Did anyone happen to see Insight on SBS last night?

I hope to get a copy from a friend but Sarra was on there.

He had limited air time, as you would expect in such a large forum, but his comments were quite interesting.

Any comments?

2Deadly, Pardon me but please show me the evidence that attitudes of department staff and teachers have changed substantially?

Indeed, can anyone really qualitatively measure attitudinal changes?

My evidence tells me that only 5-8 Cherbourg students have graduated to the nearby Murgon High School over the past 6 years.

History has shown us that even with the best of intentions; systems fail because they simply do not critically examine or question the imposed jurisdiction over Indigenous people as being problematic.

ie, Prison gaurds may well be nice people but....

What are your deadly thoughts on this?

The idea of providing monetary incentives to Indigenous children to attend school is not new. I recall having first received fortnightly cheques of [at a rough guess] of $3:00 per fortnight in 1971 when i entered 1st year high school. Back then my emphasis was not so much on attending school for the money as the main incentive but more so because i was raised to believe that education increased my access to good jobs, and since then i have had many of these over the previous 35yrs. Now, in hindsight, i also see that education [and jobs] has empowered me to have more control over making lifstyle choices. It seems that the wheel has turned, here we go again, except that now the idea in its present form, money has become the main incentive.

Rainier,

I figure your 'evidence' comes from maybe someone on the ground and that is good to hear however I know the impact the success has had a few young people across the country. Let's wait a few years and see what happens with their lives.

Also, how do these 6-8 enrolment compare with the pre-Sarra era. I understand that no Cherbourg student every finished year 8 at Murgon so I guess the only way was up.

I guess some are happy to point at the low success rates while ignoring/comparing the extreme negative rates. Please remember that this success took place in a educational system that still lacks an Indigenous perspective so any success is often regarded as white by us Indigenous mob.

At least Sarra is instilling a respect for Indigenous knowledge, being and culture as well as mastery of the generic system.

2Deadly,

Yes those who have pointed toward the very minimalist success rate have blown this up this as a major shift (miracle?). The evangelical nature of Sarra’s media image as [a modern day Martin Luther King of Aboriginal education] hides the abysmal failure of the Education Queensland to deliver (through their system) equitable outcomes in education for our youth and children.

Couple this with the propensity of whites to embrace this miracle as evidence of ‘Aboriginal kids needing to become “strong and smart” (as a binary opposite of being weak and stupid) it merely
1. confirms the racial and cultural deficit thinking about us
2. appeases the white (and black middle class) moral panic and their need for a quick-fix absolution.
3. Assumes our kids don’t pride about themselves and their cultures, (another deficit pathology)

Finally, I see no evidence of Sarra instilling respect for Indigenous knowledge, being and culture. Unless, you are inferring a respect for the pan-Aboriginal, carnivalesque, tea-towel Aboriginality and culture? In other words, cultural articulations devoid of any authority to determine educational outcomes for our kids? Theres certainly plenty of this gammin stuff being trotted out as ‘culture’.

Yes I agree with Ranier.

There is a big difference between the improvement of a few token indicators from a white perspective (e.g. attendence rates) and an improvement in education standards from an Aboriginal perspective (e.g. elders involvement and cultural structures)

If there is anything to be learnt from this discussion and other public discussions of all things Aboriginal, it is that there are irreconcilable differences in agendas and perspectives of Aboriginal people and nearly everyone else. Similarly mainstream Australia seems not only to misunderstand Aboriginal perspective, but for some reason seems to resent it intensley.

It seems to me that indigenous education has to evolve more independent processes as the longer it is managed by white people, the longer the black agendas will be ignored.

White people dont understand, nor do they care except when it spills over into their lives. They are in no position to be dictatng terms for the education of Aboriginal children. Only Aboriginal people understand, and more importantly they are the only people who really do care for Aboriginal children.