Working Schmirking

I have been in STEM education since 1991. Here is a list of the schools in which I have taught:

• Marist Brothers (Canberra, ACT)
• Calwell High School (Canberra, ACT)
• Craigie Senior High School (Perth, WA) 
• Redbend Catholic College (Forbes, NSW) 
• Canberra Church of England Girls Grammar School (Canberra, ACT) 
• Radford College (Canberra, ACT) 
• Tranby College (Perth, WA) 
• All Saints College (Perth, WA) 
• Greensward College (Hockley, UK) 
• The Plume (Maldon, UK) 
• Newhall School (Chelmsford, UK) 
• Aquinas College (Perth, WA) 
• Ursulla Frayne Catholic College (Perth, WA) 
• Christ Church Grammar School (Perth, WA) 
• St Aloysius Catholic College (Kingston, TAS) 

What has happened over time and in all of these schools regarding STEM?

Mathematics and Science have been diluted two main ways:

1. The movement in education to make sure we all have tip top self esteem meters has meant failure/mistakes (and thus learning) is minimised in the belief that it causes long term harm. The curriculum has been dumbed down to match this ideal. When I went to Seoul in 2012 I worked with Intermediate Year 10 students in a school who were doing Math beyond most of my Year 12 top students back here in Australia. Students who fail (and their parents) are now more likely to blame the school than their own practises. Of course, we also now (after this historical dilution) no longer seem to have the teacher capacity to teach Math at this former level. Oops! Most of my student teachers over the last decade or so have been quite mathematically challenged. Not good...

2. The curriculum is very crowded now. Education is often seen as a solution to problems that exist in society. Too much obesity? More school sport! When I was a student we did a lot of core subject time - almost everything else was elective (including sport). Students did most sport/craft/cooking/etc outside of school hours (and often in clubs etc not linked to the school at all). Current students (and I suspect a vast number of educators) might be shocked to learn that the only Art I had access to at school was a one term elective in Year 8 (1976 - although I paint now - who would suspect!).  In 2016 the curriculum is bristling with non-STEM stuff, all good for making more "rounded" citizens (and appeasing politicians who need to be seen doing something (anything) before the next election cycle), but the reality seems to be only rarely producing the STEM profiles we need in our society.

What does it all mean?

It seems that unless we halt these two main pressures on our STEM classes we will be condemned to import or outsource our STEM requirements. And when as a country we run out of rocks to sell (or more precisely the market for our rocks doesn't pay for the highly value added rocks we import), the economic consequences of the silent, lengthy and systematic dismantling of Australia's STEM capacity will, I suspect, make very sombre headlines.

As for me - I'm a grumpy old man for pointing all of this out...

Kym loves the Bruny Island Ferry! (and her MUX)

The shed at the bottom of the precipice

Our driveway in Allens Rivulet is outstandingly difficult to negotiate (including a creek). You can imagine how pleased the Italian Princess is trying to get down a 45 degree slope with marbles underneath. As if I need more tests of my motorcycling abilities! Ridiculous!

The not so amusing part was the poor moving company mob who could not get the big truck with the container down the drive and so had to double handle everything, ferrying down our stuff in a smaller truck. Well done Kent Removals!

Attached to today's blog below are two pics of the place we are renting (one slightly altered!), and also my office on the ovals of my school in Kingston (doing yard duty). Wonderful...

Oskar and Kym heading to the beach (Jess already in the car!)

Panorama of the property

Early to yard duty - lost in the view...

Friending and Pretending

We seemed to have been surrounded by Real Estate agents for some time now (about 12 months in all, but concentrated over the last 3 months). It has been an “interesting” experience from a number of perspectives. The laziness and hubris amongst the Perth agents, who are baffled that customers aren’t romping into their office in a bear market, has not only been disappointing but also has cost us our early retirement! Some great quotes from these pelicans:

“Customers these days shop on the internet and they will contact us if they want to see your house” (in response to our frustration of only four home opens in two months)

“If the house was on the other side of South street I could have sold it 20 times” (if a bull was female it could give milk)

We will give a plug here for the Minic Property Group, where Michael and Sabrina were energetic, proactive and communicative. The “Manic Minics”, as we named them, took over a property that had the crappiest representation by a long-term Leeming family run agent, and then ran a modern active campaign that sold the place in a plummeting market.

Here in Tasmania the agents are our great friends (surely not just because we are buying?) and so we have seen around 15 houses in the last month, some quite...er...interesting.  Will keep you posted on that search.

In the meantime it is our 25th Wedding Anniversary, Anthony started work this week and has a birthday on Friday. Busy, no? Here is a pic of Kym shooing the wildlife (lizard!) so we can ascend our precipitous driveway!

Bruny Island

In WA it costs a heap of money (currently around $170 return) to travel 20kms to a pretty small island just off the coast for a bit of a relax.

We discovered that $33 will get your car and whoever is onboard across and back to Bruny Island here in Tasmania (where the streets are paved with gold).

Bruny has a winery, distillery, cheese factory, berry farm, chocolate factory, etc. etc. AND, the most amazing beaches! We are going back again soon...the ferry is about a 15 minute drive from our rural retreat (more on that later...).