Same old same old. Aborigines need ‘incentives’ to better themselves and more money. As if a better life is not enough incentive for them to seek education.

More money for ABSTUDY without means testing means further expansion of the handout mentality, which typifies the relationship between indigenous Australians and the rest of us.

The rest of Mr. Hagan’s article is also more of the same: talking about himself, and insulting the dreadful white man.

What a bore!

Why Traditional Education Is Not THE Solution

Let's be precise: traditional, formal, individual education is not THE solution for disadvantaged communities.

Formal, individual education can and does improve fate of individuals.

But if applied alone, it would have only limited positive and even some detrimental impact on communities.

The critical feature of traditional, formal path of education and socio-economic progress is that those people from disadvantaged groups, which were able to gain education, are not able to find use for their skill in the community, nor motivation to do it.

As the result, the brightest and most entrepreneurial individuals are leaving their communities further draining their limited pool of skills and talents.

It does not mean that formal education should be abandoned. Not at all. But it needs to be coupled with community-based economic development programs.

For example, there are ten aboriginal kids from Cairns area with interest in architecture.

Traditionaly, he (or she) goes to study to Brisbane finishes uni and looks for a job.

Most likely eight out of ten would not be able to go and study. Only one of two would suceed and would become architects.

Where? In Sydney or Brisbane.

Result: 9 kids frustrated, hating the world and likely to go into perpetuating cycle of substance abuse, poverty and crime.

If, however, we create also a community based construction project for the Cairns area the story may be different.

Now, the eight kids could start with intermediary jobs: being carpenters, plumbers and draftsman. Some of them would continue education and progress later.

Out of our two uni students the drop-out can work on the community project and come back to uni after a year or two of work.

The 'successful' kid might come too back and work with the community...

This way we would have
a) four kids – architects and six trades people
b) a very different community attitude. Instead of jealousy and suspicion of looking down at the community we would have appreciation, and cooperation…
c) tangible benefits within the community
d) much wider availability of role models...

Paul
www.creativewinwin.com

Well said. Domestic violence is certainly not isolated to indigenouc communities. Child abuse is is certainly not isolated to indigenouc communities. Yet Howard the "dog whistler" uses every opportunity to reinforce racial stereotypes and implies that it is.

More of the good news from indigenous communities (and there is a lot of it) would be useful to redress the balance. Don't expect it to come from the Murdoch press or the shock jocks of course or most of the right wing dominated media in Australia.

I have often been struck by the common proposition that people with low pay/status jobs all have the potential to improve their lot with increased effort, particularly in the areas of education and retraining. This implies that their current circumstance, and intrinsic low level of reward, is deserved because it is due to their lack of effort.

This ignores a fundamental fact in the structure of our society and that is that our society is specialized into different work tasks. If our society needs 3% of workers to be cab drivers then 3% of workers will be cab drivers. If it requires 4% of workers to be cleaners then 4% will be cleaners. If it requires 1% to be doctors then 1% will be doctors and so on. It is simply not possible for everyone to be doctors, lawyers, employers, etc. Everyone cannot be in the top layers of the pyramid no matter how much effort, training, education, etc is applied. All that can happen is that we will have more 'architects driving cabs' than we have now, I know a woman with a PhD in Ethics who works as a telemarketeer – this makes for more dissatisfaction not less.

The only way to truly improve the lot of people with low pay/status jobs is to improve the pay/status of those jobs because in this specialized type of society those jobs; cleaners, process workers, labourers, etc will always be there and in more or less stable numbers

Rob wrote:
> This ignores a fundamental fact in the structure of our society and that is that our society is specialized into different work tasks. If our society needs 3% of workers to be cab drivers then 3% of workers will be cab drivers. If it requires 4% of workers to be cleaners then 4% will be cleaners.

this is true only to some extent:
a) society does not need 10 or 15% unemployed,
b) with creativity we can change clearners' jobs to cleaning machinery operators and reduce % of cleanres from 4% to 2%;
your Ph.D. friend (I know) such as weel may come-up with a good business idea and create -for instance a multilingual day-care centre and become an owner/manager...

there are limits, but the cake can be made bigger as well...

Paul

www.creativewinwin.com

Ah yes, Rob513264, but our society needs to believe that the disadvantaged are there only due to their own <insert blame factor x here>, and not because of any structural or systemic factors beyond their control or, heaven help us, to which we ourselves contribute.

Granted, there are many things all of us can do to improve our lot in life. Granted, many people's lifestyle reflects choices they have made.

But it's just too disturbing for some to understand that, in many cases, it wouldn't matter how hard people try, or how much effort they put in, many of us have to run at 100%, just to stand still. For that would challenge the myth about the fair go egalitarian Australia we keep hearing so much about, and which so many hold as an article of faith.

And don't they just repond with venom if you dare to suggest that maybe it ain't so.

Much easier to simply mouth off some platitudes about "personal responsibility" and "why don't they get a job", and then go back to smug, self-satisfied sleep.