suggestion that:

"Sometimes practitioners find the chosen play of boys more difficult to understand and value than that of girls..."

-- Nick

Foto Fun

Sometimes it's not so bad getting stopped at traffic lights. It gives one a chance to snap a gem like this:



One of the ubiquitous Australian Education Union signs spruiking 'Public Education, Australia's Future' was affixed to a fence further along the road. If only it had been close enough to get in shot, the irony would have been complete. As it is, one had to make do with insetting a copy.

Click for a larger size - and if you don't get it, perhaps you went to a public school.

Then there's Kev, snapped at the Melbourne Cup, pretending to be a genuine bloke:



... but really only demonstrating his expected future role with the unions.

-- Nick

International Sign Of Distress

Google runs a doodle competition for school kids to mark Australia Day 2008. Some junior PC victims include an Aboriginal flag in their design.

But there's a problem.

-- Nick and Nora

Bring Back The Wagging Finger!

Western Australia State School Teachers Union vice-president Anne Gisborne notes:

... violence among young girls had been rising for five years and unruly students were getting younger... She said families' resistance to deal with out-of-control children meant behavioural problems went untreated and got worse when students left school.

Perhaps the behavioural problems start with overindulgent, paranoid parents depriving their infants (and themselves) of sleep:

The survey found that babies in the 1960s and '70s woke only twice in the night and took just 20 minutes to settle, whereas today's babies wake up at least three times a night and take 33 minutes to settle. Even getting them to sleep in the evening has become harder. It now takes 56 minutes compared to 28. This was attributed to methods used. In the old days, babies were put in their cots and left to drift off. These days parents cuddle their babies until they fall asleep.

Back in school, 'peak parent group' the WA Council of State School Organisations called for:

... more teacher powers to tackle violence.

and President Rob Fry said:

"We have to bring back some strong rules."

Huzzah!

But wait:

"I'm not advocating bringing back the cane. But the department needs to somehow put in more support behind teachers so they know that they are protected when taking appropriate action."

Yes, they do, somehow, don't they?

-- Nick

Oral Exam Is Worth 30% Of Your Overall Marks

There used to be a joke that you needed a university degree to be a bus driver these days:

Funding for tertiary courses in prostitution could be considered under changes aimed at boosting quality and relevance in the sector, New Zealand education officials say

.

Uh-hum. A hooker who can opine on existentialism.

Is she still worth the money?

-- Nora

Lovely Lindy

Lindy Nelson-Carr is the Queensland Labor Government's Minister for Environment and also Minister for Multiculturalism:

...continuing the work for people from different cultural backgrounds and celebrating diversity...

Except for the people of Far North Queensland:

"The last thing Queensland needs is a bunch of gun-happy hillbillies on a crocodile shoot," she said.

Nelson-Carr is a former high school teacher.

-- Nick

That's Not An Argument, THIS Is An Argument

There is an old truism, 'say something long enough and people will believe it'.

We've seen it with idiot 9/11 conspiracy theorists whose crazy ideas resonate in the echo chamber of like-minded fools.

The 'truthers' seem so sincere and their hysteria gets so much coverage that it seems circumspect to nod and say that maybe there is something to it after all.

But they’re wrong.

When not armed with facts and confident in the truth, it's very easy to find oneself swayed by sentiment or by someone else's argument, especially if they're arguing with passion.

Witness the reaction to the story on News.com.au on the Prime Minister's comments on Victorian Law Reform Commission recommendations that homosexual couples be allowed to adopt or have IVF treatment.

Howard said, quite sensibly that children should have a mother and a father.

The 359 comments that follow the story are a revelation and point to three forms of debating style that cannot correctly be called argument.

Monty Python wittily describes the difference.

The Mantra

C of Bris, did you get to choose the colour of eyes or hair, or skin? No... Homosexuality is not a choice. let's repeat this and try and drum it into your stupid mind. Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice! Being gay is NOT a choice!
Posted by: Ignorance Example Number1 of City 1:03pm today
Comment 137 of 359

Apart from being an example of obsessive behaviour, Ignorance Example Number1 of City epitomises the noise that people whose position is unsupportable have to make in order to get their message heard.

It serves to wear down any innate or instinctive belief in the contrary position.

It's similar to the old psychology class experiment on peer pressure and independent thought. You clue in all the class with the exception of three to five people that a simple question with only one right answer is to be asked. The students will be asked to agree on and support a wrong answer (for example 3+5=9) to see what happens.

