HSC language students falls to record low

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/number-of-hsc-language-students-falls-to-record-low-20131002-2usv2.html

My previous blog post was about learning second language during primary school and how the government encourages school to teach foreign language and thought this article would be another useful article to post blog. While was reading through other student's blog posts I have realized there were similar topics which were racism and private public schools. Although it relates to our few readings we do however I found this article very interesting to mention about. 

This article tells us that the proportion of students studying a foreign language for the Higher School Certificate is at a historic low and less than a fifth of what it was during the 1950s. Also, Only 8 per cent of the more than 75,000 students enrolled in the HSC this year will sit a foreign language test when the written exams begin on October 14, down from more than 50 per cent in the '50s.

 I was actually surprised by the fact the rate has decreased because I believe Australia has become one of the largest country with multicultural society but it's surprising to see the rate is decreasing. I may not know the answer to this issue but it can be viewed that many students are finding language not as important as other subjects that will boost their mark. The article mentions that "The most popular subjects for students doing this year's HSC, after English and mathematics, are biology, business studies" which I have made assumption that nowadays many people are wanting to study in medical or business field. I have few people that I know in year 12 preparing for HSC this year thinking getting into business field will make them successful in the future. But in my opinion knowing foreign language in business field gives them better opportunity and greater recognition when it comes to communicating worldwide. Furthermore, as I have mentioned in previous blog, I think learning foreign language during school is the greatest opportunity and allows students to have a broader understanding of other culture. Not only building knowledge but it may lower racism because their perspective on certain background may change. 

I'm majoring Japanese and planning to become a language teacher when I graduate and I am hoping to teach Japanese to many students and help them to be able to communicate with Japanese background. I really want our society to be one, meaning able to communicate with the people on the other side of the world. 
In order to increase the rate of learning foreign language, one must know that learning second language allows better opportunity than people speaking one language. Nowadays, It is crucial to be bilingual and as the article mentions "Prime Minister Tony Abbott has reaffirmed his government's commitment to lifting the number of students studying foreign languages during his diplomatic visit to Indonesia" this will allow to increase the rate.




References


Tovey. J (2013) Number of HSC language students fall to record low. Retrieved from
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/number-of-hsc-language-students-falls-to-record-low-20131002-2usv2.html


Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and Education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?

Coalition MP says Gonski reforms will 'dumb down' schools

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/bronwyn-bishop-says-gonski-reforms-will-dumb-down-schools-20130830-2sw1z.html

The article I came across in the Sydney Morning Herald continues the debate between private and public schools in NSW. At a forum held on the northern beaches in Sydney, Bronwyn Bishop (coalition MP for a northern beaches electorate) said that “the high-achieving schools of northern Sydney are in danger of being ‘dumbed down’ to one generic Australian standard under the federalised education scheme planned by the Rudd Labor government”.  She further noted that those who live in the northern beaches have “a special way of life that should be protected” (Note the phrases ‘danger’ and ‘dumbed down’).

Ms Bishop’s comments about ‘dumbing down’ students seem very unfounded to me. The article says that “Ms Bishop said the schools in northern Sydney were the best in Australia and any move to a federalised education scheme would lead to their "dumbing down"”. Within this one comment there are a few different points we can gather. Firstly, by saying that the schools in northern Sydney are the best in Australia, this means all other schools are not as good and do not achieve as well, and thus she no doubt agrees that inequality exists in Australian schools (which is true). By highlighting her fear of these schools being ‘dumbed down’, she shows absolutely no concern for the inequalities which exist, and no desire or belief that something should be done about this inequality. In fact she believes the opposite- she believes that the ‘best schools in Australia’ should stay that way and she speaks of the ‘danger’ of these schools being at the same (assumedly educational) level as other schools in Australia.

When she speaks of being ‘dumbed down’, she raises the issue of intelligence. No doubt Bishop believes that the children who are attending the ‘best schools in the country’ are themselves the most intelligent students in the country. Perhaps Bishop thinks that intelligence is a genetic trait that wealthy white children (who attend the northern beaches elite high schools) are born with? To treat them in the same way that other children are treated around Australia would be an injustice to their inherit intelligence?

