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Australian Politics General...

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@sptrawler But will thy come out of Uni being able to read, write and spell, let alone do even simple mental math's.
From what I have seen over the recent years is probably not.
It's all computer speak these days with spelling auto correct for them, and handwriting is a thing of the past belonging to the dinosaur era.
 
Random things everyone did when I went to school in addition to the basics of maths, English, science etc.

How to fill out a Tax Return, how to do basic accounting, participated in a stock market trading game - no real money but it was based on real companies and real market data, sewing, cooking, woodwork, metalwork, music, sports, French, German, Japanese, typing, art, computing, electronics, drafting, public speaking, automotive maintenance, consumer studies (household budgets, renting, buying a car etc), how governments function and are elected, etc.

For the political demonstration exercise I recall being made education minister. Which was a bit of a bad choice given I had a crush on the girl who was shadow education minister, so wasn't going to make her life too hard.

For the court exercise I was deemed to be a criminal on trial.


I also recall building a model village in grade 6 with a river running through it. All dug by hand - only real cheating was the source of said river was a hose from the tap.

I also recall a physics exercise which involved freewheeling a car down a hill. This was a real car, driven by unlicensed students, equipped with no safety features other than seatbelts, driven on a short section of road on school property. At a guess, that might not be allowed these days.....

Also remember we made a movie of sorts sometime in high school. I was the cameraman not an actor, thank heavens.

Also remember walking from the top of Mt Wellington (Hobart) back to the school, a distance that by road would be 20 - 25km. At least we walked down the mountain not up - bus took us up there. Yes it was freezing cold.

Like everyone over a certain age who went to a public school in Hobart, I also have vivid memories of being forced onto a bus, taken to the CBD and tortured. The more polite term for this was "learn to swim" - done at a outdoor pool in the depths of winter. It was, um, cold. I also remember it being cold, cold and also fairly cold.

Education seems to be another thing that worked a lot better in the past than it does today. An awful lot got done and it all just worked.
 
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@Smurf1976 Ah them was the days when being edcukted meaned somethink.
Spelling is deliberate as I can do it rite.
 
It was summed up succinctly recently, people are getting fed up of everything going down the toilet with recent ideology.

Education standards are dropping, proven by cash strapped parents chosing to pay for private schools, because there is an expectation that their child will not have to face a politically correct education system, that lacks discipline, expectation, or achievement.
Times have changed, parents are looking for schools that have the ability to still remove teachers that probably should not be teaching.

Teaching, like nursing is a calling more than just a job, it isn't everyones cup of tea and not everyone can do it.
At the moment, that is another failing being exposed in the privatisation and outsourcing of government responsibilities.
 
Yep, I ended up helping a friend's kid with physics a while ago as they just weren't grasping key concepts.

Long story short, the problem isn't lack of intelligence but rather it's a lack of putting it into context. How's the kid supposed to get their mind around it when the teacher can't give them even one real world use for any of it and there's not one field trip to actually look at anything?

Education needs an overhaul yes.
 
Smurf1976 said:
Yep, I ended up helping a friend's kid with physics a while ago as they just weren't grasping key concepts.
Click to expand...
I'm afraid the same situation occurs with me and maths, and probably for a lot of others.

Immensely powerful but taught mainly in theory and not the practical applications thereof, at least not in secondary school.

I hope things have improved in the last 50 years.
 
When I was in the last two years of secondary school, the curriculum contained two maths subjects.
There was pure Maths, which was the theory part of the subjects, then there was Applied Maths which was a practical method of using the match theory in business and everyday life.
Useful things like if you needed to spread fertilizer on the oval , how much would you need to buy.?
Had to be able to measure the radius of the oval and calculate the area, then work out the application rate for the grass to get the required amount.
It was one of the few things I enjoyed about school.
Mick
 

I remember being taught how to solve differential equations from a theoretical point of view but not a lot about their applications. Shame as it put me off maths when I was young.
 
@SirRumpole It all boils down to the quality of the teachers.
In my 3-year stint at high school on the whole I had very good teachers, and as a result the class generally did pretty well in the exams each year.
Perhaps I was just plain lucky because back in the 60's teachers were there because they were real teachers able to pass on knowledge, and were at the school until 5pm each day if we needed extra help etc.
Though I was a better than an average student I took up every opportunity to make the most of the extra time given to us.
Some didn't but probably 80% did.
 
On a completely different subject, isn't this what the old State Housing Commissions used to do, I know the whole time I lived at home with my parents, they lived in State Housing.

