I like Noel Pearson. Noel Pearson presents as a highly intelligent, no-nonsense and passionate man, a man who is decisive and speaks his mind, often with great eloquence and panache. Not so long ago, Pearson was interviewed by Kerry O’Brien on the ABC’s 730 Report (01/10/2009). During this interview, he reported that, “schools should be the point of transformation”. Indeed they should and here is an excerpt from that transcript:
“KERRY O’BRIEN:
What models in the United States do you think could appropriately be adapted to Australia? What can we learn from systems in other countries?
“KERRY O’BRIEN:
What models in the United States do you think could appropriately be adapted to Australia? What can we learn from systems in other countries?
NOEL PEARSON:
Well the model that we are looking at is what Barack Obama calls the "No Excuses Schools". These are a set of public schools and charter schools that have a philosophy of no excuses. They believe that cultural background, socioeconomic disadvantage, poverty, these are not educational destiny, they do not prescribe a destiny. Rather, a school can transcend those circumstances and the philosophy that these schools push is that schools should be the point of transformation. It should lift children out of their socioeconomic disadvantage, and provide for them a prospect that they would otherwise not have, that their parents never had. And the challenge for public education for indigenous Australians, and might I say, for lower-class Australians generally - the challenge is for Australian governments to get serious about creating no excuses schools, that is, schools that never surrender to the idea that socioeconomic disadvantage is destiny.”
…Now that’s a brilliant idea: what’s more, this transformative process ought to be continued in universities and other institutions of higher education…Recently, high school students received their final results in the Victorian Certificate of Education. Students were reminded to the effect that ‘it’s not the end of the world if you didn’t get your first preference’ and were encouraged to find ‘alternate pathways’ for pursuing goals…and dreams. It was really refreshing to hear these sorts of comforting (and perhaps maternalistic) sentiments, during what will no doubt be, quite a challenging time for those people who may, indeed be feeling disappointed.
…I remember attending an introductory session at the “parent” campus of a University, decades ago and feeling completely annihilated. At that session, a senior University administrator made a rousing speech about the life-changing possibilities of University, especially in terms of opportunities to make friends. “Some of the friends you will make”, he implored, “will be friends for life!”…Indeed they have been! However, whilst that speech was laden with references concerning the “opportunities” at University and the importance of “seizing” them, I recognised then and there, that a different fate awaited me. This was due to the fact that I was based at a small campus that was restrictive in both course offerings and social opportunities – that is, in areas that were of intellectual interest and value to me. Thereby, I remember listening to that speech with a heavy feeling, for whilst I really valued the great capacity for oratory, I had sufficient insight and foresight to quite clearly see, that I was simply not going to have these “opportunities”.
The fact is that the university sector contributes in real and tangible ways to social dislocation and stratification and this remains the challenge in Higher Education today. Whilst there appears to be a developing discourse in the area of “transitions” and significant progress in some areas, it is also true that there has been deterioration in other areas. It is really counter-productive to be putting in place measures and interventions for increased social support, that are to a large extent “artificial” band-aid approaches; band-aids are temporary interventions to patch things up and they eventually drop-off. What is required is endemic and systemic structural reform.
In short, some courses, institutions and campuses present more optimal opportunities for young people who are beginning their voyage, both as University students and as “students of life” (to borrow a term from Gary Ryan, noted as a sometime philosopher and management consultant at Organisations that Matter). The educational system is a competitive system – with students sometimes (perhaps often) not able to study in areas of interest and preference. For some students, there will ultimately be a significant mismatch in terms of interests and opportunities, sometimes arising from interrupted schooling in secondary education and other adverse life events. These circumstances ultimately may lead to compounding anxiety, as basic needs are unable to be met. This perhaps relates to the great myth of “choice” – more like “forced choice”!