This takes me on a slight tangent… I challenge the belief that children of Sydney’s elite Independent schools are inherently more ‘intelligent’ than children who attend low achieving public schools. What even is ‘intelligence’? How do you define intelligence? Is it your NAPLAN results? Or your HSC results? I would disagree with the notion that a test result defines your intelligence. Perhaps it shows the strength of your memory- but I would argue there is a real difference between just memorizing answers and actually understanding a topic. There are many theories surrounding the idea of intelligence, the most well known being the theory of Multiple Intelligences. This theory (probably well known to all education students) divides intelligences into 7 different categories, and says that people are ‘intelligent’ in different ways- that is, not everyone is going to be good at the same thing, and people excel in different areas. Gray & Viens (1994:1) put it this way- “MI Theory offers a pluralistic view that inspires the question ‘In what ways is this person intelligent’” as opposed to just is this person intelligent.

The ‘pluralistic’ or open minded view of the theory of Multiple Intelligences is the direct opposite of the view that Bishop is insinuating- which is that intelligence is fixed, inherited, and maybe even genetic. This point of view is argued by those who believe in a ‘fixed mindset’. Dweck (2010) defines this belief as individuals who “believe that their intelligence is simply an inborn trait”. This seems to be exactly what Bishop insinuates in her comments.

In opposition to the ‘fixed mindset’, Dweck (2010) proposes the benefits of a ‘growth mindset’, where intelligence can be developed over time; that with proper help, guidance and instruction, ‘intelligence’ (usually defined in terms of academic results) can improve and grow. People can get better at things with effort! She believes this attitude is beneficial not just for teachers but for students, as it can lead to “not just short term achievement but also long term success” as it can create a culture of risk taking and emphasises effort not success- where it is okay to make mistakes, and you learn and grow from your mistakes.

Bishop is unfortunately not very well versed in theories of intelligence, or even of the ideas behind why high achieving elite schools that makes them perform so highly (Ho’s (2011) research provides some excellent statistics in this regard). It is a true shame that someone so uninformed holds any type of position of power or influence in the Australian government.

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References:

Dweck, S. D. (2010) Even Geniuses Work Hard. Educational Leadership, 68(1): 16-20

Gray, J. H. & Viens, J. T. (1994) The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. National Forum, 74(1): 22

Ho, C. (2011) Respecting the Presence of Others: School Micropublics and Everyday Multiculturalism. Journal of Intercultural Studies 32(6): 603-619

Maley, J. (2013) Bronwyn Bishop says Gonski reforms will 'dumb down' schools. Accessible at http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/bronwyn-bishop-says-gonski-reforms-will-dumb-down-schools-20130830-2sw1z.html#ixzz2izJ1upUP

Education is not key to success

As I was continually browsing through educational news, I've tried searching for racism or discrimination issues but I wanted to see something different yet interesting. Not only to realize, that the video clip that I've attached is very deep and powerful.
The video clip 'Why I hate school But love Education' is shown in spoken words which many people might view it as somewhat rude or unpleasant. But the core message of the clip is that education is not the only key to success. He mentions about several famous people such like Bill Gates and Steven Jobs who became successful without any educational degree and emphasizing that the society is making us to craze for education which really is not the only way to be successful. He also mentioned that the school does not teach you the necessary things for us to be successful. He strongly argues that learning is good but the education institution is not everything. This I absolutely agreed because I have many friends who could not afford to get tertiary education but their hard work and experience made them successful.

 When I was watching this, something came to my mind immediately which I have been questioning myself for a very long time 'what makes people happy? is it educational recognition or what?'
Before I move on to the main topic, I would like to strongly convince that this is my personal view and thoughts and i have no mean to offend anyone. Moving on, when i was preparing myself for HSC I did not want to go to university. First of all, I didn't want education to be my identity and secondly I believed university is not everything. I've seen so many people struggling and having hard time at university but I couldn't understand why they are stressing out so much when they can find something they like to do and be happy? I believe the society is so demanding.. they think looking good is everything. High education institution may provide you opportunity but not fully guaranteed success. My parents including few friends around me pressured me to go to university for me to become a better person in the future. I totally disagreed because I believe doing what I do is more important than learning something what makes me unhappy. True successful and true happiness starts from doing what I love to do even if high education is not included.

