Society & Culture Things in life you just don't understand - Part 2

[Damon_3388]

Melbourne thing. I got asked my ATAR the other day and I'm 10 years+ out of High School. Weird the obsession with it.

It's really not any reflection of actual intelligence, especially so long after the fact. Moreso an indication of how hard you were willing to work studying and how well you could regurgitate rote learning at 17-18 years of age.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

I achieved a gentleman's pass but I'm buggered if I can remember what it was.

The Anderson score was your best four subjects added together plus 10% of any others you did (I think) but I can't remember all my individual scores. It was good enough to get me into the Uni course I wanted to do so that was all that really mattered, people didn't really compare them much in those days.

 

[Gough]

I finished school at the height of the recession, and 80 something got you into Arts so most of my friends, and I bummed around for a few years, and did mature entry. I would have been too immature to go straight to uni from school anyway.

 

[Scotland]

Was a TER in my day, and TES not long before that. Same same but different.

It's a curious system where your ATAR is determined by your results and the ATAR cutoff rank for particular courses is determined largely by supply and demand.

Heaps of courses have a cutoff of 70 which is pretty much scraping through with low 50s in 4 subjects. Not exactly best and brightest there. Do we really want kids who battle to pass high school science studying geophysics at uni? If you had half a brain it was also pretty easy to get a good score by picking easier subjects and only 4 of them out of a possible 6.

The geniuses at the Education Dept over here have changed the system (again) so now there are now for example 11 subjects under the science banner. When I went through there were 4. There are 10 'Technologies' subjects too. How do you run a high school these days with 985 subjects? I'm glad I never had to be subjected to 'outcomes based education' and other nonsense.

 

[quotemokc]

I don't see the point in high school exams, if you are smart enough and committed you will do well at your course in university.

Someone I know did quite poorly on their year 12 exams so they didn't meet the requirement for the course they wanted.

They wanted it badly enough and went through all the steps to get into the course regardless and managed to get their degree with high distinctions.

Not to mention that there are numerous bridging courses that can get you into uni regardless of how you did in high school.


Also find it hilarious how my ATAR exams were like 3 hours each but I have never had a uni exam go longer than 2 hours.

 

[gaskin]

Also find it hilarious how my ATAR exams were like 3 hours each but I have never had a uni exam go longer than 2 hours.

What course are you doing? I am doing teaching with a major in English and I rarely have an exam less than 3 hours.

 

[Kram]

Does the teaching profession still attract a lot of complete muppets? It's a long time since I went to high school back in the 90s but some of the teachers we copped in the country I have no idea how they were able to get qualified. If I ever had kids I'd probably look to sending them to a private school in the city if they were academically inclined.

 

[Gralin]

Does the teaching profession still attract a lot of complete muppets? It's a long time since I went to high school back in the 90s but some of the teachers we copped in the country I have no idea how they were able to get qualified. If I ever had kids I'd probably look to sending them to a private school in the city if they were academically inclined.

there was a period where you got a free degree in teaching which doesn't exactly attract those interested in teaching so much as those interested in a free degree with a guaranteed job with a lot of extra leave

 

[Scotland]

Does the teaching profession still attract a lot of complete muppets? It's a long time since I went to high school back in the 90s but some of the teachers we copped in the country I have no idea how they were able to get qualified. If I ever had kids I'd probably look to sending them to a private school in the city if they were academically inclined.

Salaries increasing and the easy money in mining/construction drying up has attracted more people to it recently, but there are still plenty of shockers I'd imagine. A friend of mine easily bright enough to carve out a successful private sector career has just gone into it at 31. The damage done over the last couple of decades won't be repaired overnight, though.

I know a couple of teachers who started mid to late 2000s and they got permanency in the city without going to the country at all. That doesn't bode well for country schools that aren't in Margaret River or Broome. Back in the day country schools lacked continuity but at least had decent teachers starting out. Why would anyone go and work in Kambalda today if they don't have to?

 

[Kram]

Yeah the problem I think would have been that a small wheatbelt town is very undesirable so you cop the dregs and anyone that is good usually leaves as soon as they can.

 

[Dixie Normous]

People who claim they don't know their own phone number because they don't ring themselves

Adult men that watch Disney films

The appeal of bands like Coldplay and Mumford & Sons

 

[Cruyff14]

You must live a very sheltered life if that is confronting.

