I know that we hear all the time that education (of our kids) is the number one priority but is it really? Where is it on our list of priorities? Second, third, midway or somewhere near the end. All of the evidence tends to indicate that it is really somewhere down the list of priorities. The big argument at present is the Gonki reforms but that isn’t the real argument. It is about money which in many cases will most likely not end up doing anything productive to bring about reform but end up refurbishing an office block or fund another restructure.
A very quick (minutes) scan of the web on Saturday brought up these linked articles.
A fishing safety program for Asian Australians – how much money did this cost so that Asians could fish a little more safely?
Rugby Sevens receives a 91% increase in Govt funding (now $1.04million) – What could a few schools do with this money?
Esso invests $229.7 million to train workers – Esso spends approx $1200 per person on training. How do we rate as a country?
Where are our priorities. I did a quick sum and calculated that the NSW government is whinging about the 1.7 billion it needs to raise but this equates to just $235.00 per person in the State. I know there not all children but that is not a big sum of money.
If you want education to be the priority you need to make it the priority and pay more for it. You also need to do something productive with the money rather than fund another round of extensive research and restructures.
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