Adventure Ausrama Blog

Nothing is being done to make national standardized examinations fair. To say an IQ test measures intelligence is a misnomer. A high score indicates that a person has mastered cultural values. The questions are based on what city people should know. Those in rural areas learn different norms of behavior.  ⎳ naplan a biased a against a With a rural a students a test australian metropolitan ⎳ School exams have the same bias. Standardization has gone against country students. A problem is obvious because outback children are a year behind the lucky ones living in metropolitan regions.  No wonder, travel to school takes much longer.   ⦿3 naplan b biased b against b With b rural b students b test ⦿3 Such questions as "Describe a day at the beach" are meaningless to students on a farm. Other irrelevancies are - "Write what you know about a train timetable". Young Aboriginals were far better in memorizing articles removed from a table than white Aussies. This sho...

Genetics: genetic predisposition makes girls or nboys good at maths. The money poured into education to encourage girls and more boys to study maths and science could be a waste.  Research on twins shows that numerical aptitude is 75 per cent genetic.  Either both twin children are good at dealing with numbers or both are not.  There is also a 50 per cent genetic predilection for writing skills. Despite parents helping their children with homework and the like, it had little influence on academic achievement.  Furthermore, teachers and the schools attended whether private or public had no impact.  Children took to maths or English according to their genetic makeup. It is not clear if teachers are evenly well trained so students are benefiting evenly across the nation.  However, this is clutching at straws.  We all remember the lazy, bad teachers who threw a chapter of a book at use to scribble the lesson away while he/she played around at th...

I do not often agree with Christopher Pyne on government policy, Dare I say, I have "never" been in favor of his hair-brained ideas until now. Indeed, I would take his latest plan even further. He is attempting to make maths and science compulsory for students in years 11 and 12. These two critical subjects should be part of the core curriculum in all years of school throughout primary and secondary education. I may say "When I was a lad..." Yet on this point I believe I have a solid foundation. When I was at school maths and science were for everyone. Advanced maths and science were only for those who proved themselves capable of effectively coping with the main subject areas. When my children were at high school there were five grades of maths in years 8 to 12. Many students, with their parents' guidance I may say, chose a level too high for them to cope with in the next year. This ruined their whole higher education. If one attempts a higher ...

More women are moving into academia every year. This is the overall picture. Some areas are still sparsely populated by women. Physics is such a sector of learning. Name a woman physicist - any woman! Few recognise that maths is easier for men, but this is true. There is something about the male hormone that creates this state. Just like women are better at using words. Notably female physics students at the University of Melbourne have admitted that most women do not have the capacity to master physics. There will always be a few exceptions. However, the reality is that generally, women find study in this specialty difficult. Many female students who try physics ultimately end up in chemistry. They do feel more comfortable there. The survey of first year females showed more than 50 per cent had a negative outlook of their chances of succeeding. This makes one wonder why they are in the course. However, some were studying physics as a requirement of other degree...

There is a reason more women are not in high income occupations. Let's face it the truth is the truth - most women do not have a mathematical mind. It is based on evolution where women developed social skills to collect berries and tubers. Men on the other hand had to hunt dangerous large animals and this needed calculating brains. Even today the sexes express their differences. More men choose university degrees in maths, engineering, technology and science. This where big money is earned. Humanities degrees especially the common or garden Bachelor of Arts will leave you in the unemployment line. Australians generally persist in studying for a BA despite all the statistics showing how weak this honor is. They know it is easy to get, but the easy way is not the best and more rational way. Just choosing a non-humanities degree is not that easy for females. A few have extremely good mathematical skills. They are at least equal to men. Most do not have the ment...

Many university students cannot do simple arithmetic or write a complete sentence. Without using spelling checkers, spelling is atrocious. This is because the school leaving test is overwhelmed by "choice" subjects. Oddly, English literature is preferred by many over plain English. Many history teachers cannot spell or understand correct grammar. They say they teach history not English. A large proportion of students have been accepted into university science and health when they have not done maths, i.e., applied arithmetic, in high school. The usual solution at university is to send you to the remedial teacher who throws up his hands and says you do not know the basics. Students usually go to or pay other students to correct their assignments before handing them in. The problem here is that examinations have to be passed though they have been brought down to the ridiculously low level of 10 per cent of the total subject mark. It has been made too easy to ge...

For many years it has been said that Australia lacks maths and science graduates. Maths teachers are in short supply we are told. Professor Ian Chubb, a chief scientist, certainly pushes this case. Unfortunately, data does not support this premise. Like qualified information technology people, maths and science graduates find the job market difficult. It seems there is real demand only in geological science. A little more than half of graduates say their qualifications are relevant to their work. They hold down jobs only in distantly related fields. One would think that with science and technology moving forward at a rapid pace such qualified people would be sorely needed. Employment in agricultural science is falling because young people are leaving rural towns and refuse to learn about farming. It is seen as glorified laboring. Getting a post-graduate qualification does not help to find work. Employers see higher degrees as narrowing educational scope. Government is cont...

Despite the widespread use of computers, Australia is not producing enough qualified computer specialists. Although the computer related economy is equal to mining, and the extractive industry is what is driving the Australian economy and keeping the dollar strong, too few young people are willing to study for employment in the digital industry. This is probably because everyone is a little computer "savvy" and most believe that there is not much more to learn. Of course this is a mistake. You may have a website and know a trick or two, but there is a barrier that you cannot jump over if you are to truly understand the whole area, unless you are a born computer geek where you soak up all the knowledge like a sponge. What academics fail to understand though is that computer study is very much like learning mathematics. Students are avoiding maths like the "plague" because there are much easier subjects to do. For example, English and History teachers are a ...