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Why Australia is the best country in which to live and teach!

Discussion in 'Teaching abroad' started by Christopher Curtis, Nov 1, 2009.

  1. Hmmm - is this racist?
  2. yasimum

    yasimum New commenter

    "xenophobic locals, yob youth cuture"

    Is this?
  3. ...sorry, fell off the list....... of course these are problems in ANY country!! To try and give the impression that this is peculiar to, or is such a huge problem in aus is just simply not being accurate, objective or truthful!!
  4. yasimum

    yasimum New commenter

    The xenophobic locals, yob stuff wasn't mine but another posters. Just can't be bothered to do the quote thingy.
    Whenever you start a thread such as this, it is akin to waving a red rag at a bull.
  5. Works both ways, Yas. The kids I taught with poor parenting certainly, in the main, did not go on to successful careers. I know some of them too, but as I have no need for drugs or to get involved in violent crime I have nothing to do with them.
    Think I started on these threads a few years ago on this topic; something to do with having to have a license to become a parent. How to stop the 'unworthies' of banging away like a bunch of baboons, is not something I can answer though.
    Well, I could but the backlash would be 'tsunamic'.

  6. You obviously didn't teach at Deception Bay School, Queensland. It makes Waterloo Road look like Cheltenham Ladies College.
  7. .. in the main yes, I would agree... but some of the kids that I taught in this category went on to become very successful in sales etc, making heaps more money that me.....even by the tender age of 25!!
    So..often wondered about the so-called correlation between education and future succes in careers - as measured by money making ability!! (not the only measure of course!)
    Some of the world's richest men (and women?) had very little in the way of a formal education!!
  8. The vast majority though...sank into horrid oblivion. The business acumen thing is hard to explain, but even they probably didn't get the 'rounded education' that we are supposed to be supplying.
    I have always been a bit of a pessimist regarding most things like that.
    If I have spelt acumen wrong, I don't care - I have a dictionary a foot away and I cannot be a*sed.
  9. yasimum

    yasimum New commenter

    It can go both ways, yes but if we dismiss kids as being 'unworthy' or less rewarding to teach we are only thinking of things from our perspective. If we dismiss them like that then there is only one way to go and the positive outcome won't even get a look in.
  10. With regard to housing affordability in various western countries, I did some research and came up with the following figures for an average or median home price in some of the major cities. The figures are for October 2009, and for Aus prices, at a time when the aussi dollar is especially strong against the greenback. Of course the mathematicians among us will quickly realise that average and median are two different measures, but If we can assume for the sake of the exercise that they are roughly the same, then it is possible to make a comparison based on rank order. The actual figures, in US$, can only be very approximate:

    London: $741,670
    Sydney: $680,000
    New York: $550,000
    Melbourne: $520,000
    Paris: $455,658
    Brisbane: $437,835
    Perth: $420,543
    Adelaide: $389,236
    Hobart: $380,427

    The average home price in Australia's major cities is very approximately $471,340. The average home price in some of the larger and <u>more desirable</u> provincial centres is of course much less than this figure.

  11. Christopher  Curtis

    Christopher Curtis Occasional commenter

    Median house prices can give some people a scare, but whatever the median is, half the houses are below it in price. I live in the leafy green Wedge Shire of Nillumbik on the edge of Melbourne. I had a look at properties advertised in my local paper. However, not one of them had an actual price. They were, with typical real estate dishonesty, accompanied by ?suit $XXX,XXX buyers?, ?B.I.R.*? (with the * leading you to the small print at the bottom of the page, which says ?B.I.R.* - BUYER INQUIRY RANGE TM: This is not the estimated price but a Buyer Inquiry Range. If you are looking in this range we suggest you may be interested in this property and recommend an inspection.?), ?ESR? (which may mean ?Estimated Sales Range?) and ?Price Guide? figures, all designed to get around the consumer protection laws which ban estate agents from advertising false prices for houses, a long-established practice in this state. However, there was one 288-square metre 4-bedroom house advertised that could be built for $211,100 and land for sale from $161,000 a block. It did not give the land size, but an advertisement below was full of small blocks of around 600 square metres, so that is probably a guide these days. In summary, there is no difficulty in getting a nice house and land package in Melbourne for under $400,000, which is just over five years pay for a teacher on the top classroom rate.
  12. Chris I have to disagree with you on 2 points.
    Firstly Nillumbik is not Melbourne, most people would have an hours commute each way if they worked in the city which is a fair distance and a fair chunk of your life spent in a car or train.
    Secondly I don't think you can find 'nice house and land packages' for $400,000. I think you can find house and land packages in that price range but normally in horrible new build estates with no commuity or infrastructure. You might get a big house but not much more than that.
  13. Christopher  Curtis

