Yeah, it is a great doco… very thought provoking. Strange though, SBS seem to have skipped the 3rd part on Democracy? The skipped straight to part 4 Education this week.

I don’t know that ‘kids’ now are that stupid – their intelligence just lies in different areas (for eg. filtering information rather than absorbing it). But I agree that it’s sad how influential tv/media is in setting goals for a lot of young people.

anyway. i skipped right to the education one, and wowowie i was interested…. i did half an engineering degree, and i have cert 2 and 3 in I.T from tafe…so thus i did school, uni and tafe..

learning has always been a beautiful thing and hobby for me, but i learnt the extremely hard way when i tried to find a job (after i did half the degree, then got panic disorder then psychosis after burning my brain out and bottling all my knowledge and EVERYthing up in my head, needed a year off after that…) and the I.T certs, i went job hunting..and i had NO luck at all!..this was the point in my life when i realised, that, just like this documentary, it doesnt matter how “smart” you are, or if you are a thinker etc, it is an absolute waste of time in this western world of money…

currently, i am happy being a storeperson..it has never mattered to me just to get a job that pays as much $$ as it can – it is absolutely a waste of time because im not the consumer/buying house/pool/expensive clothes type….. this documentary explained everything that i knew and suspected….

doesnt mean i wanna die over it…but i know kids are stupid now..they need calculators and spellcheck, and all they want to do is dress up….it is very saddening to realise that learning for all of these years is fruitless for survival (ie. you cant really do a maths degree or an arts degress cause you wont get a job out of it..and thus you wont live due to no money)…

this doco is brilliant! i love it – its great!

Sorry, the email address is a bit hard to find: My username for gmail is absoludity – Interested to see what you were going to send :)

btw I would have sent you an email about something else but couldn’t find your address on the “about” page

The Finnish education system is a comparatively egalitarian Nordic system, with no tuition fees for full-time students. Attendance is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16, and free meals are served to pupils at primary and secondary levels.

Far out… they know how to keep their students’ attention! Sounds amazing:

In the OECD’s international assessment of student performance, PISA, Finland has consistently been among the highest scorers worldwide; in 2003 Finnish 15-year-olds came first in reading literacy, mathematics, and science, while placing second in problem solving, worldwide. In tertiary education, the World Economic Forum ranks Finland #1 in the world in the enrollment and quality and #2 in math and science education.

I’d be interested to find out more about Finland’s education – ie, whether all schools are public or some private providers operating with public funding. Not that I can ever see that happening here again…

No worries if you don’t have time Dan, but one question comes to mind about Sth Korea:

1. What options do kids/families from less-wealthy backgrounds have? (public system?, home schooling? etc) I’m not sure if you meant it’s user-pay for a good school, or just in general.

Finland has is one western country with free education up the the tertiary level (probably at the expense of very high taxes). Finland could be the basis of a case study on education.

Korea is a user pay based system, at a high cost that is said to contribute to the fact that Korea lowest birthrate per woman in the OECD. There is a very strong emphasis for private tuition, which serve to compound the costs, highlighting the emphasis that the society has placed on education.

Attitude has a very different quantifier! (as is opinion)
My guess is that any cost increases on education for the coming election would ignite attitudes sufficiently.

Why would it be strange for a capitalist society provide free education (I mean, why couldn’t it benefit the economy)? Do you have any experience of how the education system works in Korea? I’d like to find some other examples other than AU/US to compare to.

As for not caring, i meant the people – not the governments – of the “west”. Again, I’m just going on my overall impression of Australian attitudes towards education: at a grass-roots level (ie, parents and kids in public high schools) I get the feeling that many people don’t value it much at all (compared to overseas students studying in Australia anyway).

What!? young people are being educated?! Send them back down the coal mines!

And a capitalist society where education is freely provided as a means to a higher noble non profit oriented cause?

I get the sneaking suspicion that the “the North, South and East” dont care either! :)