Freethinker (ironic title)

Our discussion is going backwards. You fail to read nor understand my opinion so it is redundant to conitue wasting my time (remember the life expectancy point?)...

To summarise:
An Indigenous Australian is telling you his thoughts and you are continuing to reply with shallow, ignorant feelings of a better country.
As a Native Hawaiian friends says to racists who continually refuse to listen to reason, "I'll see you when you get 'there'. "There" is where you respect the ownership and perspective of Indigenous Australians. "There" is where you stop seeing what a few receive and look at the stats of the many. "There" is where you see your own un-urned privileges and those denied to Indigenous Australians.

"There" is a place I hope you reach but sadly like so many others, ignorance is a comfortable existance that is guilt free and soothing.

I won't bother to reply any further. Pity though, you needed saving...

Yes africa is a lot of nations. The point I was making is that cultures other than English have made it into the modern world too and there is nothing particularly English about the modern world.

The basis of white superiority is the illusion that English culture is more advanced than other cultures and that others need to assimilate into the superier culture for their own advancement. This is as relevent to this discussion today as it was when Joseph Banks said the backward Aboriginal race were dying out because they were not adapting.

The truth is Aboriginal disadvantage, whether in education or anywhere else is a result of the imposition of a colonial society and the destruction of indigenous society, not cultural retardation.

In 1788 Aboriginal people had invented aerodynamics, well beyond Da-Vinci and his theories, the boomerang had been around for a long time, with a much more sophisticated aerofoil than anything the English could come up with until the 20th century.

Same with health care, indigenous healers had refined systems over thousands of years based on the connections between physical and psychological health, while the English were still playing with leaches. In 1788 the English had just discovered the importance of vitamin C and fresh fruit and vegies for health.

China has been using accupuncture and "chi" for thousands of years and today they have incorporated these things into a modern hospital and public health care system. The English medicine system still says "chi" does not exist.

The English have only just discovered ecology recently, yet it is the ancient basis of Aboriginal culture.

It seems to me that, if Aboriginal culture and institutions were allowed to thrive instead of being told to fit in to English structures, the development of these indigenous systems and knowledge would be of great help in evolving the understandings and problem solving capacity of us all. The dominant English culture has much to learn from other cultures if only it allowed cultural difference to be an assett, not a problem to be fixed.

Okay, throw more money at the problem.

I can understand, but am disappointed by 2deadly's withdrawal from this debate. It seems there is a willingness to throw explosive grenade like comments into the discussion, without then having the solid information to back it up. My questions to hamlet, arising directly from his comments still generally remain unanswered. I would like to hear more, not less, from 2deadly - and more from any of the other indigenous people watching and commenting on this topic.

People need the ability to choose and create the nature of school and education they want, that supports young, and all people, to prepare for life as independent, self reliant, effective adults in a democratic Australian society. This can happen in ways not generally on offer from the aged and worn out dominant paradigm of education as it is now forced on people (established at a time to develop compliant, subservient people who could take orders and directions without their meaningful and beneficial input). There are people who see and want changes, and 2deadly, rainier and king canute have reflected on this.

The answer is not paying people to do things they would not otherwise choose to do, but reimagining and reinventing or creating educational models and schools that fit peoples' needs, within an Australian democratic context. The continuing trend of people to move away from public education demonstrates that they are after better things. This is what it ought to be what democracy's all about - being free to make real, not ridiculously limited choices, with respect (including tolerance), and accepting personal responsibility for the outcomes, in an environment which is just, fair and equitable and where we learn to trust others, but maintaining our identity, individuality and independence, so there is an ability to contribute meaningfully and co-operatively with others.

We lack the ability to invest the venture capital that can enable new directions in education to develop - innovative US Schools are benefitting from investments by the Gates Foundation. Where are the risk takers in Australia?

Regards, Derek Sheppard

I don't know if more money is the answer - but I do like the idea of payments for school being based on attendance at school. It is not enough to be enrolled in school - you actually have to go there if it is going to do you any good!

Chris Sarra, principal of Cherbourg State School, brought in some radical policy changes when he arrived at the school. He reduced truancy and unexplained absenteeism dramatically. Unsurprisingly, literacy and numeracy improved dramatically too. But he didn't pay kids to go to school.

It is interesting that the same old line comes up - that Aboriginal people should leave their communities and move to the big smoke where they can find a job. But is the life of an Aboriginal person living in Redfern or Inala any better than one in Doomadgee? Apparently not.

One thing is certain - education is empowerment. Whatever strategies improve education get my vote. And whatever strategies allow the preservation of some of the finer elements of Aboriginal communities while making them economically and socially viable get my vote, too.

I will admit that this is pie-in-the-sky, idealist stuff. I don't have the answers and I am not an expert. But I don't think giving up on the problem - making Aboriginal people more white - is the answer.

"Chris Sarra, principal of Cherbourg State School, brought in some radical policy changes when he arrived at the school. He reduced truancy and unexplained absenteeism dramatically. Unsurprisingly, literacy and numeracy improved dramatically too. But he didn't pay kids to go to school."

My information suggests he did introduce a reward system based on his strong and smart "philosophy" (or was it form of cultist faddsihism with devotion to or veneration for a person?)

Despite all the media spin no one has set eyes on the actual imperial evidence of the Cherbourg miracle -aka literacy and numeracy stats - and everyone knows you can fudge attendance and attrition rates.

Am I being nasty? I don't think so. What truly urks me most is that State (i.e. Qld) governments continue to create diversions (such as the Sarra (Truman) Show) from addressing their fundamental failure to deliver equitable outcomes in education for Indigenous children and communities.

I say state governments (whose primary responsibility it is to provide education) should urgently re-appraise their continued failures as a systemic issue, not a community issue.

Sure parents should be held accountable. But perhaps it’s their (state government's) approach to schooling in remote communities that needs to be drastically reconsidered?

Rewards, throwing more money or more fiddling at the periphery will not change what is inherently now an intergenerational failure of successive state governments to comprehend the role of education (for all) in communities that were initially established as gulags for Indigenous people.

Bandaids, bandaids and yet more bandaids will not cure what is essentially the legacy of colonialism and its impact on first nations peoples.