    Christopher Curtis Occasional commenter

    biology babe,

    It depends which part of the Shire you live in. I can get into the city in about 45 minutes in off-peak traffic, though it takes about 70 minutes in peak traffic. If I lived on the southern edge of the Shire, I could do it in 30 minutes off-peak. In any case, most teachers do not teach in the city. It?s best to live near your work. My first school was 15 minutes; my second, 8 minutes; my third (when I moved to the country), 30 seconds; my fourth, 20 minutes. I don?t agree on housing. I think a lot of criticism of the outer suburbs is excessive. They are perfectly pleasant places to live.
  14. On re-reading some of the posts to this thread, the comments from this little doozie somehow slipped under the radar!
    .....but no they are not, when compared to other western cities, unless of course you want to live in Sydney across the harbour from the Opera House!........I'm always puzzled when people say things like this......Australia has one of the highest home ownership rates in the western world, and with the help of recent government grants more young people are able to enter the market now than at any time previously!
    What an uniformed and silly comment to make! Australia is the world model for a multiculturalist society, thanks largely to the policies of the Whitlam era. Migrants are welcomed to our country, and assisted with housing, education, and in so many other areas. We are a true pluralist society and the envy of the world! The white aus policy died at least 40 years ago, and nobody with even less than half a brain still believes in it!! In the UK though we hear of skinheads, gang/race riots, no go suburbs, and the establishment of ultra right wing political parties etc. "Prejudice is everywhere" you say- certainly seems to be the case in the UK!!
    ......you are obviously referring to an incident which happened about 10 years ago! Asylum seekers throwing themselves from their boat into the sea, and getting into trouble before our Navy could rescue them.....but yet you say we "let them drown at sea"!!! Oh, and how does the UK government deal with illegal immigrants?? Using detention centres of course! The same as any civilised government who needs to process these poor people in some sort of balanced and systematic way. Would you have them just simply enter the country without inspection or due process? How naive!!
    Mostly on a temporary basis only! These are the centres and countries with the highest populations, so of course entertainers, musicians etc will go there to make the big $$.
    ........ah.. a throw back to the mother country! ...and to judge from your comments.....it is to their loss and our gain..............I hope you stay there!!

  15. Don't you think you are being a bit rough on abr44 there Ned?
    I mean you are bing a little too insulting for what so far has been a quite civilised thread. I've just re-read his/her post that you've extensively quoted from and didn't find anything there to get so excited about (you also didn't answer the 'deaths in custody' part of it).
    It seems that you've managed to turn this into not hearing any criticism about Australia whatsoever and using any excuse for pommie-bashing.
    Strange that after you've tried to say that Australia isn't racist.
  16. Yes, fair comment in many ways! The "deaths in custody" is a very sensitive and difficult thing to explain away. Many governments, both state, and federal, and of different political persuasions, have tried to deal with this- and still no answer! It is just too sensitive an issue for this forum.
    No, of course I do not mind criticism, in fact I welcome it!! And sure, Australia has its problems, like anywhere else! But the discussion needs to be informed, and not just based on past media hype, anecdotes or someone's hearsay. The whole point of the thread is to encourage people to consider aus as a valid, plausible and rewarding teaching alternative. In that regard it is important to try and be as factual as possible, and to challenge comments which seem to be misguided or basically untrue. Many of my responses are said in the spirit of good-natured banter, and with no offence/hurt intended. It is therefore a regrettable and unintended consequence that certain of my comments may come across to some people as simply "pommie bashing". Of course, I stand to be corrected on anything I say on this thread, and have no problems in this regard!
  17. 'No, of course I do not mind criticism, in fact I welcome it!! And sure, Australia has its problems'.
    Good job you do. Your front row are girls and the rest of your players are pea hearted.
    God I hope I don't have to eat humble pie tomorrow....
  18. We will see FP.....We will see!!
  19. stopwatch

    stopwatch Established commenter

    With reference to the original title of this thread.
    It's not.
  20. ....short and sweet....but you are welcome to your opinion! By the way, have you ever been to aus??

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