Liz,
I think that aboriginal parents would know if their children are not at school. They could easily see this from the school report card (and if they were all that concerned then the parents could also check that their children are still at school by contacting the school during the day).

But I certainly hope that aboriginal education does not go the same way as aboriginal health, where billions were spent for no gain.

I think it is at the stage where aboriginals have to learn to help themselves, and not rely on the rest of society to provide for them.

HRS

Poverty stricken people do not own telephones.

Liz,
There have been immigrants who have came to Australia from many different countries and many of those immigrants could hardly speak English and hardly had any money. Now many of them are quite wealthy. They possibly have a phone within arms reach at all times.

One of the ways they have become wealthy is to educate themselves and have their children educated also, and they did not educate their children by not sending them to school.

Liz
They are poverty sticken because they choose to be. Indigenous Australians get the same amount of welfare as white Australians. I know many elderly people (in their 70s and 80s) on welfare (with no superannuation) who provide for themselves on a pension and have telephones. The only difference is they pay their bills on time and don't smash their telephones.

HRS

There are many immigrants who have done extremely well in Australia, and who educated themselves. There are also many who have not. Where people come from in the world, what age they arrived at, how closely their first language is related to English, how literate they were in their first language, what educational opportunities are afforded them before and after arrival... all these factors will contribute to how literate they become in English. There's no better race than the other.

Jackson

I don't think many Indigenous 70 year olds would trash a telephone. That's something Indigenous youths do, just like white youths. Same sort of reckless behaviour occurs in ghetto type settlements, regardless of the colour of the inhabitants.

Come to think of it, there's not many 70-yr-old Indigenous people. They tend to die 20 years earlier than us.

Liz,
If someone doesn’t send their children to school then of course there is going to be a poverty cycle. That is one of the reasons why there are schools. To avoid poverty cycles.

I thought you would have taught you that in teacher’s training college.