Well, this is a good news story!
And one we need encourage, with all possible means, to continue to continue!
Rhrosty.

Great news and a great article, Joe. Hope to see more of like it.

Something tells me that this a deceiving & inaccurate report to con more funding out of some ignorant senior bureaucrat. It needs to be looked into for accuracy.

Thank you Rhosty and SPQR, that makes it all worthwhile :)

Individual,

Try to find one single inaccuracy, be my guest. If you want the full database, just email me on: joelane94@hotmail.com

It's all there.

Why is it that people can't get their head around Indigenous success ? It won't stop, you know - Indigenous people will keep coming to university, they will keep graduating. Fifty thousand by 2020.

What might be the implications for Indigenous society, for Indigenous policy, and for the fundamental re-working of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people ?

Quite traumatic, isn't it :)

Joe
www.firstsources.info

Joe, I dont at all doubt the figures, I just question how "indigenous" some of these people are, and what type of circumstances they live in. If they possess only a small amount of indigenous blood and grew up in a town or suburb with the same access to educational facilities as non indigenous kids then I don't consider the figures an accurate picture of indigenous achievement. It's like health statistics. The huge number of healthy, middle class, barely indigenous distorts the picture of indigenous health.

I would prefer to see figures based upon students who do not have the same access to education as most Australian kids, or suffer discernible disadvantage due to their obvious aboriginality. Unfortunately I already know what rural and remote education is like for these kids. Truancy levels are at an all time high. Indigenous leaders are desperarely trying to get kids into school, and failing magnificently.

40 years ago, all indigenous kids in the North went to school, because if they didn't they had the priest or minister knocking on the door wanting to know why. Those in missions had no choice. No school, no food. The only ones who missed out were those whose parents worked on stations and if the managers wife didn't take an interest in the kids, then frequently they got no schooling.

I totally understand your interest in indigenous education and your excitement in these figures, but from where I am standing I see a massive failure in even getting the kids to school. It's not the kids' fault, or the education dept. It's the lack of parental sense of responsibility and lack of understanding of the consequences of being uneducated.

Many people, both black and white are trying to solve the problem. I can only hope they find a solution soon, because literacy levels today here are worse than they were 40 years ago.

Thanks Joe,

Along the lines of what Big Nana asked, do you think that it is the choice to live in rural/remote areas, without access to quality education and jobs is the major problem here.

Personally I don't see that the "aboriginality" or the amount of "aboriginal blood" (people still say this?) would have any significant effect on outcomes compared to other factors such as upbringing, socio -economic status, or access to resources.