There was another bit of Tassie-bashing in the news this week. It seems that about 50% of Tasmanian adults are functionally illiterate. That is, 1in 2 Tasmanians can't read a newspaper or a recipe or even the instructions on a medicine bottle. This is an awful statistic but it's not just Tasmania - the national average is 47%! But instead of focusing on this national disgrace, it was more fun to pick on Tassie, the land of the in-bred, backward village idiot.
It's easy to smugly sneer at those who get their words wrong and who don't know the difference between 'affect' and 'effect' but, for those people, it's a tragedy. The ABC interviewed Don MacKenzie from Sorrel who has decided it's time he learnt to read and write so has joined Adult Literacy classes.
The 49-year-old has been illiterate for most of his life after he dropped out in Year 8.
"My reading and writing before I came to these classes was totally crap, I never used to be able to pronounce real long words," Mr McKenzie said.
"Maths, well, I still need a hell of a lot of work to do on that."
"I used to lock myself up a fair bit inside. When we used to go shopping I used to just sit in the car," he said.
"What I was afraid of was going into the shop and then I can't understand what the labels...I'd get the wrong thing."
"I'd think, 'well I'm not gonna do that just in case I'm getting the wrong thing and I could end up poisoning someone'."
Mr McKenzie has never been formally employed.
Mr McKenzie is working hard to break the cycle with his 12 children aged 13 to 30, some of whom also have low literacy skills.
"I've got one that's really high needs, she's a 13-year-old," he said.
"She never used to like reading books and stuff and I said 'look, I'm going back to school now and I'm learning how to read and write. How about you come back and sit down next to me and read a book with me and have a go with me?'
"She said 'yeah, that'll be good Dad' and now she loves it. I've noticed a real lot of improvement in her reading.
"She can actually write her name now, where she never used to."
Don McKenzie says he is trying to convince his 27-year-old son to come to adult literacy classes with him.
This problem is inter-generational and it's certainly not limited to Tasmania. It's a shame that Julia Gillard was not able to finish her educational reforms; I'm afraid that Christopher Pyne doesn't have the same passion or vision. His suggestion, for example, to cap university places to improve 'quality' is laughable. Artificial caps simply make it harder for students from poor socio-economic circumstances to get a place at Uni. The privileged Tobys and Camillas from the Eastern Suburbs or Toorak will still get there. And, of course, that's what Christopher means by quality.
It's easy to smugly sneer at those who get their words wrong and who don't know the difference between 'affect' and 'effect' but, for those people, it's a tragedy. The ABC interviewed Don MacKenzie from Sorrel who has decided it's time he learnt to read and write so has joined Adult Literacy classes.
The 49-year-old has been illiterate for most of his life after he dropped out in Year 8.
"My reading and writing before I came to these classes was totally crap, I never used to be able to pronounce real long words," Mr McKenzie said.
"Maths, well, I still need a hell of a lot of work to do on that."
"I used to lock myself up a fair bit inside. When we used to go shopping I used to just sit in the car," he said.
"What I was afraid of was going into the shop and then I can't understand what the labels...I'd get the wrong thing."
"I'd think, 'well I'm not gonna do that just in case I'm getting the wrong thing and I could end up poisoning someone'."
Mr McKenzie has never been formally employed.
Mr McKenzie is working hard to break the cycle with his 12 children aged 13 to 30, some of whom also have low literacy skills.
"I've got one that's really high needs, she's a 13-year-old," he said.
"She never used to like reading books and stuff and I said 'look, I'm going back to school now and I'm learning how to read and write. How about you come back and sit down next to me and read a book with me and have a go with me?'
"She said 'yeah, that'll be good Dad' and now she loves it. I've noticed a real lot of improvement in her reading.
"She can actually write her name now, where she never used to."
Don McKenzie says he is trying to convince his 27-year-old son to come to adult literacy classes with him.
This problem is inter-generational and it's certainly not limited to Tasmania. It's a shame that Julia Gillard was not able to finish her educational reforms; I'm afraid that Christopher Pyne doesn't have the same passion or vision. His suggestion, for example, to cap university places to improve 'quality' is laughable. Artificial caps simply make it harder for students from poor socio-economic circumstances to get a place at Uni. The privileged Tobys and Camillas from the Eastern Suburbs or Toorak will still get there. And, of course, that's what Christopher means by quality.
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