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MATHS SKILL IS GENETIC

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Teaching Compuuter Coding in Schools Could be Redundant

There is so much pressure on children to learn coding. Governments keep pumping money into new schemes. However, this could all be a waste of money. Remember when governments invested all that money into providing PCs to schools. Then the laptop came along and they had to change to making the new tech available. After this came tablets followed by large mobile phones. Chasing new technological developments is a fool's game.

Most parents don't want government money. They want to choose what their children "need" at at school. Years ago the Mac was pushed as the "must have" to do drawing work. It was encouraged for what is now called Graphics in school. It used to be called technical drawing or drafting. Schools adopted Autocad for Windows and Macs were redundant. Furthermore, PCs were the machine of choice in most schools for class work and at university

There are many kinds of computer languages. Specializing in one leaves you in a corridor with no way out. Software programs are out there that get rid of the need for coding knowledge. Once written developers are only needed for maintenance. Any Tom, Dick or Mary can use the "What You See Is What You Get" programs.

Personally, I believe that the future does not lie in creating a population of coders. Really good entrepreneurial managers will always be needed. Coders need to be employed by someone else. Probably in a business started by an entrepreneur. The real problem is the lack of understanding in Maths. Let this go too far and you will have no coders and no entrepreneurs.

✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Physics Not for Females - Women Say!

More women are moving into academia every year. This is the overall picture. Some areas are still sparsely populated by women. Physics is such a sector of learning. Name a woman physicist - any woman! Few recognise that maths is easier for men, but this is true. There is something about the male hormone that creates this state. Just like women are better at using words.

Notably female physics students at the University of Melbourne have admitted that most women do not have the capacity to master physics. There will always be a few exceptions. However, the reality is that generally, women find study in this specialty difficult. Many female students who try physics ultimately end up in chemistry. They do feel more comfortable there.

The survey of first year females showed more than 50 per cent had a negative outlook of their chances of succeeding. This makes one wonder why they are in the course. However, some were studying physics as a requirement of other degrees. Oddly, some said they enjoyed studying physics.

As a positive, fourteen students were studying advanced physics at the University of Melbourne and were ambitious to achieve their goal. They are definitely thin on the ground with all the males. Another issue is that women do not see physics as a career path. You cannot get work in finance or banking with a physics degree, for example. Research and teaching are just about the only sectors for employment.

High school is where all this begins. A good start in maths in essential. Giving students the choice to do only standard maths must be changed. All student need to do some higher maths, particularly in this computer age. It is human nature to choose an easier option. There is something wrong with the Australian education system: women dominate Italian advanced maths departments.

✴ Education by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Skill Gap in Western Countries

Western countries are heading for a crisis. Young people are not being taught skills that are of use in the workforce. Australia under Prime Minister Tony Abbott is moving back to the three "Rs" - reading, writing and arithmetic in schools. However, it will take at least a decade for this to take effect.

It looks unlikely that future Australian governments will keep this change going. More and more irrelevant subjects are being introduced into an already crowded curriculum. Students are studying different things. There is no uniformity in education.

Will we reach a stage where machines run the world and there are no technicians with the skills to repair them? This is a strong possibility. It is just a short step back to primitivism, back to the stone age.

Students are not applying to enter the scientific field. Scientists are an aging bunch. Much research funding is channelled to them because they have proven themselves. Bodies with funds do not have any faith in new science graduates.

The skill shortage is not only in science. It is not possible for everyone to be employed at the checkout where computerized tills do the adding up and show the exact change to give. This is now an unskilled job. When the older generation of tradees retire there will be no young eager people to do the work. The government is not listening. Funding on TAFE education has fallen dramatically.

Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Teachers Do Not Need to Copy Asia

There is nothing wrong with the quality of Australian teachers. Saying that we can learn a lot from Asian teachers is absolutely wrong. It is the culture of the student that determines whether he/she will be successful in becoming educationally proficient.

Children of Chinese immigrants to Australia do much better than offspring of many other subcultures. Native third generation Australians do worst of all. This is because their parents get on with living their own lives and leave their kids to learn by themselves. There is nothing wrong with this policy. Chinese parents do similarly, but they do help much more financially with education.

Mao Tse-tung was once asked by a Western reporter what was the most difficult thing about governing China. He replied it was teaching children to believe in Communism when Chinese are born Capitalists. Trading has been an important part of Chinese culture for thousands of years so calculating and finance are important.

To be successful in life high academic achievement is paramount. Children of immigrants know this as well as their parents, particularly those from Asia. There is one issue that is problematic for even these children. That is the paranoia about rote learning in the West, even though rote is still held to the fore in Asia. Independent thinking is necessary. However, if you wait for a child to understand everything naturally without explaining the answers you will wait forever.

East Asians will pay for their children to "cram" learn with private coaches. This is not part of Australian culture. Nonetheless, this service is available in Australia. The Asian mother drives her offspring forward no matter where they live in the world. This drive is "absorbed" by the child.

Chinese also know that core subjects like maths are more important than choice subjects like surfing for example. The number of Australians who make a living at surfing can be counted on one hand. It is clear that Australian education is not managed well. Some decisions are not rational at all.

Education by Ty Buchanan

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