Hi,
I'd like to welcome you to the first exibit entitled '1990's youth'. This period was a dark and ignorant age. Children who lived during this time experienced many hardships compared to the modern era.
Our displays include artifacts and recreations of society at that time including...
Child leaving house saying goodbye to family - A family was the term referring to a mom, dad, and any children they had. People of this time were narrow minded and couldnt imagine that families could also be fast food franchises, gay couples, corporate orphanage facilities.
Children using a home phone (This required the user to stay in one place and use the spoken voice)
A letter to a pen pal (Required the antiquidated form of communication - handwriting)
Nintendo console - (2D graphics amazed the simple creatures - but parents limited use for fear of kids living out the games in real life. I mean Rofl!)
Pre teen girls covering their bodies - The rights of the pre teen to express their consumer preferences didn't exist
Hand me downs - Last reported sighting of someone in such clothing since June 18 1999. We cant imagine how frugal they were. They also had no sense of shame it seems.
Smokers in public areas - Hard to imagine I know. No on the spot fines for smokers back then! Nor crime by association for anyone who talks to a smoker without reporting them.
Cultural contact - Display shows an 'aussie' school kid (Back then most were 'Anglo Saxon') telling an 'Asian' student to go back to his own country. He would have been reprimanded yes, but not reported to the Department of Multiculture for re-education as this department sadly didnt exist until 2020.
A kid climbing 'Ayers rock' - This was the racist term referring to the rock which at that time could be climbed to the horror of the indigenous living nearby.
A doll bludger - A person 'living it up' or rorting the system of government payouts. The term has vaded from use since the Liberal government of Cori Bernardi (2020-2023) replaced the 'financial disincentives' of social welfare with 'electronically redeemable food products' or ERPs in layman terms.
Tuesday 18 October 2011
Sunday 16 October 2011
Student Services and Amenities Fee
Here is the email regarding the new fee. Very similar to the fee that was in place before Howard removed it (compulsory student union fees).
Dear Student,
The Australian Government has passed a bill that allows Higher Education Providers such as AussieUni to now charge a compulsory Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) in 2012 of up to $264 per student.
'Uni Student member organization' UniLife wants you to tell us where you want your money spent in 2012, hence this survey.
Win 1 of 5 iPad2’s by completing the survey and then sending the link below to 4 AussieUni student friends to also complete.
Here is the link to the survey,
We know it is a pain doing surveys, but this is your money and we want to make sure that we know where you want it spent.
Results will be published on the UniLife website on November 11th 2011.
Dear Student,
The Australian Government has passed a bill that allows Higher Education Providers such as AussieUni to now charge a compulsory Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) in 2012 of up to $264 per student.
'Uni Student member organization' UniLife wants you to tell us where you want your money spent in 2012, hence this survey.
Win 1 of 5 iPad2’s by completing the survey and then sending the link below to 4 AussieUni student friends to also complete.
Here is the link to the survey,
We know it is a pain doing surveys, but this is your money and we want to make sure that we know where you want it spent.
Results will be published on the UniLife website on November 11th 2011.
Thanks for your time and goodluck!
Cool. 5 Ipods to be won wow. Thats got to be the worst raffle of all time. Punters at an average sized uni (say 10,000 students) pay nearly 3 million dollars in new fees but when we give ideas for how to spend this money 5 of these students will get a nifty little gadget.
More bizarre is that they dont know how to spend it. We are forced to pay an additional $264 for services that the Uni has not thought of yet. It's similar to someone coming up to you on the street demanding money, with no choice at all, but softening the demand by saying that they have done it too hundreds of others and may spend it on something that reflects our wishes if only we tell them what to do.
If they dont know what to spend our money on why take the money in the first place? If Unis are now 'allowed' to charge this fee, then doesnt that mean there were services that Unis were having trouble providing. Here are some questions worth considering.
Why should all students subsidize the activities of a small number of students. E.g. student politics, student media, sports, the gym etc. Surely student activities, stores, clubs etc can be run on a non for profit basis. If an activity is too expensive for just the users to pay (even if non profit) then tough luck.