More often than not the handful of students who are subjects of the experiment will end up agreeing with their peers because of weight of numbers, even though they know their classmates are wrong. In other words they don't have the courage of their beliefs or the ability to articulate them or it's just easier to go with the flow.

The ‘Hater’
My own position on whether homosexuals are appropriate parents for children is well known, but what is striking about the News comments is the utter inability for some people to see what is perfectly true because of their own bias.

I'm stunned that a common sense statement like 'kids need a mum and a dad' is seen as controversial.
Posted by: Nora Charles of Queensland 2:56pm today
Comment 255 of 359

Which elicits this response:

" I'm stunned that a common sense statement like 'kids need a mum and a dad' is seen as controversial " Common sense? it may very well not be true. I'm sure centuries ago people like you were stunned when they were told the Earth is round.
Posted by: Pj of Sydney 3:35pm today
Comment 283 of 359

The truth is children do grow up healthier (both physically and psychologically), happier and wealthier when raised by their biological mother and father (under the commitment of marriage) and this is supported by an overwhelming range of evidence.

The fact that some children do not have that opportunity for a variety of reasons doesn't invalidate this. To argue otherwise is specious.

Another tactic used by people who don't have the weight of reason on their side is to shut down debate by accusing their opponent of 'hating'. In this case invectives of redneck, hater, bigot and homophobe are used liberally in the comments.

Funnily enough, those who argue that homosexuality is normal and is just as good an arrangement to raise children in as heterosexual families and claim evidence to do so, aren't even supported by the gay advocacy research with which they try to use to bolster their argument.

I’m entitled to my opinion
But repeated mantras and accusations of ‘-isms’ (racism, sexism etc) do not a convincing argument make and in fact point to another problem we have in society – holding beliefs based on nothing more substantial than feelings.

We see this in another form of style often phrased as, ‘I’m entitled to my opinion’. Indeed everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it doesn’t mean their opinion, no matter how sincerely held is correct.

Unfortunately a lot of young people often try to validate their beliefs with this phrase possibly as a result of two generations of education experimentation that has taught them that there are no absolutes, only opinions, all of which are equally valid.

While this might be true of truly subjective things (chocolate cake is better than marzipan), it cannot be true of objective things (gravity will still pull things back down to Earth no matter what your opinion).

It would appear that people aren’t taught or have forgotten the difference between subjectivity and objectivity in the pursuit of trying to validate all beliefs.

-- Nora

Fatality Free Friday

On average more than five Australians lose their lives on the road every day.

In addition to the obviously tragic loss of life and the consequences for the families of those killed, is the overwhelming certainly that the majority of the lives lost on our roads might have been prevented.

That's why Nicky and I are proud to take part in Fatality Free Friday, a road safety initiative that puts the emphasis on personal responsibility and accountability.

Fatality Free Friday is the only Australia-wide program under the auspices of the United Nation's Global Road Safety Week.

What is appealing about this campaign is that encourages and empowers each of us to take responsibility for our own driving and road safety.

This campaign has spread virally across the Internet and has been adopted by the governments of Queensland and Western Australia, various city councils in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria as well as driving enthusiasts.

Individual New Zealanders have signed the pledge and Fatality Free Friday is being organised for the United States on May 25.

Nick and I encourage you, your family and colleagues to sign the pledge.

If we can make this Friday fatality free, then it is something we can aspire to for the rest of the year.

-- Nora

It's A Calling

And again:

A FORMER Perth schoolteacher has denied allegations she had a four-month lesbian affair with one of her 16-year-old students... She now faces 10 counts of indecent dealing with a child under her authority and 13 of sexual penetration of a child under her authority.

When does the education industry intend to formally apologise for its decades of institutionalised sexual abuse of those in its care?

-- Nick

Update: And again:

A married teacher was found guilty yesterday of having affairs with vulnerable pupils he lured with flattery. Steven Edwards, 34, had relationships with three girls aged 14 to 16. A teacher at the same school was jailed last year for an affair with a pupil.

Stupid People

It's perhaps the one thing you don't have to be shown how to do:

Children should be shown explicit videos of masturbation as part of sex education, campaigners said yesterday.

But one can appreciate that, coming from the Family Planning Association, it's something they might like to encourage.

-- Nick