Post by Flash on Dec 12, 2007 6:17:42 GMT -5
Cold
-------------------------------------
1. Now this is Fun
This is John B With a Z Talkback Topic
'About The Way It was, and The Way It Is'
Lets compare School 1960 to School 2008
Heres the Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1960 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.
2007 - Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. They are charged with assault, AVOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 internet sites.
Scenario:
Jeffrey won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1960 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal's office and given a good paddling. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Counselled to death. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra funding because Jeffrey has a disability. Drops out of school.
Scenario:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1960 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. Psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mum has an affair with the psychologist. Psychologist gets a promotion.
Scenario
: Mark, a college student, brings cigarettes to school.
1960 - Mark shares a smoke with the school principal out on the smoking area.
2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from School for drug possession. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario:
Vince fails high school English.
1960 - Vince goes to Remedial English, passes and goes to college.
2007 - Vince's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against state school system and his English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Vinh is given his Y10 anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model plane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1960 - Ants die.
2007 - Security and ASIO are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. Teams investigate parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario:
Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1960 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy. Becomes....... gay !!!!
It makes you think doesnt it?
This is Talkback Topics
heard each week around the World on the Z
-------------------------------------------------------
2. Alarm as teachers dwindle
How suprising that the phasing out of effective discipline has made classrooms into blackboard jungles that no capable person would want to teach in!
ENTRY scores for future teachers are predicted to fall despite criticism they are already too low, as demand for teaching places plummets across the nation. Applications for teaching places had plunged by 30 per cent over two years in Queensland, and Western Australia is unlikely to fill places for the coming year.
A leading educator, University of Queensland academic Ken Wiltshire, said teaching wasn't "attracting enough knowledgeable or intelligent people". "It's a crisis. The tertiary entrance ranks are too low. The status of the profession is too low. We need to be talking it up and offering performance pay," said Professor Wiltshire, who ran the Queensland Government's curriculum review.
Latest figures for Queensland show applications this year were down almost 23 per cent on 2006, on top of a 7 per cent to 8 per cent drop the previous year, adding up to a total drop of 30 per cent. In Victoria, applications for entry in 2007 and 2008 were down 12 per cent, after increasing by 2.5 per cent the previous year. The numbers in WA fell by 15per cent between 2006 and this year, and there is a further 2per cent decline in entrants for next year, which means the available places cannot be filled. At the University of Western Australia, teaching is reportedly at 75 per cent capacity. In NSW the picture is mixed: some institutions have indicated double-digit drops in applications, while others are holding steady.
Steve Dinham, research director (teaching and leadership) at the Australian Council for Educational Research, described the latest figures as "quite startling", as demand had been building strongly in the previous five years, and this was reflected in rising entry requirements. Potential student teachers were sensitive to media portrayals of the profession, especially press reports about violent and disengaged students, he said. He suggested the ABC's hit drama Summer Heights High might have promoted a "that looks too tough for me" effect.
UWA education dean Bill Louden said there had been numerous government inquiries into teacher education since 1979, but to surprisingly little effect. "Teaching is looking less attractive as a profession than it has been in the past. The profession and employers will have to work much harder on persuading the kinds of altruistic young people who have always entered teaching that it's a worthy occupation," Professor Louden said. He said key research had shown that the proportion of women from the top 40 per cent of ability entering teaching had halved during the past two decades as they chose other professions, and the proportion from the second lowest 20 per cent going into the profession had doubled.
Australian Council of Deans of Education president Sue Willis said the most important thing Education Minister Julia Gillard could do was to read the report of the inquiry into teacher education, tabled in parliament last February, and "use that as a starting point". Professor Willis also hoped Ms Gillard would revisit the embargo on variable HECS for education and boost the base funding for teacher education.
ACER chief executive Geoff Masters said it was well known that "if you really want to makea difference in schooling, you need to improve the quality of teaching by attracting more and better teachers, and keeping them". "Under present arrangements, they hit a ceiling at about $60,000 to $70,000, and go into management or go outside teaching," Professor Masters said. "But we need to pay our better teachers to stay in the classroom (and) to continue to develop as highly accomplished teachers."