It is so reluctant that many people are striving to be 'well educated man' not because they want to but because they want to 'look' successful. I am not saying that getting into high education institution is a bad thing but only emphasizing that it is so unfortunate that people are not doing what they like only to satisfy their parents. Just like the guy in the video clip mentions 'Education is about inspiring ones mind not just filling in their head' I believe we need to conceptualize that education is not just memorizing things that will be forgotten after exam.

Overall, although I don't totally agree to what the guy is trying to say, but I do believe that education institution is not a requirement for one to be successful. Learning is important, everyone needs to learn throughout their lives but learning does not exist only at institutions. People seeking happiness and success through their qualification may be pointless and meaningless in the future when they realize education isn't everything but doing what they love is living a happy life.




References

 Education Is Not the Key to Success. StudyMode.com., 2013, retrieved from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Education-Is-Not-The-Key-To-1700304.html

 Are degrees in education essencial to success in life? 2013, Retrieved from
http://www.debate.org/opinions/are-degrees-in-education-essential-to-success-in-life

Real big school

A few months ago I watched the movie documentary titled 'Bully'. It not only touched me in a way no other movie has ever done before, but has stuck with me ever since and will for the rest of my teaching career. The issue of bullying is a monumentally looked over element of our schools and to see it in such a confronting way that this documentary presents again reiterated to me something that I had realised long before. Bullying is and will always be a part of our schools no matter how many anti bullying policies a school puts in place, if the teachers and staff do not follow through on these policies they may as well cease to exist. I realised by watching this documentary and by my own experiences at prac, internship and now casual teaching, bullying of a wide range of students is extremely common, and surprisingly I realised it is very easy to let a few comments or snide remarks blow over as the teacher in charge. These little comments, no matter how small, leave a scar. As Rigby, (2007) explains “Some people regard bullying as a trivial problem, either because it seems to affect so few, or because its effects are seen as quite short term and readily shrugged off” (pp. 48). The situations I witnessed as a student teacher taught me more than any lecture at university ever could (no disrespect).

It is not until you get out into the real world when you start to realise unfortunately those situations that happened in that sad documentary you watched one night, balling your eyes out, aren't fictional Hollywood stories. They are real. Without sounding too silly this really opened my eyes. I was not prepared to be confronted by so many situations of bullying as I was in the different school settings I was a part of. I realised even more the valuable role we play in each student's life, not only to their lives of learning and growing, but also learning to become confident in themselves, our responsibility to keep them safe, provide them with the socially just environment that Gewirtz, (1998) identified, “the subject matter of justice is the basic structure of society, or more exactly, the way in which social institutions ... distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the distribution of advantages from social cooperation (pp. 470)”. Letting that little snide remark go creates a domino effect. You will let the next one go, and then the next, by stopping, handling the comment with fairness but using it as a tool to not only teach that particular student a lesson, but also their peers can be a very undervalued process.

A few times I used this technique, and by handling the situation with care, the student that was initially in the wrong honestly realised what they had done and quickly apologised for their comment. I also then noticed a monumental change in these particular students in my following weeks. The identity of not only the student that had said the comment, but also the identity of the student that the comment was directed at was completely changed. More confidence in both was displayed, and even a new friendship was formed.

I know what you’re thinking. Now this is starting to sound like a Hollywood movie. Well yes maybe, but I can assure you it happened and was told by more experienced teachers it’s not uncommon. Without getting too ahead of myself I started to think about the path these students would have taken if I hadn’t pulled that comment up. Could have been luck, or a huge coincidental Hollywood story moment, but I won’t be accepting this next time I'm put in that situation again. Although it was a simple ending and I'm well aware most bullying experiences don’t end this way, I at least will try in every instance to get this ending, because the path leading from an ignored snide remark is not one I want to be a part of no matter the starting point.

Clevver Movies. (2012 March 16). Bully Trailer Official 2012 [1080 HD]. [Video File]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUy2ZWoStr0

Gewirtz, S. (1998). Conceptualizing social justice in education: mapping the territory. Journal of Education Policy, 13(4), pp. 469-484.

Rigby, K. (2007). Bullying in Schools and What to Do about It: Revised and Updated. Aust Council for Ed Research.

