Noel Pearson has an absolutely brilliant article in today's Australian:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/some-magic-bullets-for-education/story-e6frg6zo-1225846160455

Admittedly, there is not much symbolism in what he is proposing, but I'm sure that the teachers' union and other concerned white middle-class citizens can find ways to modify his proposals to ensure that their outcomes have had no practical value whatever by 2020 :)

Joe Lane
Adelaide

Rainier and Akam

I get it now ! I'm using the word 'academic' to refer to Indigenous staff at universities, lecturers and tutors, not to all 25,000 Indigenous university graduates. The Indigenous academics make up a thousand-strong elite, I guess, within the 25,000-strong graduate body.

That might clear up what you think is some weird contradiction in what I was saying. Sorry for the confusion.

But I'll stick by what I said: apart from some very dedicated staff working in Indigenous student support, I don't have much time for most of the rest, who would rather spend time working with non-Indigenous students rather than Indigenous students (on DEEWR's Indigenous student support money), and who in fact would rather not be teaching and tutoring at all, but doing 'research', and actually would rather not do that either if they can get on the international conference circuit and international committee gravy-train. Some of them. That's my get-out-of-jail card. I might need it, literally, if it ever becomes illegal to cast aspersions on the angelic nature of Indigenous academics.

Joe

Closing the gap is about dragging the european patriarchy which has inhabited Australia over
the past two centuries up to the standards of respect and sustainability of Aboriginal tradition.
the magic bullet is women's rights, from which all else proceeds.
readiness and attendance is achieved with parliament and corporate governance conducted by
agreement between women's and men's legislatures and committees.