The Business Council of Australia has called for an increase in top teacher salaries to $130,000. Barry McGaw, former Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development education director and now director of the University of Melbourne Education Research Institute, said "the barrier to entry isn't the cost of training, it's the reward upon graduation. Maximum pay is reached (by) about age 30 and is only 1.7 times the starting salary
It makes you wonder.....
Im John B here on radio talkback dot net on ZFM.
--------------------------------------------------------
3 Now we hear about An obstetrician who hates babies!
Sounds like he needs a sea change
A West Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus "baby levy" at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child. Writing in today's Medical Journal of Australia, Associate Professor Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child's lifetime.
Professor Walters, clinical associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia and the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth, called for condoms and "greenhouse-friendly" services such as sterilisation procedures to earn carbon credits. .
Professor Walters said the average annual carbon dioxide emission by an Australian individual was about 17 metric tons, including energy use. "Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing but by the profligate consumption of resources typical of our society," he wrote. "Far from showering financial booty on new mothers and rewarding greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour, a 'baby levy' in the form of a carbon tax should apply, in line with the 'polluter pays' principle."
Australian Family Association spokeswoman Angela Conway said it was ridiculous to blame babies for global warming. "I think self-important professors with silly ideas should have to pay carbon tax for all the hot air they create," she said. "There's masses of evidence to say that child-rich families have much lower resource consumption per head than other styles of households.
But the plan won praise from high-profile doctor Garry Egger. "One must wonder why population control . . . is spoken of today only in whispers," he wrote in an MJA response article
Now do you think the Federal Government should ditch the $4133 baby bonus and consider population controls like those in China and India?
This is the Z ...Im John B here on radio talkback dot net
---------------------------------
4. KIDS are turning away from marijuana and more of them are abstaining from sex as today's youth become more conservative. Previously unreleased data from the State Government's biennial YouthSCAN report has revealed the number of people aged between 10 and 17 who smoke marijuana has fallen from 36 per cent in 2003 to 23 per cent in 2007.
The report, compiled after three-hour interviews with 600 young people across NSW and Victoria, found nicotine use had also dropped slightly. Just 37 per cent of young people reported smoking cigarettes, compared to 38 per cent of those surveyed in 2003.
The report reveals young people are also waiting longer before they have sex. Less than two-thirds of sexually active young people reported having sex before they were 16, compared with more than three-quarters of youths questioned in the previous survey.
Members of the NSW Youth Advisory Council - staffed by young people and founded to advise the State Government on youth policy - said high-school students were becoming more aware of the dangers of drugs and more empowered to say no. "Young people are just so aware now,'' said council member Samantha Dawson, 20. "You can say, without doubt, young people are more mature, more aware and definitely more educated, whether that education has come from a school, or from parents, about drugs.''
Ms Dawson said better education about sexual relationships removed the pressure some young people felt to have sex. "The thing young people do now is to discuss these things with people,'' she said. "Then they can make informed decisions on whether they are ready.''
NSW Minister for Youth, Linda Burney, said young people in NSW had successfully overcome peer and commercial pressure and were making their own decision on the issues of drugs and sex. "Since becoming Minister for Youth I have come into contact with so many young people, and I've been very impressed,'' she said. "I think young people today have more pressure on them than any past generation. "So I'm really pleased with these results, and I'm very proud of young people across the State.''
The YouthSCAN report also found young people measured success by material possessions. For 19 per cent of young people, money is more important than character when measuring success.
And thats Sad (pause)
and now another talkback Topic on radio talkback dot net
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
1. Now this is Fun
This is John B With a Z Talkback Topic
'About The Way It was, and The Way It Is'
Lets compare School 1960 to School 2008
Heres the Scenario:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1960 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up mates.
2007 - Police are called, SWAT team arrives and arrests Johnny and Mark. Mobiles with video of fight confiscated as evidence. They are charged with assault, AVOs are taken out and both are suspended even though Johnny started it. Diversionary conferences and parent meetings conducted. Video shown on 6 internet sites.
