Intelligence is not the difference, but there is a huge difference in the attitude

As we have stated in many previous columns, nine of the top ten countries on school educational standards as measured by the OECD PISA scores are all Asian, with Finland, the 6 th country, being the odd one out. All ten countries place a high priority on education and their teachers are held in high regard. Australia is in the mid twenties.

Many students in Australia are of Asian decent, most from these top ten countries, and anecdotally, these same students provide the bulk of most of the students in selective schools in NSW. Without their input to our overall standing Australia’s world educational ranking would be far lower than its present position. None of the above suggests that Australian students of European decent are inferior in intelligence than their Asian counterparts. My philosophy is that ALL students have unlimited powers to achieve and to perform at the very highest levels in the HSC. Intelligence is not the difference, but there is a huge difference in the attitude.

South Korea leads the world in delivery of the internet, Australia, after having being offered a system that would have made us competitive with Korea, have had our dreams shattered for political point scoring and we have been given an internet system that is barely third world. Korean students all attend after school tuition and parents on average devote 40% of their income on their children’s education. I have coached many Asian students at Master Coaching; I have never lost a student because the coaching schedule clashed with some other event.

However, many potential students of European decent have forgone tuition, with Master Coaching at least, because of scheduling clashes. (note: I am not implying that these same students did not find good reliable coaching elsewhere, & I hope that this is the case).

But our attitude to the value of science and education is not peculiar to high school students. It can be seen in the provision of our internet system, and the fact that the first department scrapped by the present government was the Ministry of Science and innovation. At the same time both political parties are advocating reduced funding for universities. Unfortunately, education has become that terrible cliché, a political football, with both major political parties, federal and state, more interested in point scoring than solving the problem.

The question remains, how does this information affect you and me? The answer is simple, become involved, firstly in your school if you have school-aged children, and secondly, become politically active, with any political party, if you are interested in the advancement of Australia through education.

See: The Weekender ( Page  52)