They need this new charge despite the fact that most food premises at Unis charge an amount comparable to privately run businesses. Where does this money go?
$264 equates to about a 5% increase in the students contribution to their study. A small but nevertheless significant amount especially when you consider just how easily this money can dissapear into a black hole of administration spending.
The easiest way to reduce the strain on uni services and facilities is by removing widespread waste and misuse to facilities. Computer facilties are a good example. Walk past 10 computers and see what they are being used for.
Facebook, Youtube, Googling random stuff & personal interest would take the 1st, 2dn, and 3rd place usually - with uni work after that. Facebook is by far the most common thing used and has no application at all to uni. Rather Uni students and government are subsiding people's online vanity and superficial social networks. If there isnt a computer available for you to print something from, at least you have the peace of mind that Gim Mee Phuk 'liked' the photo of his friend Me Doo Phuk getting an autograph from Girls Generation aka Asian girl band barbie doll impersonators.
Wednesday 12 October 2011
Prospective nursing student gets course advice
In the week of Monday 3rd October, nursing students across Australia found out whether they would gain entry into the 'GNP' or graduate nursing program.
In South Australia, 1000 students in their final year applied. Of these 440 got a position. Wow. Gee. You kidding!!?? So I suppose when school leavers and mature age students were plotting their options the unis had an honest conversation like this with them....
'Hey, study nursing! you have 56% chance of NOT getting a training place at the end!'
'Oh well that sounds a bit unpredictable, bit of a gamble really?'
'Well!, we assure you that you will spend 3 years toiling away at Uni and whats more you will be guaranteed plenty of slave labour work.'
'huh'
'yes that right, over 4 months! spread over the course's duration, you see the universitities and the hospitals have decided that the best way to fill the so called nursing shortage is by letting you PAY to work for free!'
'but...'
'but nothing! thousands of nursing students all paying the unis to let you work for free at the hospitals! Very cost effective for all involved'
'except for us! jesus!'
'yes... hehe true, except for you! but nowone asked you and nowone will!'
'but surely after all that study and clinical experience, we are a shoe-in for jobs!'
'hehe not exactly, you see the federeal government also lets in thousands of foreigners who are ALREADY nurses as well as offering cash bonuses to retired nurses to come back to the profession :)'
'dam'
'but thats good for us again because as most students dont get a nursing placement, we can then offer a range of other courses to them, making even more money for us and sustaining our enormous administration bureacracy'
'well i may do something else anyways'
'OK. can I help you choose... I am a course councillor after all :)'
'guess so...you have been kinda honest about nursing'
'well depends on the day, hour, minute even whether im honest or not. Ive been accused of giving mixed messages before. ...of giving false hope and unrealistic impressions initally to only end on a brutally honest note wrecking previously held perceptions of our courses...'
'well id like you help anyways.. i think'
'Im feeling fairly objective right now if that makes you feel better (smiles), shall we start?'
'yes, lets see what else there is for me...'
'from what i can see...let me guess... you like people?'
'yeaaaaa....'
'you want an interesting job but cant decide exactly what that means...?'
'yeaaaa.... go on'
'you like the idea of travelling and learning about other cultures as part of your job!?'
'yea sure exactly!'
'well... i think you are the perfect candidate for the Arts degree we offer!'
'coool!
'yea i think you will love it!'
'and grads from that get to do cool work and stuff...'
'depends on your definition of 'cool' of course'
'do tell!'
'let me see.. (looks down at notes) past grads have go on to specialize in ...waiting in dole queues, retail, labouring, teaching others to do arts degrees, teaching arts students at uni, waiting tables, washing dishes, and shuffling papers and checking emails at government departments.'
'oh!'
'yeah, the shuffling papers job is really the holy grail for most students for obvious reasons.'
'shit.'
'oh and some mentioned high class prostitution as a possible option as they could talk politics with their clients.'
'i would never have thought that people would see a uni degree that way. I mean really'
'We pride ourselves on getting students to think outside the square.'