Learning from the Goodes and the bad

http://www.theage.com.au/national/schools-to-recirculate-antiracism-material-20130526-2n5dv.html

Continuing on from my previous post ‘The Goodes and the bad’, this article from The Age newspaper was a fascinating part 2 for me to read and think about in consideration to the Adam Goodes racist slur scandal. For me it really hit home for 2 reasons. One, I believe the major issue in this story was not the racial slur itself, although any racism of any kind is unacceptable, but the issue that it came from a 13 year old was the element that made this story that one level more frightening. For me, it is impossible to ignore the need for education in acceptance, tolerance and respect of not only different races, but to individuals in general. It presents teachers with an opportunity that I believe they can’t ignore, connecting to Ladson-Billings, (1995) point, “By observing the students in their home/community environment, teachers were able to include aspects of the students' cultural environment in the organization and instruction of the classroom” (pp. 467). I believe by starting with the youth, a domino like effect will soon follow.

This leads me to the second reason that I was so interested by this particle article. As stated previously, being an Art education student that has already done my internship, I loved reading this article and the message it was putting across. The use of this particular situation, students being shown Adam Goodes' press conference for them to understand in a real way how racism and bullying cannot just effect children, it can effect grown men too. Men like this one who for many youths hold at a hero type status. I believe for students to see and identify with a person like Adam in a situation like this is the best and most effective way to get across the fact that racism is simply not on and should never be a part of any society. 

I believe the point raised by Sharon Gewirtz, (1998) in our course, “Within recent studies of education policy, social justice has been an under-theorized concept” (pp. 469), the pure and simple understanding of tolerance and respect is simply being lost in schools and society in general. Too many excuses for behaviour such as racism and bullying are a part of our society, the right for people to live freely and without prejudice is unfortunately not present in the way it should be.

Presenting this to students in a classroom and the idea of using it to educate them on the simple yet I believe most important lesson of right, wrong and being a good person also made me connect with Storms, (2012) research into social justice in education where he asked students to carry out the activity of writing a ‘coming out’ letter to a family member in order for them to truly understand the experience of an actual young adolescent homosexual (pp. 554). For students to truly understand the various beliefs, preferences and opinions around them is extremely important, not only teaching them about individual identities but also helping to develop their own, something as a future teacher I hope I will use and pass on to my own students one day.

Gewirtz, S. (1998). Conceptualizing social justice in education: mapping the territory. Journal of Education Policy, 13(4), pp. 469-484.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American educational research journal, 32(3), 465-491.

Munro, P. (2013). Schools to recirculate anti-racism material. The Age. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.theage.com.au/national/schools-to-recirculate-antiracism-material-20130526-2n5dv.htm [Accessed 26 September 2013].

Storms, S. B. (2012). Preparing Students for Social Action in a Social Justice Education Course:     What Works?. Equity & Excellence in Education, 45(4), pp. 547-560.

Own Experience With Culture and Identity in Education

My experience with culture and identity in education relates strongly to multicultural psychology, which is ‘all aspects of human behaviour that occur when people from two or more cultural backgrounds encounter each other’ (Leung, Maddux, Galinsky, Chiu 2008). While attending a selective schools catered towards year 11 and 12 students in Sydney’s West, I found myself surrounded by a huge range of cultures, religions and ethnicities where Caucasian people were in fact the minority group within the 400 or so students in my year. So this was a huge change from my school in the Blue Mountains which was predominantly white, as was the community, but not one that I took for granted. Being exposed to real people from other cultures for a dense period of time rather than just being taught about differences in the world in a classroom really helped my learning and understanding of culture and identity in education.

This new environment was possibly the best thing for me as a student, the school offered such an integrated and supportive approach to learning that race was not even thought of during interactions, it was acknowledged but not a significant factor within such a multicultural school environment. In particular, the one thing that helped my understanding most and brought us all together was discussions in my English class. My English teacher was an incredibly intelligent and very strict woman of Malaysian descent and close to retirement. During class we would get very off topic, far away from the course and find ourselves, as a whole class, discussing the philosophy of religion and race and cultural identity. It was fascinating, our teacher held no religion to her name; she always told us that she just believed in being a good, moral person and leading a good life. And so that led to how Muslims led their lives, with personal accounts from students, and how their morals were justified by their religion. And then how that compared to Christianity, Catholicism and Buddhism etc etc etc. Even having not much to add, all I had to do was sit there and listen and be astounded by these people who were my age and going through the same schooling processes as me, but led such completely different lives.

