12 December 2012

Nerdy Canberra kids making up for a nation of thickies

| johnboy
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Joy Burch is celebrating some top work by Canberra’s kids (and we suspect their parents):

The ACT has topped the country in reading, mathematics and science in two international studies published today.

The 2011 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (which compares mathematics and science results at the stages of years 4 and 8 ) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (which compares year 4 reading literacy at a national and international level) show ACT schools continue to perform better than all other Australian jurisdictions.

ACT Minister for Education and Training Joy Burch said the results reflected the high standard of education in the ACT, and the quality of numeracy and literacy curriculums provided in ACT schools.

“When compared internationally, ACT results would have placed year 4 and 8 students in the top 10 in the world for reading, mathematics and science,” Ms Burch said.

“For example, year 4 students have a mean score for reading that would place us 5th in the international rankings. Overall, Australia ranked 22nd in year 4 reading out of 48 countries, so the ACT results were especially good and well above the national trend.

Compared to the cratering results in the rest of the nation Robyn Archer’s efforts to make the rest of the country like us seem ever more doomed.

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thebrownstreak69 said :

I’ve never met anyone who thought Joe Public who happened to live in the ACT made decisions about Australian law.

You don’t get out enough.

Head out to remote rural villages, and you will find people (who vote, BTW) who have no idea, and I mean absolutely no idea, how things actually work. My elderly parents live up on the north coast of NSW, and they have friends who are astounded to hear that I live in Canberra but am not a “shiny bum fat cat”, idling my time away in a luxurious government office doing things like “shovelling money at the abos” or “arranging five star accommodation for reffos”. Those are their words, not mine.

They’ve been told that Canberra is a government town, so they seriously believe that almost everybody who lives here works for the gummint. Not only that, they believe everything that people like Alan Jones say! They really believe it! I’m not making this up. And if you head out to the Central West of NSW around Cobar, or up into the Atherton Tablelands, things get stranger still.

thebrownstreak693:03 pm 12 Dec 12

I’ve never met anyone who thought Joe Public who happened to live in the ACT made decisions about Australian law.

Conan of Cooma2:47 pm 12 Dec 12

I’ve been to school in Canberra. It was great. They actually teach you things you can use IRL. Then you experience IRL in Canberra and it’s completely removed from reality.

LSWCHP said :

A nation of thickies is correct. Large numbers of our fellow countrymen are so dim that they send all their politicians here and then complain about how Canberra is full of politicians. They believe that “Canberra” has raised their taxes or reduced their benefits etc, and that the residents of Canberra are therefore somehow responsible for the decisions made by those politicians.

So, hats off to all the ACT teachers and others involved in the education system, and a full moon to those who don’t like us, despite Ms Archer’s efforts.

+ 1,000,000,000 This should be on the front page of every newspaper in the country.

A nation of thickies is correct. Large numbers of our fellow countrymen are so dim that they send all their politicians here and then complain about how Canberra is full of politicians. They believe that “Canberra” has raised their taxes or reduced their benefits etc, and that the residents of Canberra are therefore somehow responsible for the decisions made by those politicians.

So, hats off to all the ACT teachers and others involved in the education system, and a full moon to those who don’t like us, despite Ms Archer’s efforts.

Let’s be thankful that there is no Progress in International Swimming study, I doubt we’d be trumpeting those results.

Is the emoticon meant to be in the text above taken from the release? Am I (shudder) missing a funny?

King_of_the_Muppets11:54 am 12 Dec 12

Not one to complain about the great standard of schools here in canberra – but it has also been shown that the largest contribution to a childs educational outcome is the level of education of their parents. Flat out statistic correlation.

We are lucky to live in a ‘largely’ well educated town with people of a high socioeconomic background. The ACT does not face the same challenges as other states or territories. I would hope we make the most of these advantages and that some great young minds are fostered here!

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