Half of Tasmanians are Illiterate, official

[Bribie G]

Half of Tasmanians over the age of 15 are innumerate and illiterate and cannot read or comprehend a newspaper. Oh dear.

 

[Airgead]

Only half?

 

[Bribie G]

The other half with the two heads make up for it, they are all literate.

To be fair I've submitted a comment re Queenslanders which may or not get published. In Brisbane it was proving really hard to get literate staff in a contact centre I worked for and eventually about half the staff were Kiwis and Pacific Islanders where apparently education is still more Three Rs than in Australia. Literally "old school" but it seems to work. They would do impeccable work on the floor but yammering away in Polynesian dialects in the lunch room.

 

[Not For Horses]

i caant belive that i reed and spel real gud n im tasy. kin do maffs to.

 

[Airgead]

Actually we looked at moving to tassie a few years back. then we looked at the tas school system and thought F that.

Its a school system where "high school" only goes to year 10. If you want to go to year 12 (which not many do) you have to go to a "Senior secondary school". Which are few and far between.

 

[spryzie]

The school system isn't that bad.

it's only bad if you're a parent who doesn't insist that your child graduates year 12.

you can leave school at year 10 in other states too.

The problem here is most see year 11 and 12 as "college" and optional.

The curriculum isn't bad - same as other states.

 

[Bribie G]

The UK system has a lot to recommend it, I went to primary school for six years then "high" school for seven years, so the high school was two years longer than in Australia. The final two years (lower sixth and upper sixth forms) are nowadays mostly run in separate "sixth form colleges" where a lot of University stuff is pushed down to the colleges. Poms don't go to uni till about 19 so are fairly mature young adults when they get there.

I often get asked by GPs where I get my medical knowledge from and (unless British) they are surprised that at high school I actually did a whole year of physiology and anatomy, one of our textbooks was the old Gray's Anatomy B)
I can still tell you exactly what happens to a pie from mouth to bum and name most of the enzymes and transport mechanisms along the way :unsure:
Krebs citric acid cycle? Messenger RNA? Notta problem. -_-

 

[spudfarmerboy]

In Victoria, primary school is for 7 years and secondary school for 6 years, a total of 13 years.
Same total that you quoted for the UK.
By the way BribieG, can you tell me why so many Poms can't pronounce the letter "R"?
They pronounce it is a "W".
I lived in the UK for a few years and noticed it so much that I refer to it as "The Pommy Speech Impediment".

 

[bradsbrew]

By the way BribieG, can you tell me why so many Poms can't pronounce the letter "R"?
They pronounce it is a "W".
I lived in the UK for a few years and noticed it so much that I refer to it as "The Pommy Speech Impediment".

From my experience I have found that poms exagerate the "R" with a bit of posh. Sush as rascal or royal. Or a Royal Rascally Rabbit would sound more posh than Elmer Fudd.

 

[spudfarmerboy]

Brad, if you're not sure what I'm refering to, take a look at Jonathon W(r)oss, an English talk show host.

 

[dago001]

Oh wow - You "mainlanders" are listening to what Saul Eslake is saying. LOL
LB

 

[sponge]

They've probably just hung around pontius pilate for too long..

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

From my experience I have found that poms exagerate the "R"

Aarrgghhh....they be pirates

 

[sponge]

Americans pronounce their E's and R's like it's going out of fashion.

Piwates on the othew hand...

 

[Bribie G]

In Victoria, primary school is for 7 years and secondary school for 6 years, a total of 13 years.
Same total that you quoted for the UK.
By the way BribieG, can you tell me why so many Poms can't pronounce the letter "R"?
They pronounce it is a "W".
I lived in the UK for a few years and noticed it so much that I refer to it as "The Pommy Speech Impediment".

I was using Queensland's grade systam as an example, which is where my kids went to school, so pleased to hear Victoria is on the strength there.

Now let's talk about the Aussie speech impediment:

Drawing, pronounced in Australia as DroRing - there's only one R in Drawing.


Draw a bird's wing
Draw a wing
Draw wing
Drawing

What's the problem?



The R thing in UK English is more of a Southern or Cockney thing, I expect you spent most of your time in the South or in London?
Gan up North they aal taak proppa.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Not our fault the english ****** it up

 

[Bribie G]

Actually a lot of Aussie terms are now common in UK English:

Whinge
do a U-ey
Barbie

etc

And the Welsh apparently often refer to the English as "Poms"

 

[Dave70]

I blame net / text speak.

Also, asian students for driving up the average.


But then again, apply the same scrutiny to any isolated demographic in this wide brown land and you'll likley get the same, or worse result.

Cant have a Hills Grammer in every town sadly. Unless you live Gough Whitlam land.

 

[Dave70]

Now let's talk about the Aussie speech impediment:

Lets talk about another one.

That eminently annoying upward inflection at the end of a sentence.

That ******* pitch modulation that makes everything sound like a question. Typically used in conjunction with 'um' and 'like'.

'It was like, um, you know, unreal ?!?!"

Aghh...

edit {grammer}

 

[ianh]

Only half?

The other half came from Interstate/Overseas