OzTennis

Arkon, you are not paying attention to the Goldfish Bowl.

Believe me, I've taught/teach British and Aussie children and I wouldn't claim the moral high ground for the British education system if I was you.

OzTennis

OzTennis

Geez, I've only come across the (metaphorically speaking) tip of the iceberg as far as Arkon's woes goes (sorry about that 3 second lapse at the end of the sentence, I can't help it coming from where I do!)

OzTennis

OzTennis

Am I? Thanks for reminding me.

OzTennis

OzTennis

More lapses Arkon, us AuSSies might just live in the UK, have dual citizenship, have British spouses and might have stumbled onto this forum looking for information on spouse visas for Australia. It is a good way to find said information as well as information on lots of other things and to keep up with life in Australia. You also get a chance to brush up on one of the many sports us Aussies are good at - Pom baiting!

OzTennis

OzTennis

I can just see the thread title - $1,000 for quad bike wheels in Sticksville.

OzTennis

arkon

I just can't resist your pom baiting.... Personally I think the Oz education system is a complete waste of the day for the kids that are in it, I mean what did you learn today son? Oh we watched a video of Casper the friendly ghost then the teacher took us all to the aqua golf.

I don't want to start an argument on which system is best as I know which I think is best and to me and the boy thats all that matters. There is a good thread here :- http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=349773 that pretty much sums it up for me. That and what I've seen with my own 3 eyes.

So everyone stay calm and just accept that when it comes to education Australia is somwhere ranked alongside Ali G, so big it up for me main man, respetpa to you all and lobby your local MP to get the school system to change to actually teach kids nowledge and how to writ proper like wot I do.

spiral tribe

This is probably the saddest thread I have ever read.

OzTennis

You must have led a sheltered life, you want to get out a bit!

OzTennis

arkon

I still can't believe it!! $5 for a colour photocopy!!

spiral tribe

You must agree that this thread is right up there with the 'What do I wear to the Aus day citizenship' thread.
And you say I need to get a life. LOL

OzTennis

Aside from your first paragraph being a warped view of what actually goes on in Australian schools most of the time you will find the emphasis is different at different times of a child's education in the two countries.

If you want a sound bite to get your limited concentration span around I would say there is an earlier and greater emphasis on the acquiring of social skills and life skills in Australian schools. Some of the highest illiteracy rates in the western world bear testament to the efficacy of concentrating more on the 3 R's (actually one W, one A and one R but a Brit invented the term) in British schools.

I wouldn't stoop low enough to point out that your knowledge based education system failed you somehow.

Give me a system which emphasises transferable skills such as problem solving and decision making rather than Mastermind (or who wants to be a millionaire) contestants any time! I'm not making this comment specific to any country it is what I think education should be about - equipping people for life rather than being a walking encyclopaedia or calculator (and I'm not trivialising the importance of numeracy or retention of facts).

There have been enough posts on here comparing tertiary education achievement, literacy rates, numeracy etc in the two countries to give you a real rather than a jaundiced understanding. I guess you are too busy dodging trolleys, fending off weirdos and so on to do a proper search here or on the net for the facts though!

OzTennis

arkon

That was supposed to be a Joke.

OzTennis

OK, didn't think so on the basis of the old fish! Are you taking the other bait?

OzTennis

Ialibu

This is probably why everyone tries to take you to the cleaners.

Do what a lot of Australians used to do, go to the big smoke every three months or so with a list of the really hard to get or expensive items and have two or three hectic days.

As for the bread, you live in a warmer climate, make your own. Its good fun, really. And it is said to be therapeutic

arkon

Seriously now, making your own bread isn't a bad idea as I've had the supermarket stuff go green on the way back from town! I know I keep bleating on about the place being crap but I now think thats more down to the rural location where you really need to do everything DIY. I was used to services and getting service so its a bit of a shocker what I've actually got. What some people on here don't seem to understand is because its rural you don't get much choice but to be ripped off. Take skip hire for example, I opend the yellow pages and there were 3 pages of skips to hire, but on closer inspection only 2 were within 50k of me and prepared to actually deliver one, when the 1st one fails repeatedly to turn up your left with no choice but to use the one remaining expensive one.

I just want to put some of my posts into perspective, yes I do feel I regularly get ripped off but yes I do know why and yes there really is no alternative. So if anyone is thinking along the rural lines then think very hard about it because you don't realise just what you find important until you don't have it anymore.