Education should not be a debt sentence

Please sign the petition

http://www.alp.org.au/

I remember the days before university subsidies - that was when we had hospital based training and a lot of people came nursing because they could not afford university, That route is no longer an option and nursing itself will be one of those that will be affected by reduced intake numbers

 

parents who don't provide at LEAST 4 years of higher education (to include vocational training) for their kids are pos's, that's all. they are kicking the kid out of the nest when the kid doesn't yet even have FEATHERS, much less is able to fly. you aint raised that kid (properly) until he or she has a stable 100k+ (US) a year job

 

Goodness...I hope you are being sarcastic.

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If you can't pay for it or if you don't want the debt, then don't enroll. Problem solved.

I'm not Aussie so obviously , can't sign your petition if I wanted to....but what was the petition for? It didn't say.

 

At present in Australia if you are an Aussie citizen you get subsidized Tertiary education. This means everyone one has access not just an elite few.

 

Not really, welcome to the reality of 457 foreign visa workers. Its not going to stop under the ALP either

 

I won't just accept whatever the ALP says. Where is the link to the Liberal side of the story? You have looked at both sides of the argument, haven't you?

 

Last time we advertised a position we had 36 applicants from overseas and one from Australia, In the USA most health care workers are foreign because it is not worth your while to run up $40,000 of debt to be a first year RN

 

Signed it.....

I believe, the only and best long term investment for a highly educated society is free education, with zero costs involved. Nada, niet, nothing, nicht and so on

Cheerio

 

As a business owner, I see this happening within every business in Australia, and they all either blame the rising cost of education or wages to justify employing foreign workers over Australian workers.

The lack of Australians training to be nurses needs to be investigated from more than the perspectives of high education debt and low salaries. I think many are not interested in nursing degrees anymore due to them having to compete with cheap foreign workers when they graduate. Whats the point of all the study and accumulating a high degree debt, when government departments and businesses are employing foreign workers over them.

 

Perhaps the real reason is that education being controlled by state Labor governments for so long has dumbed down a whole generation of Aussie kids to the point where they can't cope with higher education. I have come across numerous young Aussie adults with very poor levels of education.

 

For many school graduates not wanting to pursue a university degree; TAFE training and education was always an excellent stepping-stone into trades, and advanced learning for careers not designed for university degrees.

Unfortunately, over the decades both the ALP & LNP have dismantled the TAFE system, which have left generations of young Australians completely uneducated and disadvantaged.

Yes. I agree, that the poor levels of education among young Australians is very noticeable, especially compared to their European counterparts.

This might seem really scary, but its true. I was in Indianapolis 3 months ago on business. Was listening to a local Radio station about a local group who had previously conducted a survey on 3000 school children for them to identify what day of the week it was. Out of a survey of 3000 children, only 62% correctly identified to correct day of the week. Is that scary or what?

 

We were ranked among the top 5 educated countries in the OECD PISA tests until a few years ago. Isn't that when the Liberals took over?

 

Mate,
the same happens to me all the time, Wednesday is easy as the bins are collected, apart from that, hmmmmmmmm
Cheerio

 

It's not only university, it's also the cuts to TAFE. I remember when TAFE was at the forefront for training trades people like electricians, plumbers, bricklayers et al.

My father (now retired) used to own a bricklaying company and he'd always have one or two apprentices training. He'd get a government subsidy for training apprentices. They'd spend four days a week on the building site and one day at TAFE. Once the subsidy stopped, he stopped training apprentices. He just couldn't afford to as apprentices are generally unproductive in the first couple of years.

As fewer business are training apprentices, less tradesmen and tradeswomen to go around. Australia is losing a vital skill base.

 

I'm pretty sure they still offer subsidies but not for all trade areas, however they have apparently cut these subsidies back even further. Strangely this government decided that giving apprentices a cheap $20,000 loan was more appropriate. What the hell is the good of this if no one is being employed. There is something very strange about how this government is doing things. They're certainly making it tough on the areas that make a country productive and competitive.

 

Given that education is a private good then it should be heavily subsidised or be available at no cost. Yes, university educated graduates are probably going to do well in the money stakes but they will be doing good for society and they'll be paying tax. And yes, we actually do need lawyers as well a health professionals.

 

On average people who go to uni earn $1m more over their working life. That comes out to hundreds of thousands of extra taxes on average. It more than pays for itself.

 

And that's the scary bit, apprentices actually paying to do apprenticeships. In the day they were paid by their employer.

Our neighbour's son. Finished year 12 at high school. Bright kid but not quite up to university standard at the time . He did and paid for a pre apprenticeship course in electrical trades at TAFE. He desperately wanted to be an electrician. However hard he tried he couldn't get a start at an electrical apprenticeship.

To cut a long story short, he joined the Royal Australian Navy, the navy welcomed him with open arms. He ended up doing electronics engineering at the navy's expense. He's now on his second field of study through the navy.

 

It is a huge issue. Often our best and brightest end up, for economic reasons alone, working menial jobs to try and afford an apprenticeship only to be told that they are too old once they have the means. Meanwhile the few who will take on apprentices are decrying the intelligence of those kids who join the trades since a lot of young people will not consider a trade because they see it as a second class choice

 

Lots of jobs in the navy, everyone is quitting due to Abbott.

 

Yeah, the second class choice thing is ridiculous. It reeks of imported British class distinction. I much prefer the German attitude which is reflected in their post-school education and training system.

 

In QLD it was the ALP who cancelled the Ambo's new paramedic training, and made applicants pay their own training before applying, but to the point - free education is never going to happen, the ALP is full of BS here as usual about education reform being managed by the Libs.

 

Next time I see an ALP I will tell them.

 

The OP linked to the ALP website.

 

Nothing to do with it, I am talking about the thread title.

If I want the smartest doctors, the smartest solicitors, the smartest engineers, the smartest scientists, I am willing to subsidize those that cannot afford it and the entire education system so it is among the best in the world. Not create a system where fees could get out of control, allowing only the wealthier brains to compete and denying the less wealthy the opportunity. They may even be smarter.

It has nothing to do with giving Joe Blogs son a free education. It is about increasing the collective intellect of the nation.