I just don't associate with people who take drugs.

And I think if I asked a lot of my friends if they had seen anyone smoke ice, their answer would be no.

 

[Kram]

People who claim they don't know their own phone number because they don't ring themselves

I can remember my current one but have had trouble in the past, although there was a period where I went through quite a few numbers..

If you think that's odd I had a mate that didn't know his actual bank card pin as numbers but from the 'positions' pressed on the keypad

 

[Procrastinator35]

People who claim they don't know their own phone number because they don't ring themselves

Adult men that watch Disney films

The appeal of bands like Coldplay and Mumford & Sons

I don't mind Coldplay at all....Many adult men with young children have to watch Disney films, whether they like it or not.

 

[quotemokc]

People who claim they don't know their own phone number because they don't ring themselves

Adult men that watch Disney films

The appeal of bands like Coldplay and Mumford & Sons

Star Wars is a Disney film

 

[JackOutback]

Star Wars is a Disney film

And Marvel.

 

[Gralin]

I just don't associate with people who take drugs.

And I think if I asked a lot of my friends if they had seen anyone smoke ice, their answer would be no.

I may know someone who has smoked ice, but if I do, I don't know it.
A guy I went to school with had a brother who was a heroin addict, I never saw him shoot up but I saw the aftermath

There are levels, and seeing something outside your level of comfort is going to be confronting

Someone posting a video of them on an ice pipe to social media isn't exactly smart or normal in the most peoples circles I would have thought

 

[Kram]

Ice heads are very easy to spot and are usually absolute tools. Only known one regular heroin user a flatmate I lived with for a couple of years, she lived a pretty normal life under the radar and surprisingly was generally pretty reliable (paid rent and bills, always worked) apart from never having any spare money because of the habit.

 

[MWPP]

Adult men that watch Disney films
The appeal of bands like Coldplay

I'm an adult woman who loves Disney and doesn't mind Coldplay

 

[MWPP]

Re: ATAR/TEE scores- I can't remember the last time I asked someone what they got, but I seem to get asked that question every now and then, even though it has been years since I finished highschool /uni . Those same people seem to be taken aback and/or in disbelief if I'm completely honest /reveal that I got 99.95 , so instead I'm vague and say *somewhere in the 90s*. (most people in my field got similar marks anyway, so the people who ask tend to be people from other fields.....)

 

[MWPP]

It's really not any reflection of actual intelligence, especially so long after the fact. Moreso an indication of how hard you were willing to work studying and how well you could regurgitate rote learning at 17-18 years of age.

Moreso the former , as well as other factors like privilege (school / teachers/resources /your cohort etc). I did subjects which required little in the way of rote-learning (to the point where it took me a while to get used to rote-learning when I did a uni degree which required more of it)

 

[gaskin]

Does the teaching profession still attract a lot of complete muppets? It's a long time since I went to high school back in the 90s but some of the teachers we copped in the country I have no idea how they were able to get qualified. If I ever had kids I'd probably look to sending them to a private school in the city if they were academically inclined.

I can only speak for my Uni but the course is pretty good at weeding people out. There were a lot who dropped out after the first prac although none of the English majors. The English course in particular is difficult- especially from my perspective having not gone into the course straight out of high school and having to learn and re-learn a lot of content on the fly. I know someone who graduated last year majoring in S&E who said that of about 20 students who started the course, by the start of 4th year there were about 5 left. It does help that ECU is one of/if not the best Uni to study teaching.

 

[akkaps]

If you think that's odd I had a mate that didn't know his actual bank card pin as numbers but from the 'positions' pressed on the keypad

This is how I know my phone passcode.

 

[Gralin]

Adult men that watch Disney films

So
Star wars
Marvel
Pixar
The sixth sense
Pirates of the carribean
Big hero 6
Wreck it Ralph
Tron
Good will hunting
And many other shouldn't be watched by adult men?
What about adult men.with kids?
Is it ok if we watch Moana or.Frozen?

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Someone told me a trick to remembering PINs and it works a treat for me. Because random numbers are difficult to remember you need to associate those numbers with something meaningful to you. So say your PIN is 1533 and you are a Hawthorn supporter you just need to think Hodge and Cyril and you will remember the numbers.