Scenario:
Jeffrey won't sit still in class, disrupts other students.
1960 - Jeffrey is sent to the principal's office and given a good paddling. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. Counselled to death. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra funding because Jeffrey has a disability. Drops out of school.
Scenario:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1960 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. Psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mum has an affair with the psychologist. Psychologist gets a promotion.
Scenario
: Mark, a college student, brings cigarettes to school.
1960 - Mark shares a smoke with the school principal out on the smoking area.
2007 - Police are called and Mark is expelled from School for drug possession. His car is searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario:
Vince fails high school English.
1960 - Vince goes to Remedial English, passes and goes to college.
2007 - Vince's cause is taken up by local human rights group. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that making English a requirement for graduation is racist. Civil Liberties Association files class action lawsuit against state school system and his English teacher. English is banned from core curriculum. Vinh is given his Y10 anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers, puts them in a model plane paint bottle and blows up an anthill.
1960 - Ants die.
2007 - Security and ASIO are called and Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. Teams investigate parents, siblings are removed from the home, computers are confiscated, and Johnny's dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario:
Johnny falls during recess and scrapes his knee. His teacher, Mary, finds him crying, and gives him a hug to comfort him.
1960 - Johnny soon feels better and goes back to playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy. Becomes....... gay !!!!
It makes you think doesnt it?
This is Talkback Topics
heard each week around the World on the Z
-------------------------------------------------------
2. Alarm as teachers dwindle
How suprising that the phasing out of effective discipline has made classrooms into blackboard jungles that no capable person would want to teach in!
ENTRY scores for future teachers are predicted to fall despite criticism they are already too low, as demand for teaching places plummets across the nation. Applications for teaching places had plunged by 30 per cent over two years in Queensland, and Western Australia is unlikely to fill places for the coming year.
A leading educator, University of Queensland academic Ken Wiltshire, said teaching wasn't "attracting enough knowledgeable or intelligent people". "It's a crisis. The tertiary entrance ranks are too low. The status of the profession is too low. We need to be talking it up and offering performance pay," said Professor Wiltshire, who ran the Queensland Government's curriculum review.
Latest figures for Queensland show applications this year were down almost 23 per cent on 2006, on top of a 7 per cent to 8 per cent drop the previous year, adding up to a total drop of 30 per cent. In Victoria, applications for entry in 2007 and 2008 were down 12 per cent, after increasing by 2.5 per cent the previous year. The numbers in WA fell by 15per cent between 2006 and this year, and there is a further 2per cent decline in entrants for next year, which means the available places cannot be filled. At the University of Western Australia, teaching is reportedly at 75 per cent capacity. In NSW the picture is mixed: some institutions have indicated double-digit drops in applications, while others are holding steady.
Steve Dinham, research director (teaching and leadership) at the Australian Council for Educational Research, described the latest figures as "quite startling", as demand had been building strongly in the previous five years, and this was reflected in rising entry requirements. Potential student teachers were sensitive to media portrayals of the profession, especially press reports about violent and disengaged students, he said. He suggested the ABC's hit drama Summer Heights High might have promoted a "that looks too tough for me" effect.
UWA education dean Bill Louden said there had been numerous government inquiries into teacher education since 1979, but to surprisingly little effect. "Teaching is looking less attractive as a profession than it has been in the past. The profession and employers will have to work much harder on persuading the kinds of altruistic young people who have always entered teaching that it's a worthy occupation," Professor Louden said. He said key research had shown that the proportion of women from the top 40 per cent of ability entering teaching had halved during the past two decades as they chose other professions, and the proportion from the second lowest 20 per cent going into the profession had doubled.
Australian Council of Deans of Education president Sue Willis said the most important thing Education Minister Julia Gillard could do was to read the report of the inquiry into teacher education, tabled in parliament last February, and "use that as a starting point". Professor Willis also hoped Ms Gillard would revisit the embargo on variable HECS for education and boost the base funding for teacher education.
