Realist,

What you present is a survival tool kit that has little to do with literacy or numeracy.

We have our fair share of Entrepreneurs – very few are well educated. Our jails are full of them.

I think you are confusing the issues here. This is not about how best to survive in the marketplace but the self respect of our nation as a worldwide player.

Following my previous post I am more indignant about your (and Australia's) order of priority.

Think again

Steady on Realist old chap, there's no need to go overboard here. The first of the three Rs is under discussion, not Utopian Education Inc.

>>We need.... [a n]ational program for mothers for pre school age children...<<

The very last thing we really need is another "national program". When was the last time we had a successful social engineering experiment on this scale? Never? I thought so.

>>Subjects introduced alongsid maths and english, including:

Property<<

That's hilarious.

What kind of subject is "property", what would you teach, and who would you get to teach it? Maybe one of those get-rich seminar spruikers could put a curriculum together for you.

And anyway, how would you make it relevant to kids, whose idea of the sources and destination of finance are mum's purse and Halo 3, respectively?

>>Business<<

Given that the closest most teachers (and politicians) get to the grubby world of commerce is reading about it in the newspapers, this concept doomed from the start. Anyone who remotely understands how a business becomes successful is already working the 60+ hours a week necessary to make it so in the face of persistent government interference.

>>Leveraging<<

Now there's an idea. Get the CEOs of Australian Banks, whose companies collectively earn $2,000 in net profit taken directly from the after-tax earnings of every employed Australian, to explain to our kids why credit is bad. And get Kerry Packer to do the same for gambling, why doncha?

>>Retirement<<

Now that's a classic. Even today, the ability to retire and remain financially stable is restricted to well-pensioned public servants and politicians. By the time our kids grow up, they will have to work till they drop.

Maybe things could improve if we had fewer folk talking about teaching, and more folk actually doing it.

I think we need to get parents more involved with their children's education at home.With middle class families it probably happens naturally with bedtime stories,but with others they may be more consumed with clubbing,drinking and gamboling.

Perhaps we should be re-educating the parents,since they are the most influential beings in their children's lives.If parents don't see the value in education,how the hell can their children even know where to start?

Education will become even more important since China and India will produce all our manufactured goods and we will have to compete in higher skilled and technologically advanced industries.

Over the last 35yrs we as a society have taken too many soft options and only now are beginning to realise the price.

The problem with our education system today, is that it is designed by teachers, for teachers. The avoidance of any form of realistic testing is DESIGNED to make it impossible to identify, & weed out the incompetent teachers, of which there are all to many. That & a "career structure" for teachers which means hundreds of them are sitting in an office some where, pumping out rubish, to justify their existence.
I had 2 kids, both wanting science degrees, who went through senior physics with a teacher who's english was so poor, that neither could understand her. 3/4 of the classes were getting private coaching, & the rest, who's parents did not understand, had no chance. One of them had a foreign qualified senior maths B & C teacher who could not do junior algebra. More coaching. They were not allowed to bring home any test papers,when they did any, for us to see their weaknesses, & help, as, we found, they had been using the same test for 3 years, & wanted to keep it to use again,& again, & again. Less work that way.
When you consider that this is how the top 5% of a 1750 pupil school were treated, it does not take much imagination to realise the quality offered to the rest.

Pericles,

You are living in the real world right?

Your comments were one of an non informed person.

I will start from the top:

'National Program' comments. It would give parents added tools to help teach their child. How is that terrible? The alternative is giver them nothing and create a social divide from pre school as is emerging. Very intelligent and informed Pericles.

Property:

The most valid subject of them all. What do you know about property? By the sounds you have not created any wealth from it. It is not my fault you did not use the power of property to secure your future. a garbageman can become a millionaire by investing in property, and its proven concepts. Give them the knowledge to create wealth and let them make their choices, dont impeed them. Misery loves company, but at least let your children understand the basic principles that make up the core of every families wealth.

Your Business Comments:
Teachers are not good at it, but dont be a narky person because you pay tax and others avoid it. You CHOOSE to pay tax. You choose not to understand how to reduce and nullify your tax. You should not be paying tax, or be paying very little. But you discourage this. You discourage our children from having this knowledge. Again, misery loves company.

Now, for the best one of all, it has taken me three days to pull it together on this one! (to follow)

">>Retirement<<

Now that's a classic. Even today, the ability to retire and remain financially stable is restricted to well-pensioned public servants and politicians. By the time our kids grow up, they will have to work till they drop."

What world are you living in? We are in the information age. Retiring financially stable is done by thousands of Australians, because they planned for their retirement and in most instances, have accumulated property over time. Yes, most baby boomers will be living on a pension but the wisdom of creating wealth has been around for hundreds of years, the great thing now is that we all can do it, and for your children, if they had these tools that you obviously didnt, they wil get to choose retirement.

FYI, I finished school and went to university to study property, and now at 24 through acquired knowledge, retirement is already a choice for me now (if i want to live on modest means). Every child has the right to learn what i have to make a better future for yourself, you dont need money, you dont need this 4 years of study but you need to understand the power of leveraging.

Times have changed. We need to be robust and change with it. What i have stated above i put forward is just about the most important thing to learn. You can free yourself, and your children can actually create something for your family and the good of their children. It boils down to fundamentals:

What do you get educated for?

what do you work for?

The questions are different but the final answer is the same. And the above is what is needed to ensure the class system is taken out, and the wealthy dont just keep the knowledge. I have broken this barrier, so have other Australians. Let your child have a greater opportunity than you. It wont work? without this knowledge you have just sentanced your children to 60 years hard labour, with no parole.

Tell me it isnt needed?