ATAR Notes: Forum
General Discussion => General Discussion Boards => News and Politics => Topic started by: brendan on February 28, 2008, 08:56:09 pm
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http://www.theage.com.au/text/articles/2008/02/26/1203788342483.html
the editors titled my letter "poor man's equality"
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Congrats :)
It sounds familiar, did you make a thread here about the original article? xD
Anyway nice work, west sunshine resident 0=)
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LOL i love it brendan. Nice job. I've read sections of that posted on here before by you.
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Yes, it's Brendan trying to restart his argument. I love the lengths that he went to in order to do it. Congratulations.
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Yes, it's Brendan trying to restart his argument. I love the lengths that he went to in order to do it. Congratulations.
Aw cmon Dan. He obviously feels strongly about his views and he has responded to an article posted in the media. It's been done to death. I don't think that was his intention at all.
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the hell u talking abt that letter was published yesterday in response to this article published on 26/2:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/pay-gap-grows-as-lowskilled-staff-lose-out/2008/02/25/1203788246929.html
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Ive definitely seen this flip the switch thing before... =/
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Nice work, even though I don't understand the point of asking the switch flipping question. No rational person would flip the switch - certainly nobody working in the government. Anyway, well done! :)
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Well done. Do you get anything for having your letter published or does it have to be letter of the day?
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nah i didn't get anything
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aside from attention?
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well done brenda! :D
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i'd rather write a longer piece, but the publication process is very tiresome: http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/~aleigh/pdf/OpEd_Tips.pdf
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Although I don't really agree with it, congrats on getting it published! It's a cool feeling, to see your name in print.
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Congrats on getting ur letter published Brendan. Doing West Sunshine proud :).
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Heh, I'm still of the opinion that such a system already exists in the form of tax bracketing (of which money is returned to the poor as social welfare / Centrelink).
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wow well done
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Hi goose! =o
Get on the IRC lawl
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wow well done
GOOSE where have you been!
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here's some other articles if any1 is interested:
http://www.nber.org/papers/w6770
http://www.cis.org.au/issue_analysis/IA23/ia23.pdf
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There's a rich idea
RE: making the rich poorer (Letters, 27/2), Brendan Duong asks whether we would want the Government to flip the switch if there were some policy that would make the rich poorer without affecting the income of anyone else.Yes, where it removes unfair advantage given by government for being rich, though I cannot think of any that would not indirectly benefit the community in general. Abolish negative gearing. Abolish the 50% discount on capital gains tax. Set fringe benefit tax at the recipients' marginal tax rate. Salary sacrifice only for superannuation. Mandatory prison for tax fraud over $500,000. One benefit to the poor would be that it would make them feel better. Not just the poor either.
Don Hampshire, Sunbury
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Saw your article in the Age today. I was very smug that I knew someone in the paper :D
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:O can someone scan it?
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I tried to look it up on the website, but they don't put any of the letters in the Education up there. And I don't have a scanner. Sorry :(
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photo ? D:
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photo ? D:
Here you go:
(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s4/Toothpick00/letter1.jpg)
(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s4/Toothpick00/letter2.jpg)
(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s4/Toothpick00/letter3.jpg)
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*claps*
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Hooray!
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Congrats, I like what I see ;D
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AWESOME!! lol i got it bold quotes xD
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wow
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who wants to analyze the language ? xD
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what a bloody champ, tats FSN history right there
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Awesome work Brendan :D. Doing West Sunshine proud :P.
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Nice!
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http://www.theage.com.au/letters/?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Success and failure
WHAT Maureen Douglas proposes is yet another attempt to erode educational standards by pretending that all students can succeed all the time. Children in our schools need to be encouraged to see failure as an event, not a state.
Second, it's a fallacy to suggest that national tests preclude a teacher from communicating his/her perspective or using other assessment tools as a complement to the tests.
Third, testing is about providing parents, teachers and students with valuable and objective information about their school progress. If a student is having trouble, remedial action can be taken as soon as possible.
Finally, it is no coincidence that those who oppose accountability measures are almost always the ones who are being held accountable. Indeed, those who most fervently oppose the testing of students are usually the ones with a keen self-interest in keeping parents in the dark — teachers and administrators.
Brendan Duong, West Sunshine
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WOW!!! Good job!!!
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I like the event/state distinction. Where did you get that from? Probability?
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see how cool arts people are !
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im not an arts student ...
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im not an arts student ...
ROFL
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did anyone read the education section in today's age? 8-)
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did anyone read the education section in today's age? 8-)
Haha yeah, I did. I agree with what you wrote.
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did anyone read the education section in today's age? 8-)
I read education, but didn't see that you had written anything :(
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here is what i sent in
"Graeme Smithies' opinion piece (Education, 12/5) is highly misleading.
Graeme Smithies points to the research that shows that socio-economic
factors can influence a child's academic performance, but then ignores the
research that shows that the magnitude of these effects pale into
insignificance compared with class/teacher effects. In essence Smithies
ends up using research like a drunk uses a light post -- for support
rather than illumination.
