Do HSC Results mean everything to students?

Higher School Certificate (HSC) is the highest award in secondary education in New South Wales. To get this award, students need to complete year 11 and year 12 and sit for the HSC examination.  Lots of people see HSC result as everything, but do HSC results really mean everything to students?

I am an oversea student from China. I came to Australia when I was 17. Now I’m currently a first year student in university and graduated from high school last year. I can still remember the feelings and the bittersweet lessons when I was in year 12. As a student, we did almost everything we can to achieve a better result in HSC – we got tutors to give us extra help on school works, we went to library do group studies… we did so much to prepare for the exam, but when I look back the memories I have is all about friendship and helpfulness. 

In the link below, there are some students' reactions after English exam. It is interesting to know how students see the exam, but it is also sad to see how exams have affected students. 

Yes HSC is very important as it concludes our high school life, and HSC results shows how well we did in the subjects, also our ATAR need to meet the cut-off line of the university which we wanted to get in. However HSC and get into university is not the only important thing in our life. If we look back, the result we got is just one number, it doesn’t show who we are. But the experiences of going through year 11 and 12, the learning process and the going through the exams is much more important and valued than this number.   

Now HSC is making students more and more stressful and pessimistic. This is not good for students as education is to help young people to get a better life through learning, not using pressure to stop them moving forward.

Reference

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/thinking-their-way-clear-to-hsc-success-20130824-2sihg.html

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/hsc-2013-students-react-after-english-exam-20131014-2vhvb.html

Personal Reflection: Where are you from?

When the young me was first asked the question, “Where are you from?” I was really confused to why they asked me that question? Isn’t it obvious I was born here in Australia? Since we are in Australia, isn’t it common to be from Australia? I didn’t understand it, until in primary when there were ESL students who said they were from China in my classroom. These students had similar appearances as me; the black hair, Asian almond shaped eyes and yellow skin. We looked similar, yet they were from China and I was born here in Australia. I was being confused with these students who looked similar to me. 

In the early tutorials in week one or two, we watched a youtube clip “What kind of Asian are you?” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWynJkN5HbQ) I felt this clip represents my personal experience in dealing with culture and identity.  Where the guy asks her “where are you from” and finds out her heritage background is Korean she tells her “there’s a great teriyaki BBQ nearly my apartment” and “I actually really liked kimich,” statements that are associated with her Korean heritage background. 

I had a similar situation that happened to when I was doing professional engagement at a high school. I was sitting in the back of a classroom in a year 8/9 classroom and a student came up to me and asked “Where are you from miss?” I knew immediately what she meant, she was asking for my heritage background, but I wanted to see how this conversation goes, so I replied “I was born here.”

“No, I mean where are you from?”

“Sydney, Australia”

At this stage she was looking really frustrated, and then an Asian boy asked her “do you mean what her nationality or background is?” 

Then I decided to give in and said “my parents are from China” and she was like “ohhh, I thought you were Japanese.”

At this school, I was asked “where are you from” several times by the students while I was doing professional engagement and most of the student thought I was Japanese. Even when I go to work or apply for jobs, they ask me “are you on a student visa”, “where are you from?” or “how long have you been in Australia for” have become common questions to me. 

Phillips (2006) states “culture is ordinary, not exotic; it is not a peculiarity of non-hegemonic, non-western, groups, for us, whatever our cultural heritage, is shaped in some way by our culture. To be shaped, however, is not to be determined, and while individuals vary considerably in degrees of assertiveness and compliance, I am not convinced that cultures divide into those dictate and others that merely recommend. We are all shaped, but not that many of us are drive.” It is true my identity will be shaped through my cultural heritage, but this should not influence my own personality and individualism. 

References: 

•  Phillips, A. (2006). What is culture? In Arneil, Barbara and Deveaux, Monique and Dhamoon, Rita and Eisenberg, Avigail, (eds.) Sexual justice / cultural justice. London, UK : Routledge, 2006, pp. 15-29.
• Taknaka, K & Neptune, D. (2013) What kind of Asian are you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWynJkN5HbQ

Same-sex Marriage

Same-sex marriage is the marriage between two persons who has the same gender. In these days, people start to accept gays and lesbians, but do people support same-sax marriage? There are people still against same-sex marriage, why?

Now many people have accepted and started to support same-sex marriage, and there are some reasons for this.

·      Human rights

Homosexual people are a disadvantaged group of people. The legalization of same-sex marriage can improve the equality between people who has different sex preferences. This action will help homosexual people protect their rights.