In South Australia, 1000 students in their final year applied. Of these 440 got a position. Wow. Gee. You kidding!!?? So I suppose when school leavers and mature age students were plotting their options the unis had an honest conversation like this with them....
'Hey, study nursing! you have 56% chance of NOT getting a training place at the end!'
'Oh well that sounds a bit unpredictable, bit of a gamble really?'
'Well!, we assure you that you will spend 3 years toiling away at Uni and whats more you will be guaranteed plenty of slave labour work.'
'huh'
'yes that right, over 4 months! spread over the course's duration, you see the universitities and the hospitals have decided that the best way to fill the so called nursing shortage is by letting you PAY to work for free!'
'but...'
'but nothing! thousands of nursing students all paying the unis to let you work for free at the hospitals! Very cost effective for all involved'
'except for us! jesus!'
'yes... hehe true, except for you! but nowone asked you and nowone will!'
'but surely after all that study and clinical experience, we are a shoe-in for jobs!'
'hehe not exactly, you see the federeal government also lets in thousands of foreigners who are ALREADY nurses as well as offering cash bonuses to retired nurses to come back to the profession :)'
'dam'
'but thats good for us again because as most students dont get a nursing placement, we can then offer a range of other courses to them, making even more money for us and sustaining our enormous administration bureacracy'
'well i may do something else anyways'
'OK. can I help you choose... I am a course councillor after all :)'
'guess so...you have been kinda honest about nursing'
'well depends on the day, hour, minute even whether im honest or not. Ive been accused of giving mixed messages before. ...of giving false hope and unrealistic impressions initally to only end on a brutally honest note wrecking previously held perceptions of our courses...'
'well id like you help anyways.. i think'
'Im feeling fairly objective right now if that makes you feel better (smiles), shall we start?'
'yes, lets see what else there is for me...'
'from what i can see...let me guess... you like people?'
'yeaaaaa....'
'you want an interesting job but cant decide exactly what that means...?'
'yeaaaa.... go on'
'you like the idea of travelling and learning about other cultures as part of your job!?'
'yea sure exactly!'
'well... i think you are the perfect candidate for the Arts degree we offer!'
'coool!
'yea i think you will love it!'
'and grads from that get to do cool work and stuff...'
'depends on your definition of 'cool' of course'
'do tell!'
'let me see.. (looks down at notes) past grads have go on to specialize in ...waiting in dole queues, retail, labouring, teaching others to do arts degrees, teaching arts students at uni, waiting tables, washing dishes, and shuffling papers and checking emails at government departments.'
'oh!'
'yeah, the shuffling papers job is really the holy grail for most students for obvious reasons.'
'shit.'
'oh and some mentioned high class prostitution as a possible option as they could talk politics with their clients.'
'i would never have thought that people would see a uni degree that way. I mean really'
'We pride ourselves on getting students to think outside the square.'
Welcome to Good lenses, bad frames!
This blog will comment on interesting topics related to tertiary education such as:
courses worth studying and stats around employment prospects. Kinda useful when deciding where to spend your thousands which you WILL pay eventually!
Sometimes good advice is when you're told what not to do. So blogs will sometimes cover:
courses to not study as it will not help you get work
cash cow courses with little substance
marketing strategies to bring in the students
international student market and related issues e.g. how on earth do ordinary australians benefit from hundreds of thousands of foreign students coming to australia? if you dont count bitter competition for jobs, lack of affordable rental accomodation, not to mention the permanent and rapid change to our population.
So a mixture of critique and analysis of uni courses and the tertiary education sector in Australia.
courses worth studying and stats around employment prospects. Kinda useful when deciding where to spend your thousands which you WILL pay eventually!
Sometimes good advice is when you're told what not to do. So blogs will sometimes cover:
courses to not study as it will not help you get work
cash cow courses with little substance
marketing strategies to bring in the students
international student market and related issues e.g. how on earth do ordinary australians benefit from hundreds of thousands of foreign students coming to australia? if you dont count bitter competition for jobs, lack of affordable rental accomodation, not to mention the permanent and rapid change to our population.
So a mixture of critique and analysis of uni courses and the tertiary education sector in Australia.
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