It's a pity that the State Governments can't take it back in house and employ tradesmen and apprentices again.
But I suppose that would mean the Government would be responsible again and we can't have that. Lol


Could WA's proposed build-to-rent push change the game for renters?

Perth was last year declared Australia's least affordable to rent in, and now the government has launched an election pitch geared around getting more long-term rental stock. Here's how it works.
www.abc.net.au
 
The SA gov't may have to get back in to the steel making business now that the Whyalla steelworks have gone into administration.

SA government forces Whyalla steelworks into administration

The South Australian government has forced the Whyalla steelworks into administration as it attempts to resolve the crisis at the embattled site.
www.abc.net.au
 
That would be the first sensible thing a State Government has done in years, rather than pouring billions of taxpayers into a private company trying to make green steel and a profit, do it themselves prove the technology then onsell it.

At least then, if it works the taxpayer gets a return and if it doesn't the taxpayer knows it wasn't just scammed.

Let's be honest the Feds could get involved by getting CSIRO involved, rather than S.A doing it all on its own, they have just stumped up $2B for Rio Tinto it isn't as though this wouldn't be as deserving.

Hopefully a glimmer of intellegence and commitment comes out of Canberra, rather than the BS and optics and that goes for both sides, it is about time they committed taxpayers money to something other than social engineering a bit of real engineering might give our kids somethong to aspire to.
 

Anthony Albanese to offer funds to turn Whyalla green​

Anthony Albanese will offer financial support to help transition Whyalla into a major producer of green steel, after the South Australian government forced the mill into administration because it was on an “irredeemable” path to failure under British magnate Sanjeev Gupta. ​
​
The Prime Minister will on Thursday join South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas at the site about 400km northwest of Adelaide, where they will unveil a “transformation plan” to work with a private buyer to transition the mill into one that produces steel with zero emission energy sources.​
 
We saw on the arvo TV news today that the Qld Blimp is starting a new political party (again) based on The Trumpet, thoughts and whatever.
I guess the collective media outlets will be more than happy with an estimated $100 million being spent on a whim, coming their way in the next few weeks.
 
I'm always an 'allow for the worst, hope for the best' sort of person, hopefully this isn't just a pre election scam, It really does need to happen IMO.
I'm in Singapore at the moment with three of my kids and their partners and 7 grandkids, plus two extras, both really close friends of the grand kids who could do with something nice to happen in their lives.
The wife suggested a year ago we stump up the money so that the kids can really see something special, it has been the best money we have spent in quite a while, sometimes it isn't about the cost its about the end result.
Maybe that's what politicians need to realise, a lot of their responsibility is in providing a real example that aspiration isn't just a word and that they do believe their own story.
Rather than just talking BS and running cost plus social agendas, that the taxpayer funds with no hope of accessing the benefits, but funding the failures.
I would like to think the Whyalla works is a perfect opportunity to develop a real world test bed, to prove or disprove the hydrogen to green steel idea and there would be no reason an engineering development course wouldn't eventuate.
Well that's the end of the dream rant, let's see what happens.
 
@sptrawler dreams are made of something and hopefully this one might come to something, other than the tax payers dollars going down the usual gurgler.
 
farmerge said:
@sptrawler dreams are made of something and hopefully this one might come to something, other than the tax payers dollars going down the usual gurgler.
Click to expand...
At least with this one, it should get bipartisan support, because it is in both sides best interest.
Whether the green hydrogen feedstock is supplied by renewables or nuclear, doesn't make any difference, but if the existing steelworks can be utilised to develop a new technology and give career paths and value adds to our iron ore, it is money well spent.
Rather than the ridiculous amount of money that has been thrown at education in the past, which has lead to nowhere other than an ever failing education system and very little career opportunities in manufacturing and value adding industries.
Remember the catch cry of 15 years ago, "all jobs in the future will be IT jobs and will require all our children to go to university", yeh well how did that work out?
 
@sptrawler The end result. Over educated with near on useless degrees in basically nothing and un-employable.
 
Off topic, but that is a terrific thing to do SP. Money well spent.
 
farmerge said:
@sptrawler The end result. Over educated with near on useless degrees in basically nothing and un-employable.
Click to expand...
Also a disenfranchise younger generation of kids, that think they really haven't much hope so are 17 years old finished year 12 and struggling to find something that fits with their age and aspirations.
They are really too old to start an apprenticeship, because the wages are low and they are at an age where girls, cars and going out are becoming high priorities.

Also helping you put up fencing in Gidgee isn't on their want to do list, easier to stay at home and lower the outgoings to chicks and cars.
 
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