quietfanatic
Ancient One
At my school we only have about a dozen students with Australian born parents, but the school doesn't bother with culture classes or anything of that kind. A large proportion of the students are either Russian Jews, Ukrainian or foreign Asians, who get educated here because it is cheaper than Europe or the US.
Australia has the ability to smother other cultures and assimilate a family completely within three generations. Coupled with the super sledge of American popular culture, the children are subsumed into one uniculture although they still keep elements of their roots.
The good thing about this unity is that people are tolerant, understanding and live harmoniously. The negative thing is that most of the depth of the culture's we integrated into our society is lost. Normal Australians are anti-intellectual and 'she'll be right' and the 'fair go' can cause terrible problems. This element of apathy that pervades society has led to the bureaucrats taking over everything and gaining immense power that only succeeds in propagating mediocrity. (my school is not sooo bad because it's so 'ethnic'.)
We have huge ratios of, administrator to teacher for example, but it still takes six months for them to answer a simple letter. I sometimes wonder if we are third world (PC police can get stuffed) but I have a niggling feeling that this alarming trend is happening elsewhere as well.
Although the students in Australia and America might not value education as much as the Chinese does it really matter?
As long as the standard in university is high and the intellectuals and professional people maintain quality, does it really matter if the majority doesn't know who Albert Speer's wife is or where Afghanistan is (comedians get American's to point at the map of Australia and say "Isn't that Iraq".) or what a photon is. We have strong enough economies to keep people comfortable (as well as manageable) without intensive education and the elite can keep the wheels turning, even if it is not at optimal efficiency.
Personally, I believe that one should try to understand as much as possible and that education levels should rise. However I have had one of the most happy childhoods in my relative ignorance. When I look at how hard people work in, for example Japan, I hesitate to force such a high pressure system on my fellow students who do not need to and are currently incapable of such behavior. Because of our low population and huge opportunities for employment (our unemployment is only around 5%) it is unnecessary .
So what do you think, begin the difficult task of raising educational standards or leave people in their blissful ignorance?
Australia has the ability to smother other cultures and assimilate a family completely within three generations. Coupled with the super sledge of American popular culture, the children are subsumed into one uniculture although they still keep elements of their roots.
The good thing about this unity is that people are tolerant, understanding and live harmoniously. The negative thing is that most of the depth of the culture's we integrated into our society is lost. Normal Australians are anti-intellectual and 'she'll be right' and the 'fair go' can cause terrible problems. This element of apathy that pervades society has led to the bureaucrats taking over everything and gaining immense power that only succeeds in propagating mediocrity. (my school is not sooo bad because it's so 'ethnic'.)
We have huge ratios of, administrator to teacher for example, but it still takes six months for them to answer a simple letter. I sometimes wonder if we are third world (PC police can get stuffed) but I have a niggling feeling that this alarming trend is happening elsewhere as well.
Although the students in Australia and America might not value education as much as the Chinese does it really matter?
As long as the standard in university is high and the intellectuals and professional people maintain quality, does it really matter if the majority doesn't know who Albert Speer's wife is or where Afghanistan is (comedians get American's to point at the map of Australia and say "Isn't that Iraq".) or what a photon is. We have strong enough economies to keep people comfortable (as well as manageable) without intensive education and the elite can keep the wheels turning, even if it is not at optimal efficiency.
Personally, I believe that one should try to understand as much as possible and that education levels should rise. However I have had one of the most happy childhoods in my relative ignorance. When I look at how hard people work in, for example Japan, I hesitate to force such a high pressure system on my fellow students who do not need to and are currently incapable of such behavior. Because of our low population and huge opportunities for employment (our unemployment is only around 5%) it is unnecessary .
So what do you think, begin the difficult task of raising educational standards or leave people in their blissful ignorance?
The best students in school are really not religious. And, interestingly, they're not the smartest either. Really, I've heard a lot of students who get really high grades and pay a lot of attention in classes make some of the stupidest remarks ever. Hehe. 