·      HIV

The legalization of same-sex marriage may help people keep themselves away from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The effect might not be huge, but the action could give homosexual people some hope, so they will stop self-abandoned sexual behavior, which is very dangerous.

·      Legally binding

Law not only give homosexual people rights, but also restrain their partners and themselves. This will help to make the society more stable. 

·      Homeless children

People who have same-sex marriage may want to have children, so they can take in orphans, waifs and even disabled children. This could help both government and society.

·      Harmonious of society

If homosexual people were forced to get marry with a person who has the different gender with them, they might have big problems with their marriage. The problems can be family violence, emotional abuse or divorce. All these can affect on family members’ health and relationships. The legalization of same-sex marriage can avoid three families’ misfortune.

·      The gene

The same-sex marriage can help to control the gene of homosexuality. In the present society, there are still many people who do not understand people having different sex preferences; therefore, the same-sex marriage can also help to make the society more stable. 

Here are also some reasons for why people against same-sex marriage.

·      The different public opinion may cause confusion, which will have a pretty bad effect on kids.

·      The traditional view will change, and it may have effects on social values.

·      If people who have same-sex marriage adopted children, should kids still call them ‘mum’ and ‘dad’? It might make children confused.

·      Other families that do not accept same-sex marriage may see gay (lesbian) families and their parents’ family differently. This can make their family members feel pressure, and having a bad effect on family relationships.

To sum up, if homosexual people should get married, people will all have different thoughts. Some people may think that’s normal that same sex people are getting married, because everyone has right to get marry with the one who they fall in love with; some people may feel it’s just wrong that people can get marry with the same sex. In my opinion, it’s ok to have different thoughts and feel it in different ways, however we shouldn’t put our opinion on other people. So we can all enjoy our life better.

Reference

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/samesex-marriage-laws-could-be-amended-ahead-of-high-court-legal-challenge-20131024-2w3xt.html

http://www.theotherteam.com/top-10-reasons-why-gay-marriage-is-wrong/

More Aboriginal children making it right to the top

In the Sydney Morning Herald, “More Aboriginal children making it right to the top” discusses how aboriginal students such as Lincoln Whietey, is becoming one of a growing number of indigenous students boarding at prestigious private schools. According to the Australian Boarding Schools Associations, “almost 3000 indigenous students are enrolled in boarding schools this year.” 

Marcia Langton believes there should be more partnerships between indigenous communities and top schools for indigenous students to attend boarding school. There has been significant growth of students in the scholarship program run by the Australian Indigenous Education, where it has “grown from one student in 2008 to almost 300 last year.”

However, Waverly Stanley, Yalari founder, admits there are challenges ahead for those indigenous students to change their lifestyle from living in remote areas to boarding schools. He believes “it’s about picking the right children, with the right family support to go to the right school.” 

As a result, inevitable there has been a number of students who have drop out, however from the 64 who have graduated they have gone to study in the fields such as physiotherapy, dentistry, teaching, fashion and vet science.

This article disagrees with Ford (2013) statements that “the longer an indigenous student remains at school there is an increasing likelihood of doing worse in terms of educational achievement compare to non-indigenous students.” As Ford believes education is making it worse for the students, however this article shows there have been a significant number of indigenous students, who have been successful in attending boarding schools. 

Ford believes education is making it worse for the indigenous student as “it seems arguments about a culturally inappropriate test can be co-opted to dismiss poor result rather than seriously examining and changing the content of the tests in the first place, or indeed the curriculum and pedagogical practices. In CRT terms this would be labeled as epistemological racism (Villalpando and Delgado 2002).” Ladson-Billings (2004 in Gillborn 2008, 91) has observed, “a poor quality curriculum coupled with poor quality instruction, a poorly prepared teacher, and limited resources add up to poor performance on so-called objective tests.”

However this article believes that indigenous students will have a good education if their have the “right family support” and if they “go to the right school,” so the content of the test and the curriculum is not the only reasons indigenous students does not perform well in school. 

I believe there are other factors affects the indigenous student’s performance, and it’s not only the content of the test and curriculum, that makes these students not do well in school, but they need the family support, to support them to do well in education. As Waverly Stanley states “I always remind these children that the only difference between this generation and their grandparents is education opportunities.”

Reference:

• Ford, M. (2013). Achievement gaps in Australia: what NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia, Race Ethnicity and Education, 16(1), 80-102.
• Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12

•  McNeilage, A. More Aboriginal children making it right to the top, retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/more-aboriginal-children-making-it-right-to-the-top-20130810-2rovd.html