Nothing bothers me more than the continual repetition of poor public policy choices. Whether it concerns the economy, education, public housing, drug laws, higher education, whatever, I like to think of myself as constantly open to diverse ways to engage with, and respond to, well, anything really.
Thus, new ideas to enduring problems are always interesting to me. Australian economist Andrew Leigh (whose blog I have enjoyed for some time now) is someone who is always out there with interesting new ideas. In his blog today, he proposes five novel suggestions for PM Kevin Rudd's [that still sounds odd to me] proposed 'war cabinet' on issues related to Indigenous disadvantage. I can't say that I'm overly keen on all of them, but I like that people are prepared to think from left field. By crikey, if any public policy area is in need of fresh ideas, this is one!
Lost inside an adorable illusion and I cannot hide, I'm the one you're using, please don't push me aside, we could've made it cruising, yeah.
Yes it is Theme Thusday again, and today we are talking GLASS . I've three possible hooks to hang my [glass] hat on with this theme. First, the photo! Yes, it is the river again from an odd angle in an interesting light. You can just make out the bottom, which should tell you that I'm right on the shore. In some ways, the distortion of the stones below the surface reminds me of ye olde glass windows, what they call "cylinder blown sheet glass". You can still find some of this around Hobart these days. Thw second link comes from a trip I took to Venice a few years back. You're probably aware that Venice was (is?) a glass-making centre of excellence. If you have ever been there and taken the tour of the glass factories, you might be familiar with the sheer amount of coloured glass that sits at the bottom of the water there. These fragments of glass have been worn down and had their edges dulled by their time in the water, which makes them ample keepsakes for the ...
Comments
It kind of suggests to me that slotting the disadvantaged into 'immigrant' or 'indigenous' groups isn't the relevant point, it is the fact that some groups don't perform well in the society constructed by others. Whereas, say, the strong entrepreneurial culture of Greeks, Jews and many Asians means they prosper pretty much anywhere they end up, that isn't so for everyone.
Education is at the heart of it, I suspect, and encouraging it has to be A Good Thing. But underpinning educational success is the values system which certain cultures have which place a high importance on education. Simply offering a few pennies to people to turn up at school isn't really going to instill those values.
Do I have any better ideas? No.
Therefore, that’s where we are today. Simplistic patriarchal assimilation policies have been seen to fail. Similarly, simple ‘empowerment’ in the form of ATSIC has clearly failed, so as I said in the original post, I am glad to see people trying to think with a little more creativity to address what is a pretty serious problem. As with everything, it is trying to find the balance between structure and agency in an all too tangled problem loaded with cultural and historical significance.