Furthermore, it is no coincidence that those who selectively and
misleadingly cite research to explain away the poor performance of
students, are almost always the teachers or administrators of schools with
poor performing students.
This ideology of social determinism is simply a convenient tool for
administrators and educational unions to escape accountability for their
actions.
Ignoring the connection between teaching and learning not only means
ignoring volumes of educational and econometric research but also flies in
the face of common sense. If there's no connection between teaching and
learning, why should we bother with having teachers at all?"
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What a bold finishing sentence. I hope it left a lasting impression on many readers.
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Wow. That's awesome. Love the last sentence too!
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In essence Smithies ends up using research like a drunk uses a light post -- for support
rather than illumination.
Haha, love that quote :D
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im gonna do arts now
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http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/letters/not-sorry-enough-20080720-3i7u.html?skin=text-only
MUCH of the criticism of Julia Gillard's speech (Letters, 19/7) is misleading. Yes, socio-economic factors can influence a child's academic performance, but the evidence-based research (not vague, unexaminable personal anecdotes of a person with every incentive to misrepresent the results) shows that the magnitude of these effects pales into insignificance compared with class/teacher effects.
It is no coincidence that those who try to explain away the poor performance of students by saying that it is all because of the student's socio-economic status are almost always the teachers of poor-performing students! This self-serving argument and ideology of social determinism is simply a convenient tool for some teachers to escape accountability for their actions.
Ignoring the connection between teaching and learning not only means ignoring volumes of research but also flies in the face of common sense. If there's no connection between teaching and learning, why should we bother with having teachers at all?
Brendan Duong, West Sunshine
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I read that today. Must say, I LOVED it!! :D
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Brendan, you are quite the expert on education.
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Last line is excellent!
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Doing West Sunshine proud once again Brendan :).
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lol
xD
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As much as I feel that the socio-economic factors have more of an impact that teachers cannot control than one would think (notwithstanding one's ability to learn but one's willingness), that is certainly a well written response.
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As much as I feel that the socio-economic factors have more of an impact that teachers cannot control than one would think (notwithstanding one's ability to learn but one's willingness), that is certainly a well written response.
If I felt that way, I'd ask for the empirical evidence (and I know you've studied statistics, haha), rather than just complimenting his expression and then blissfully ignoring what could actually be a counter-intuitive truth.
Although, to each to their own.
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I think both are important, teaching probably moreso. A really good teacher would be able to pick up the grades of low socio-economic students who lack motivation. However, I think you'd find a few mediocre teachers at high socio-economic schools that don't have to be all that encouraging to get students with good grades, but there still may be wasted potential.
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As much as I feel that the socio-economic factors have more of an impact that teachers cannot control than one would think (notwithstanding one's ability to learn but one's willingness), that is certainly a well written response.
Well, I haven't looked into the topic well enough to know or have access to such information. I'm going by merely perception and opinion. In other words, crapping on.
If I felt that way, I'd ask for the empirical evidence (and I know you've studied statistics, haha), rather than just complimenting his expression and then blissfully ignoring what could actually be a counter-intuitive truth.
Although, to each to their own.
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eh?
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In response to:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/school-v-school-pms-rule-20080827-441u.html?page=-1
But the principal of Copperfield College in Melbourne's west, Tony Simpson, raised concerns about the reporting push, saying schools already reported on everything from retention rates and VCE results to student satisfaction surveys. Putting too much information into the public domain could damage some schools if it was misused, he said.
I wrote:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/letters/so-much-for-the-revolution-20080829-452b.html?skin=text-only
ACCORDING to Ken Boston, a one-time NSW director-general of education: "There is a conspiracy of silence and a determination to avoid making public any information which might indicate that one school is more effective than another."
So it's not surprising that the principal of one of the poorest performing schools (The Age, 28/8) would like to have the right to keep parents and the public in the dark about his school's true performance. What else would you expect?
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In response to:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/putting-our-funding-pedal-to-the-medal-20080906-4b4q.html?skin=text-only
I wrote http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/letters/the-choice-should-be-ours-20080913-4fx8.html?skin=text-only
Kimberley Crow's op-ed ("Putting our funding pedal to the medal," 7/9) is another case of special pleading by a lobby group for yet another slice of the taxpayer pie. Just because people value something doesn't mean that the government should force them to pay for it. And if, as Ms Crow suggests, people value sport so much, why the need to use government coercion to force people to pay for it?
Ms Crow ultimately undermines her own argument. For if it is true that Olympic success is impossible without taxpayer funding, then that is simply people voting with their feet. They would rather spend their own money elsewhere, and hence don't value Australian sporting achievement to the extent that Ms Crow suggests.
Without government coercion, people will get what they want rather than what Ms Crow thinks they ought to want. Underlying Ms Crow's whole argument is the assumption that she knows how to spend your money better than you do, which is simply the height of arrogance and paternalism.
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You are so inspirational. I wish I wasn't so lazy as to just waste time. You broaden your English skills by getting so many letters published, and in The Age as well, I love that newspaper! Good job on doing this, I like your style of writing also :)