I think the most important thing my teacher did was not identify individuals as Muslim or Christian or black or white, there was no labelling, simply a discussion prompted with questions and input invited into the conversation. So we ended up with so much information from different sources that I personally got an extremely well rounded view of where religion and culture and identity all sat in relation to each other, our school and the world.

The understanding I gained from this exposure to learning was that in merely being immersed in and exposed to only one culture, the learned routines and conventional knowledge of that culture had the potential to limit my creative conceptual expansion. But because I was learning about incongruent concepts, they provoked an exploration into their interrelations and so ‘the process of resolving incongruent ideas may lead to greater cognitive complexity in those with multicultural experiences than in those who have had exposure to only one culture or a limited set of cultural norms’ (Leung et. al, 2008).

Therefore, being a part of a densely populated multicultural school environment is very important. Because learning from discussions with real people rather than from a text book promotes a true understanding of culture and identity, assisting with sensitivity and empathetic views of race that can be integrated into our everyday lives and most importantly, a high functions school environment.

References

Leung, A. K., Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D., Chiu, C. (2008). Multicultural Experience Enhances Creativity: The When and How. American Psychologist, 63(3), p.169-181

Growing Our Own

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-10/indigenous-teachers-of-the-future/4683070

This program, ‘Growing Our Own’, sheds such a positive light on many aspects of culture and identity in education. Tackling the issues of social justice, oppression, and racism in schools, the program aims to provide a high standard of training and opportunity to Aboriginal people in remote communities, simultaneously assisting both geographical and cultural concerns surrounding Aboriginal people.

As was stated in the Australian Journal for Indigenous Education; ‘Specially targeted curriculum materials were needed, as was the widespread dissemination of Indigenous education literature and resources to schools in Indigenous communities. The attitudes of non-Indigenous teachers and their need for cultural awareness and pro-diversity training were highlighted and research into the analysis of discriminatory attitudes and behaviours and ways for changing these was recommended. The development of a literature on Aboriginal history was seen as necessary for both informing teachers and cementing Indigenous identity’ (Malin & Maidment, 2003)

Through working as teachers’ aids, these students can pass on important knowledge to their mentors about local languages and cultural paradigms. This helps in maintaining innate aspects of student life, making them feel comfortable in a school environment because it can become more a part of their life and not something that is so ‘western’ compared to their way of life. This will hopefully lead to, in time, better test results and meeting national standards because the students will be gaining a better start into their education.

Having these teachers will also also assists in equalising the national curriculum by eradicating oppressive and illegitimate teaching styles and subjects. One can only imagine what the effect would be if each school across the whole of Australia had Aboriginal teachers, what that could bring to the table in terms of awareness and knowledge. No longer would the history or Australia begin and end with white settlement. In regards to Young’s ‘five faces of oppression’, marginalisation, powerlessness, and cultural imperialism could completely subside through the increased presence of Aboriginal people in all educational communities. While giving back to local communities is a big part of this program and essential to the growth of Aboriginal students and the future, spreading these opportunities further could also help with lessening racism and promoting our national identity and culture.

So, by promoting higher levels of education through the program, these students can increase the prominence and positive identity of the Aboriginal community, becoming role models and increasing standards so that children in regional areas know that there is life and opportunities beyond what past generations have received. By meeting professional standards, these students gain feelings of self-worth and by investing their time and effort back into their communities; it will hopefully maintain the steady increase of social justice in giving quality education and opportunities to all Aboriginal people for a brighter and more integrated future.

•        Malin, M, Maidment, D. (2003). Education, Indigenous Survival and Wellbeing: Emerging Ideas and Programs. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 32(1), 85-100.
•      Young, I. M. (1990). Justice and the Politics of Difference, New Jersey, Princeton University Press
•      Middleton, A. (2013). Indigenous Teachers of the Future [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-10/indigenous-teachers-of-the-future/4683070