Another IPA type clone---though more sophisticated in her use of language.
The real question is do ANY of us make any real sense or even begin to understand this TV created "world" described in this essay.
Perhaps we should all re-read and study the work of Marshall McLuhan and his famous phrase THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE.

And do any of us (let alone the CIS/IPA clones) really understand what its consequences are for our individual and collective health, and for the future of life on this planet. And how imperial wars of conquest against Iraq, and the inevitable trashing of the entire planet, are an inevitable "necessity" to keep the whole shebang functioning
Michael Leunig's cartoon in the Age today sums it up very well.

This is a shocking indictment of the continuing insistence by some people to keep a group of Australians sick, poor and ignorant in isolated communities.

The people responsible for the traversty are white dogooders, gutless governments and high profile aboriginal 'leaders'.

I think the girls should read Marshall McLuhan for themselves and make up their own minds about society.

I was literally speechless after reading this article. Do we have any schooling oversight? If we do have oversight the people overseeing these schools in our outback should be sacked. How many children in Australia are being disenfranchised like these children? I need some facts and would like to be pointed in the right direction. Thankyou.

Thank you for this concrete example of how difficult the educational task is. And this girl was lucky! She had parents who had some appreciation of the importance of education and wider experience. It would be very useful to hear more about what motivated them to seek education for their child. If all parents were clamouring for better education for their kids it would help the abysmal situation. So how were these parents different?

Your description of the socio/cultural issues that stand inbetween these girls and their aspirations to be teachers and clerks is very clear. Similarly, many Australians are blocked by the failure of their class or experience to prepare them better to achieve their ambitions - often the blocks are not perceived so clearly as the ones you have outlined.

For thirty five years, a range of experimental policies have been tested against Aboriginal people in remote settlements, and it appears that none of them have worked. Too bad, but what the heck, those people are remote and dispensable anyway, so the policy makers seem to think.

But no, they are human beings with full human rights, to opportunity, prosperity and security. It's not just a few educational authorities who should be put up against a wall, but a whole (now propserous and no doubt urban-based) policy makers who should be.

But meanwhile, down in southern cities, the urban Indigenous population has been seizing opportunities and conquering the heights of 'Western' ecucation: more than twenty two thousand Indigenous people have now graduated from universities around Australia, with another eleven hundred new graduates each year. By 2020, it is possible that there could be more than fifty thousand Indigenous university graduates. There's a phrase that you don't see often.

We desperately need courageous and committed researchers like Professor Hughes to blow the lid on the catastrophe that has been developing in remote northern settlements. It is to the shame of the so-called Left (of which I count myself), and people such as HoHum, and Nugget Coombs, that they have tried to sweep the legacy of their brilliant policies under the carpet, rather than contemplate admitting that they were disastrously wrong, admitting to the damage that has been done to human beings in their search for the Noble Savage and the idyllic hunter-gatherer life, and getting out of the way. The unholy alliance of smug Left, careerist academics and corrupt organisations has almost destroyed a proud people.