ACER chief executive Geoff Masters said it was well known that "if you really want to makea difference in schooling, you need to improve the quality of teaching by attracting more and better teachers, and keeping them". "Under present arrangements, they hit a ceiling at about $60,000 to $70,000, and go into management or go outside teaching," Professor Masters said. "But we need to pay our better teachers to stay in the classroom (and) to continue to develop as highly accomplished teachers."
The Business Council of Australia has called for an increase in top teacher salaries to $130,000. Barry McGaw, former Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development education director and now director of the University of Melbourne Education Research Institute, said "the barrier to entry isn't the cost of training, it's the reward upon graduation. Maximum pay is reached (by) about age 30 and is only 1.7 times the starting salary
It makes you wonder.....
Im John B here on radio talkback dot net on ZFM.
--------------------------------------------------------
3 Now we hear about An obstetrician who hates babies!
Sounds like he needs a sea change
A West Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus "baby levy" at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child. Writing in today's Medical Journal of Australia, Associate Professor Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child's lifetime.
Professor Walters, clinical associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia and the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth, called for condoms and "greenhouse-friendly" services such as sterilisation procedures to earn carbon credits. .
Professor Walters said the average annual carbon dioxide emission by an Australian individual was about 17 metric tons, including energy use. "Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing but by the profligate consumption of resources typical of our society," he wrote. "Far from showering financial booty on new mothers and rewarding greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour, a 'baby levy' in the form of a carbon tax should apply, in line with the 'polluter pays' principle."
Australian Family Association spokeswoman Angela Conway said it was ridiculous to blame babies for global warming. "I think self-important professors with silly ideas should have to pay carbon tax for all the hot air they create," she said. "There's masses of evidence to say that child-rich families have much lower resource consumption per head than other styles of households.
But the plan won praise from high-profile doctor Garry Egger. "One must wonder why population control . . . is spoken of today only in whispers," he wrote in an MJA response article
Now do you think the Federal Government should ditch the $4133 baby bonus and consider population controls like those in China and India?
This is the Z ...Im John B here on radio talkback dot net
---------------------------------
4. KIDS are turning away from marijuana and more of them are abstaining from sex as today's youth become more conservative. Previously unreleased data from the State Government's biennial YouthSCAN report has revealed the number of people aged between 10 and 17 who smoke marijuana has fallen from 36 per cent in 2003 to 23 per cent in 2007.
The report, compiled after three-hour interviews with 600 young people across NSW and Victoria, found nicotine use had also dropped slightly. Just 37 per cent of young people reported smoking cigarettes, compared to 38 per cent of those surveyed in 2003.
The report reveals young people are also waiting longer before they have sex. Less than two-thirds of sexually active young people reported having sex before they were 16, compared with more than three-quarters of youths questioned in the previous survey.
Members of the NSW Youth Advisory Council - staffed by young people and founded to advise the State Government on youth policy - said high-school students were becoming more aware of the dangers of drugs and more empowered to say no. "Young people are just so aware now,'' said council member Samantha Dawson, 20. "You can say, without doubt, young people are more mature, more aware and definitely more educated, whether that education has come from a school, or from parents, about drugs.''
Ms Dawson said better education about sexual relationships removed the pressure some young people felt to have sex. "The thing young people do now is to discuss these things with people,'' she said. "Then they can make informed decisions on whether they are ready.''
NSW Minister for Youth, Linda Burney, said young people in NSW had successfully overcome peer and commercial pressure and were making their own decision on the issues of drugs and sex. "Since becoming Minister for Youth I have come into contact with so many young people, and I've been very impressed,'' she said. "I think young people today have more pressure on them than any past generation. "So I'm really pleased with these results, and I'm very proud of young people across the State.''
The YouthSCAN report also found young people measured success by material possessions. For 19 per cent of young people, money is more important than character when measuring success.
And thats Sad (pause)
and now another talkback Topic on radio talkback dot net
------------------------------------------------------------------------