Adventure Ausrama Blog

Single sex schools are bad for society. Despite excited parents claiming that putting children in single sex classes improves life outcomes, in reality this is far from the truth. Single sex schools, for example, foster gender stereotyping for girls as well as boys. An extremely large study on students in 21 countries found those in mixed sex schools fared better than those in single sex schools. The cultural outlook nurtured by SS schools damaged students for life. It is about time this silliness is stopped, and the fad is put to rest. The world is not made up of one sex. Indeed, there are multiple sexual categories today. Everyone has to fit into this world. Molding people to strongly identify with one category puts them at a disadvantage.  It is not the curriculum that does the damage: it is the socialization process. Narrowly adhering to things about one's own sex does not make for efficient interaction with both males and females in the workplace. Principal...

More jobs for the US economy. Globalization has failed. Countries are distinct cultures. Working life may be the same, but the values people live by are much different, particularly in regards to religion. Jobs have been lost in developed countries as so called developing countries keep labor costs down by manipulating their currencies and not giving their workers social welfare support. Americans want jobs A case in point is Australia's compulsory superannuation. This was a silly idea to begin with as companies went to the wall and workers lost all their super. This is a cost burden on wage costs. Employees must live now, so wages rose to leave enough current spending after paying in superannuation. This is seldom mentioned by economists let alone governments. Developing countries do not have this cost burden. No wonder Donald Trump is supported by a large slice of the American population. He promises to put up trade barriers to create jobs at home. His re...

It seems odd to me that Tony Abbott has not exempted Catholics from the new compulsory  vaccination law. The only church outside of the new regime is the Christian Science church. Scott Morrison the Social Services Minister tried to keep this a secret. He was stupid to think he could do this. Nothing is secret in politics! Any exemption is folly. People will be queuing up to join the church but never attend services just to get their children in school. There must be a back down on this decision. Just a letter from the church exempts children of members. Court cases are expected by followers of other churches. A court will allow exemption across the board because the decision is discriminatory. Health professionals say the new rules will not work because all children have a legal right to attend school. Can you imagine the uproar if parents just choose to take their children out of school and plant them in front of the TV? There are only 1,400 Christian Scien...

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...

There isn't much doubt that the bonus scheme for teachers will not work. Like the mystique of "time and motion" where the claim is made that human productivity is linear and is an increasing curve, it's a pipe dream! Machinery can only be speeded up so much before parts start flying off in all directions and everything shuts down for maintenance. Furthermore, when task are done too quickly a lot of "non-size" rubbish is produced. While output in some industry can be improved, for paper carriers such as teachers this is virtually impossible. Some teachers are better than others and for the main part this is innate: it is not learned and never can be. The only measurement is the quality of students that are lucky enough to be taught by them. Even then, tying down the factors that do improve matters is not easy to identify. Usually. students have an affinity with a teacher; thus they are prepared to work harder. It is not the teacher who is putting in m...

Most people don't attend church, synagogue or mosque yet Nations pander to those who hold religious beliefs with outdated ceremonies. It seems one hasn't the right not to believe in anything other than accepting the fact that humans live and die. Ron Williams tried to send his children to a school that taught all religions but also taught secularism. He couldn't find one. Schools identified with one faith and virtually condemned all others. He saw requests for gold coins to fund scripture union classes as offensive and something he wasn't going to give. Indeed, chaplains seemed to be at war with teachers over the minds of students. What he found most difficult of all to accept was that the government was already partially funding Access Ministries which were "transforming the nation for God." Adolf Hitler tried similar brain washing systems to control the Hitler Youth. What is driving the wads of cash? All political parties need the support of the chu...

According to the NSW government, ethics is the nearest thing to religion. There is an admission here that religion somehow dictates the mode of behavior in adulthood. In centuries past this was most definitely true. You have only to read the accounts of people who were at deaths door, like being adrift at sea in a boat, to perceive that life after death was paramount in people's thinking. Not going to hell was also important. Teaching ethics as an alternative to religious education in schools seems to be a logical option. Next year the NSW government will allow parents to choose secular ethics as a subject for their children instead of religion. Some would argue that religion does not really teach people how to behave in society. It is more important than that. Believing in God is paramount, not how one behaves toward his/her fellow Man. Behavior is secondary to being submissive to God. The problem with ethics is the supposition that there is a correct way of social interaction. St...