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The Forum > Article Comments > Education: are we getting value for money? > Comments

Education: are we getting value for money? : Comments

By John Töns, published 31/8/2011

In an ideal world education systems produce well educated misfits who are capable of looking at our society with a jaundiced critical eye.

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Hi Peter, I love you too : )
Posted by Squeers, Thursday, 8 September 2011 7:28:44 PM
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Hey, Peter...regarding "personal insults". I've never referred to anyone on this forum as "you fool" or an "idiot" - but I know someone who indulges in that line of rhetoric semi-regularly on OLO.

Oh look!, you did it again of page 11.
Posted by Poirot, Thursday, 8 September 2011 9:01:20 PM
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Hare Krishna
"Four legs good, two legs bad"
Might is right
The state is god
Baaaaaaaaah.
Posted by Peter Hume, Thursday, 8 September 2011 10:38:24 PM
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"I've never referred to anyone on this forum as "you fool" or an "idiot"

No, you only advocate they be bashed into submission to make them comply with your opinion which you cannot justify except by personal argument and circularity.
Posted by Peter Hume, Thursday, 8 September 2011 10:45:17 PM
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Peter, in fairness, I do hold the view that we as a society should support those who are incapable of doing so, whether temporarily for reasons of loss of employment, or permanently through some form of impairment. Think of it as a social insurance policy. Anybody may be struck by the finger of fate and the whacking great machete it's wrapped around. Social structures should exist in one form or another to support those so afflicted.

However, I think it's pretty obvious from mollydukes's contributions here that she is in no way unable to contribute. She is lucid, assertive, well-read, well able to prosecute her claims in discussion. She is, in short, able to contribute and she should not be exempted from that obligation if she expects the benefit of the social support structures.

I have a relative who was diagnosed in his 40s with MS. He is a computer systems analyst by profession. While he is unable to maintain a regular schedule, he is quite able to contribute on a consultancy basis to work in his field and does so. At the same time, on occasion he is so incapacitated that he requires hospitalisation and always requires full-time care. He exhausted his own funds some time ago and his insurance isn't adequate for his needs, so he uses the public system, but he isn't drawing unemployment benefits.

I have great admiration for the way he's handled himself, as he was on a fast-track for a very senior role in an iconic multi-national firm and he is now reduced to living in a care facility with support from his aging parents, all in the space of about 8 years. I haven't heard him whinging about how badly off he is though.

Quite a big difference from the way some go on.

Instead of allowing people to slip into a non-productive handout victimhood, we must encourage greater self-sufficiency. We hand out an enormous part of our national budget to support what are essentially lifestyle decisions in many cases.
Posted by Antiseptic, Friday, 9 September 2011 6:16:02 AM
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Peter Hume,

"No, you only advocate that they be bashed into submission to make them comply with your opinion...."

Gawd! - you can talk. It's not as if you don't bang on interminably on your pet subject.

Peter, I don't give a toss whether you buy my line of reasoning or not. I do, however, have a right to put my views across, as do we all.

You don't have to "comply" with anything I or anyone else says....this is an opinion forum, not a re-education gulag.

Antiseptic,

Well balanced and sensible reasoning in your last post.
Posted by Poirot, Friday, 9 September 2011 8:11:51 AM
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