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the gall of it all...
We pander to the snobbish middle-class at the expense of other school-leavers.
We like to fancy ourselves as being a great nation of egalitarians. Yet when you look closely, we do not always pass the test. Nobody sensible believes that equality of opportunity should mean equality of outcome. But we do like to think that we treat people equally. That we are ''fair''.
Despite our self-image as a fair and egalitarian country, we nonetheless happily treat school-leavers who go to university much more generously than we do all the other school-leavers. This generous treatment only panders to and enhances the snobbish, middle-class, inflated sense of being better that so many tertiary-educated people seem to display.
We all enjoy the benefits of a well-educated society, which is why we should keep seeking to raise the standard. But let's not forget that those who benefit the most are those that get the better education. University graduates generally get better jobs, have higher incomes, enjoy better health and spend less time in jail.
This is neither a small nor a passing benefit. Yes, there is a great public benefit in higher education - but there is a great personal one as well.
Sadly, the opportunity is not spread as evenly as many would hope. To try to spread the opportunity, we have a wonderful system that allows you to get a tertiary education and to pay later . . . much later. The factors, other than the cost, that determine whether someone goes to university come into play much earlier in life, and they are not easy to even out. So the remaining two-thirds of school-leavers just have to make the best of their lot.
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Yes, Amanda, but did not your mob led by John W Howard destructured the unversity system as to favour the rich and the middle class? What happened to the Whitlam scheme that benefited many of the poor including the pollies who are now opposed to egalitarian values in your Liberal (conservative) ranks?
Ah I see it's still about the money — Amanda concludes:
The full adult pension, including supplement, is about $19,000 a year. The minimum wage is just under $30,000. So why do we say to students, who get a massive loan at no real interest rate, that they do not have to pay back a cent until they are earning just under $45,000?
- By Gus Leonisky at 21 Mar 2011 - 2:10pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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hardworking...
More recently, Rome provided another lesson. I met a Filipina woman who had worked overseas for nine or more years. She sent every penny she could back home to her husband to help raise and educate their three boys. Her family could not give her an education and she will always be grateful to the Catholic nuns who provided her with schooling. She has made sure her boys get the very best she can. You would be lucky to find a more decent, hardworking, honest and principled person. She had the added bonus of commonsense, which is, after all, not that common.
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Yes Amanda... But what's the point here? That those who can't afford it, should eat shit so they can afford it? Commonsense is not that common in your argument here, Amanda...
on the veranda .....
Hi Gus,
I hadn't realised that Kevin had suddenly gotten serious about our diplomatic relations with Italia & that the mighty "Veranda" had been deconstructed as they say in the classics.
Things are picking-up Gus .... the sport of democracy is about to get better!!
Of course, Veranda is eminently qualified to talk about the subject of 'free rides': she has been in the best dining car available for more than a decade & has always taken-up at least a couple of spots at every table she's been on. Eminently qualified; eminently ....
Don't you just love the way that Veranda uses the extraordinary level of largesse that our political masters continue to throw at our pensioners ($19,000 a year) as the basis for suggesting that students should be paying their way once they start earning that magic figure? It would never occur to the great fat turd that our pensioners are getting it in the neck, just as they always have & will continue to do as long as there are arrogant fascist leeches like her around, trying to self-righteously ensure that everyone-else (except her of course) is getting it in the neck in the same way.
Amanda, like Rattus, are living treasures .... they serve to remind us as to why we must never fall under the spell of the evil Budgie Smuggler!!