More generally, this situation may be exacerbated: some students are depending on the University environment to meet their social needs and this includes, opportunities to begin the process of facilitating upward social mobility – yes, that’s correct (onward and upward), for those so inclined! Some students do not have opportunities to socialise outside the University environment due to work commitments and difficult living conditions. Furthermore, with limited time available, the importance of the University environment becomes even more pronounced. To that end, although the University may for some students, present as a hotbed of opportunity, for others it may well be a sess-pool of misery. This is a sobering thought and one that warrants serious attention. Getting an education involves a significant financial cost, however, the price can also be exacting in terms of health and wellbeing associated with a lack of access and equity, across a broad range of life domains. Perhaps this is what administrators and decision-makers urgently need to keep in mind, also.
For University is not simply about attending lectures, for many students, particularly undergraduate students, this period also coincides with a critical period of social development associated with related milestones, particularly in terms of relationship formation and general socialisation. What happens when some students are forced to delay and forgo this phase of their life? Of course, there are consequences and perhaps we need to give greater credence to these social dimensions. Students are like other young people and need to have “spaces” for social experimentation, to discover themselves however, what happens when these “social spaces” do not exist for whatever reason? Once again, there are consequences…In the meantime the social and health costs associated with less than optimal University environments may indeed be great.
Meanwhile, as the Education Minister, Hon. Ms Bronwyn Pike quoted in the Herald Sun (15/12/09) reportedly noted, "There are really no closed doors.” That’s right, there are opportunities…but sometimes, it can take a lifetime to gemmy-open those doors that got stuck, particularly if you have to take those alternate pathways! Furthermore, my experience has brought me into contact with another demographic and that is, the educated working-class. There are many variants of the “educated working-class”, however, perhaps the distinctive feature is this: the educated working-class have been to University but education has not rendered them upwardly socially mobile, in the manner of the traditional “capital p” professions, such as medicine and law. I believe that Universities should be places that facilitate upward social mobility, for those so inclined. There should be greater equity within the University system, such that more students should have opportunities most often associated with students in “capital p” areas.
In fact, I think we should have “No Excuses” Universities, too!
Further Reading:
Noel Pearson Interview, ABC, 730 Report, Reporter: Kerry O’Brien /Broadcast: 01/10/2009
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2009/s2702544.htm
Gary Ryan, Organisations that Matter / Students that Matter
http://www.orgsthatmatter.com/gary_ryan.htm
http://www.studentsthatmatter.ning.com
50,000 Victorian VCE students receive their all-important results
John Masanauskas, Stephen McMahon in Herald Sun (15/12/09’ 12:00AM)
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victorian-vce-students-receive-their-all-important-results/story-e6frf7jo-1225810394937
Well the model that we are looking at is what Barack Obama calls the "No Excuses Schools". These are a set of public schools and charter schools that have a philosophy of no excuses. They believe that cultural background, socioeconomic disadvantage, poverty, these are not educational destiny, they do not prescribe a destiny. Rather, a school can transcend those circumstances and the philosophy that these schools push is that schools should be the point of transformation. It should lift children out of their socioeconomic disadvantage, and provide for them a prospect that they would otherwise not have, that their parents never had. And the challenge for public education for indigenous Australians, and might I say, for lower-class Australians generally - the challenge is for Australian governments to get serious about creating no excuses schools, that is, schools that never surrender to the idea that socioeconomic disadvantage is destiny.”
…Now that’s a brilliant idea: what’s more, this transformative process ought to be continued in universities and other institutions of higher education…Recently, high school students received their final results in the Victorian Certificate of Education. Students were reminded to the effect that ‘it’s not the end of the world if you didn’t get your first preference’ and were encouraged to find ‘alternate pathways’ for pursuing goals…and dreams. It was really refreshing to hear these sorts of comforting (and perhaps maternalistic) sentiments, during what will no doubt be, quite a challenging time for those people who may, indeed be feeling disappointed.
…I remember attending an introductory session at the “parent” campus of a University, decades ago and feeling completely annihilated. At that session, a senior University administrator made a rousing speech about the life-changing possibilities of University, especially in terms of opportunities to make friends. “Some of the friends you will make”, he implored, “will be friends for life!”…Indeed they have been! However, whilst that speech was laden with references concerning the “opportunities” at University and the importance of “seizing” them, I recognised then and there, that a different fate awaited me. This was due to the fact that I was based at a small campus that was restrictive in both course offerings and social opportunities – that is, in areas that were of intellectual interest and value to me. Thereby, I remember listening to that speech with a heavy feeling, for whilst I really valued the great capacity for oratory, I had sufficient insight and foresight to quite clearly see, that I was simply not going to have these “opportunities”.
