I bumped into a former Philosophy student. He works at Bunnings during extended breaks from his University course. He was studying Education, but transferred across to Food guidance - I can’t think what it’s called right now. Dietician stuff. We spoke for a while and I ranted about the need for education to bloody wake up and begin to transition into the 21st Century - one in which AI is most definitely going to make a hell of a lot of people unemployed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing - provided we think about developing a society of hamlets where people are self sustaining and celebrate living instead of making money. Because as stupid as that sounds friends - it’s the future.
Reading Ken Robinson’s book Creative Schools - written in 2016 -it’s always upsetting to read common sense, and then look at the landscape that’s just…a bunch of glassy eyed politicians beholden to Big Corporations that could give a damn about the Common Good and would rather make generations worth of money during their time in power.
I was disappointed that even (insert name here), our local representative, wouldn't take very seriously the interference taking place from Silicon Valley where every student needed to bring their own laptop to school (mandatory at a local public High School)- whereupon they are not educated to use it. A fact that one of the providers of said laptops actually expressed dismay and frustration over. Students are even encouraged to get a $150 stylus and there is absolutely no occasion to use it.
I’m not even addressing the central crisis of education. Namely that it caters to less than 20% of the population.
Here’s a line from an article entitled “Top of the WA Class: Private Schools dominate rankings again”
“Education authorities this year refused to release details of the median ATAR achieved by students in each school, which previously formed the basis of school rankings in WA.
After 15 years of releasing an annual league table, the school Curriculum and Standards Authority decided it would no longer compile a top 50 list based on median rank scores, because of concerns that some schools were counseling students out of ATAR subjects to improve their ranking.” (13 January 2023)
Then in the comments section Tony Buti (that's whose photo heads this rant) the new education minister… wonders aloud about the concerning decline in students not doing ATAR, because they worry it’s too hard.
That’s right.
It’s their fault for being lazy. Something The West Australian picks up on in Saturdays paper: Rise of Gen Easy. target audience: BOOMERS and people with a reading age of 8. But hey, these people vote so it matters what they're reading.
Nothing to do with the fact that the West Australian Newspaper has been dutifully carrying out execution orders by publishing a Top Fifty school list - where schools actively move students around the board in order to bolster their performance - and then crow about it when they appear to do well.
But let me get this straight (public or private - but my giddy aunt, the money thrown down by parents going to private schools!!!!) - parents are paying all this money to give their children an education and admin are quietly removing them if they are not guaranteed of getting above a C grade. No one had the courage to stand up to the system. Ultimately parents would peruse the West Australian in order to go shopping around for the best results. So they unwittingly only have themselves to blame. Stupid citizens being duped by Neo Liberal Politicians who only care about producing Lawyers and Doctors.
And we’re not even talking about the fact that in years 7 through to 10 students are encouraged to bring their own device and then, in Year 11 they’re expected to begin writing academic pieces of writing with little experience. I wonder why all those students are choosing not to do ATAR?
AND THAT’s not even mentioning streaming in Year 5, 7 and 9 - all with the aim to farm students out to General Pathway classes - their sights firmly set on Tafe - and good luck when you get to tafe because the standards as far as writing and information processing are fairly high. Go inquire about how many students drop out of courses at Tafe (spoiler: it’s about 50%).
Okay. Incoherent rant over.
