Come to think of it, there is no big deal in people attending universities these days, given the useless degrees they are selling people who can barely read and write, following their equally useless time at state schools, with teachers like the idiot at Woodville High (Adelaide) who Facebooked that she was going to ensure that none of her pupils would ever vote Liberal because of her brainwashing. She even embarrassed her own commissars who, like all communists, like to white-ant society as quietly as possible. Her sort of trashy teachers were out in red shirts in front of parliament, bellowing their intention to go on strike this Thursday because they have been denied some demand or other that interests them more than the job they are supposed to be doing.

People like Joe are punting for university attendance for their favourite people only so that they can be further brainwashed into being an even bigger nuisance to society than they are now.

The first important fact in this is that attaining year 12 actually means nothing these days, except as proof that you attended school for 12 years. Unlike in my day when you did exams and were given a score on your year 10 certificate ( A,B,C,D,F) these days everyone gets a certificate whether they are literate or not.
As Joe says, many city aboriginal kids are now attending Uni and a good percentage are gaining a degree, but very few in the areas that are needed, and those who do become doctors , nurses, lawyers etc. never work remote.
I will never forget my first experience with a Sydney born and raised so called aboriginal doctor, from a well known family, who came to Darwin to gain experience. Not only was she a poor doctor, but she was frightened by traditional people and had absolutely no idea how to communicate with them, or any idea of their life styles. She had to constantly get help from the old nurses.
TBC

The reality in the north is different, and not just for indigenous kids. The standard of education is lower than in the cities, for all kids, because teachers try to cater to those who come to school unprepared and with poor communication skills and can’t allow the curriculum to be too advanced or a high percentage of their class will fail. This leaves the brighter kids doing work below national standards. I’m currently doing maths catch up with a grandchild and have really noticed the difference.
The other problem we have up here is the lack of motivation for aboriginal kids to get higher education because they are surrounded by countrymen inJobs paying $60,000 $70,000 per year without having any formal education qualifications at all. Or even experience in the area. I have a niece earning $70,000 as a project officer developing nursing manuals for health workers in the largest aboriginal health organisation in the Kimberley and she doesn’t have a single day of health training! And they wonder why indigenous health is not improving at the rate required.

Big Nana,

Your experiences are always are always interesting and much more valuable than those of the politically motivated twits on OLO.

Hi Joe,

I was raised in a small community (village) in the Orange/Wellington district of NSW, maybe two or three hundred in the district. A small locality, with two shops, post office, one room primary school, two churches, gotta have churches and a railway station, with a station master and assistant, even a tennis court, a pub not to far up the line, and a couple of dozen houses scatted about. People mostly worked on sheep properties or for the railways. Good little locality, it was a thriving close knit community you could say. Idyllic life for us kids.
One by one things went, farms got bigger with less hands, the railway cut back. The two old sisters who ran the PO all their life died, so the post office closed. The steam trains were replaced by diesel, passenger services stopped, station staff had long gone, eventually the timber station was demolished. It all went, shops, churches, school, even the tennis court, and sadly the people went as well. I suppose that is how thing evolve.

A community does not have to exist in isolation, we have a strong Maori community here in Brisbane, as we did in Sydney, based on my wife's hapu/iwi, but including others as well. Keeping in contact, socialising, supporting each other in times of need/crises, advice/giving etc. The family bond is extremely strong, when we moved in we were flooded with offers of help. The other day a nephew died in NZ, a niece needed to return home for the tangi, without question koha (gift) was given, wife chucked in $200, and niece was on the next plane back to NZ. All done the traditional way through Messenger and Facebook, with the traditional bank transfer required. (Joe, you know what I mean by nephews/nieces).

Friday, a nephew aged about 25, rang "Aunty" to seek approval, he and his partner have just had their first child, a boy, nephew needed Aunties approval to allow their family name to be hyphenated with the mothers family name on the birth certificate, not by law, but by tradition.

Ttbn,

I take offence as being called 'politically-motivated'. Never mind.

Yes, there is a hell of a long way to go, but the point I was trying to make was that, sooner or later, simply to keep their heads above water, everybody has to get a decent education, Indigenous people, migrants, refugees, right-handers - yes, given the corruption and croneyism and familism in Indigenous organisations, no-work, no-skill jobs seem to be abundant - but (as many people have been complaining for decades) surely that situation cannot continue forever ?

After all, what ghastly future do people have if all they can aspire to is either staying on welfare, or getting a no-work, no-skills job through a family member ? Surely people are entitled to aim a bit higher ? Yes, the vast Indigenous Industry is in the way and continually offers its ghastly attractions.

Yes, there are far too few Indigenous students in STEM courses, in agriculture and conservation management, even in business and commerce. There are far too few male students. Yes, some universities are performing dismally in attracting Indigenous students and their attrition rates are abominable.

As for quality, I've known many brilliant graduates, teachers, layers, vets, etc., most of whom are now in mainstream employment. On that subject, there seems to be a perverse notion in many Indigenous organisations that the poorer the graduate and the more useless their course (i.e. therefore cocking a snook at mainstream employment), the more reliable they are in 'working' in the Industry, and the more rapidly they rise in their particular organisation, including universities.

Cheers,

Joe