The fact is that the university sector contributes in real and tangible ways to social dislocation and stratification and this remains the challenge in Higher Education today. Whilst there appears to be a developing discourse in the area of “transitions” and significant progress in some areas, it is also true that there has been deterioration in other areas. It is really counter-productive to be putting in place measures and interventions for increased social support, that are to a large extent “artificial” band-aid approaches; band-aids are temporary interventions to patch things up and they eventually drop-off. What is required is endemic and systemic structural reform.
In short, some courses, institutions and campuses present more optimal opportunities for young people who are beginning their voyage, both as University students and as “students of life” (to borrow a term from Gary Ryan, noted as a sometime philosopher and management consultant at Organisations that Matter). The educational system is a competitive system – with students sometimes (perhaps often) not able to study in areas of interest and preference. For some students, there will ultimately be a significant mismatch in terms of interests and opportunities, sometimes arising from interrupted schooling in secondary education and other adverse life events. These circumstances ultimately may lead to compounding anxiety, as basic needs are unable to be met. This perhaps relates to the great myth of “choice” – more like “forced choice”!
More generally, this situation may be exacerbated: some students are depending on the University environment to meet their social needs and this includes, opportunities to begin the process of facilitating upward social mobility – yes, that’s correct (onward and upward), for those so inclined! Some students do not have opportunities to socialise outside the University environment due to work commitments and difficult living conditions. Furthermore, with limited time available, the importance of the University environment becomes even more pronounced. To that end, although the University may for some students, present as a hotbed of opportunity, for others it may well be a sess-pool of misery. This is a sobering thought and one that warrants serious attention. Getting an education involves a significant financial cost, however, the price can also be exacting in terms of health and wellbeing associated with a lack of access and equity, across a broad range of life domains. Perhaps this is what administrators and decision-makers urgently need to keep in mind, also.
For University is not simply about attending lectures, for many students, particularly undergraduate students, this period also coincides with a critical period of social development associated with related milestones, particularly in terms of relationship formation and general socialisation. What happens when some students are forced to delay and forgo this phase of their life? Of course, there are consequences and perhaps we need to give greater credence to these social dimensions. Students are like other young people and need to have “spaces” for social experimentation, to discover themselves however, what happens when these “social spaces” do not exist for whatever reason? Once again, there are consequences…In the meantime the social and health costs associated with less than optimal University environments may indeed be great.
Meanwhile, as the Education Minister, Hon. Ms Bronwyn Pike quoted in the Herald Sun (15/12/09) reportedly noted, "There are really no closed doors.” That’s right, there are opportunities…but sometimes, it can take a lifetime to gemmy-open those doors that got stuck, particularly if you have to take those alternate pathways! Furthermore, my experience has brought me into contact with another demographic and that is, the educated working-class. There are many variants of the “educated working-class”, however, perhaps the distinctive feature is this: the educated working-class have been to University but education has not rendered them upwardly socially mobile, in the manner of the traditional “capital p” professions, such as medicine and law. I believe that Universities should be places that facilitate upward social mobility, for those so inclined. There should be greater equity within the University system, such that more students should have opportunities most often associated with students in “capital p” areas.
In fact, I think we should have “No Excuses” Universities, too!
Further Reading:
Noel Pearson Interview, ABC, 730 Report, Reporter: Kerry O’Brien /Broadcast: 01/10/2009
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2009/s2702544.htm
Gary Ryan, Organisations that Matter / Students that Matter
http://www.orgsthatmatter.com/gary_ryan.htm
http://www.studentsthatmatter.ning.com
50,000 Victorian VCE students receive their all-important results
John Masanauskas, Stephen McMahon in Herald Sun (15/12/09’ 12:00AM)
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victorian-vce-students-receive-their-all-important-results/story-e6frf7jo-1225810394937