Uni made me dumb – outrage over the government’s skills reform
Before I started university, years and years ago, I would read a book a week. I would let my imagination lead me into worlds created by masters and they would feed my soul. My first loves were R.L Stine and Christopher Pike, then Virginia Andrews. When people looked for me they would find me behind the cover of a book. Books taught me fancy words my migrant parents would raise their eyebrows at. Books gave me so much – grammar, escape, an appreciation for the English language.
Then came uni.
When I started my Accounting – Computing degree, I stopped reading. Sorry, that’s a lie. I did read – text books. I also slept in lecture theatres – my Accounting degree went in one ear and came out the other. My vocabulary died. My imagination dried up. My writing suffered while I wrote code instead of short stories:
Public String victorianGovernment = ‘clueless imbeciles’;
Excuse my assigning the variable ‘government’ with ‘clueless imbeciles’ but right now, that’s how I feel about the government and their neatly packaged ‘Skills Reform’. If you visit the skills reform website you may be excited by phrases such as ‘new funding to create over 170,000 new training places’ or ‘upgrade TAFE facilities’ and the one I love most ‘more opportunities for training throughout your adult life and flexible fee arrangements’. All these phrases are enough to get the average stay-at-home mother excited about the prospect of a new life.
Unfortunately, they may have to think again.
See, what I don’t understand is, why can’t the government just be honest? Why do they have to package the truth with propaganda and shiny marketing material? The truth is, with the changes implemented by the government in July 2009, it may cost you almost as much to go to TAFE as it does to go to uni. How much it will cost depends on which basket you fall into.
Take my course, Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT. Before the changes, government-subsidised places were a maximum of $877 a year or $55 for concession-card holders. With the changes, if you’re under twenty and have no higher qualification, fees are only increasing to $1000 a year for the certificate or $1500 for a diploma. However, it is concession-card holders that will be stung – they won’t be receiving any more discounts when studying a diploma.
If you are over twenty or have a higher qualification, your fees will jump to a painful $8000 a year. Government loans similar to uni will be available, but only to students studying diplomas. This means that when studying a certificate, which is a prerequisite to a diploma, there will be no government assistance and you will have to fork out $8000 a year. But the government loans currently on offer are only a temporary remedy, their permanence subject to final parliamentary approval on 26 October 2009. I’d hate to think what will happen to TAFE if these loans are not made permanent.
Luckily I started my course at the start of this year and my fees won’t change much. However, if I don’t finish my course by the end of 2012, which is likely because I’m a mother, I’ll have to pay the $8000. I am thankful that I decided to go back to school before these changes were implemented because there’s no way I would have been able to afford the fees. I’m still paying off my uni debt.
The government complain that there’s a skills shortage but by raising fees they are deterring people that can fill the shortage. People will either decide not to study or to go to uni instead – uni is offering government loans and a higher qualification so why not? But having experienced both uni and TAFE life, TAFE clearly provides students with the practical skills they need in the workplace. Uni is theoretical, and when a student graduates and enters the workforce, they almost have to be re-educated.
My concern is how this change will affect the arts and in particular literature in Australia. Like myself, many people take up study in the arts when they reach a more mature age and have an appreciation for it. But how are these people now going to able to afford to study their dream and pay astronomical fees? Not only this, but what will happen to our beloved TAFEs that have nurtured the arts for so many years? Will they become a thing of the past while theoretical universities take over?
Apparently, there is nothing that can be done and the fate of Victoria’s education has been sealed. Still, there is a petition that might make some difference. We have to try, for art’s sake.
Paul said,
September 25, 2009 at 9:51 am
Great article. Anything that makes education more expensive we don’t need. Get the money from somewhere else. Cut little johnny’s superannuation or something, take it of rupert murdoch’s fortune.
Suzanne Gilly said,
September 26, 2009 at 10:34 am
When you use the phrase “labor shortage” or “skills shortage” you’re speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually mean to say is: “There is a labor shortage at the salary level I’m willing to pay.” That statement is the correct phrase; the complete sentence and the intellectually honest statement.
Employers speak about shortages as though they represent some absolute, readily identifiable lack of desirable services. Price is rarely accorded its proper importance in their discussion.
If you start raising wages and improving working conditions, and continue doing so, you’ll solve your shortage and will have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.
Re: Shortage caused by employees retiring out of the workforce: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, most people entering retirement age are working well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.
Okay, fine. Some specialized jobs require training and/or certification, again, the solution is higher wages and improved benefits. People will self-fund their re-education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to self-fund their own career re-education.
There is never enough of any good or service to satisfy all wants or desires. A buyer, or employer, must give up something to get something. They must pay the market price and forego whatever else he could have for the same price. The forces of supply and demand determine these prices — and the price of a skilled workman is no exception. The buyer can take it or leave it. However, those who choose to leave it (because of lack of funds or personal preference) must not cry shortage. The good is available at the market price. All goods and services are scarce, but scarcity and shortages are by no means synonymous. Scarcity is a regrettable and unavoidable fact.
Shortages are purely a function of price. The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the “going price” has been held below the market-clearing price.
Koraly Dimitriadis said,
September 26, 2009 at 11:35 am
Hi Suzanne, thanks for your comment and for reading my post. I do believe there is a skills shortage. This could be because there isn’t enough money on offer but not always. My husband works in IT and offers an attractive remuneration package for his employees but finds it very difficult to find the right person for the job.
In the government’s skills reform documentation, skills shortages are discussed and it seems that there is demand not only for people with degrees but also for people with diplomas. In some industries it is actually better for a person to complete a TAFE course instead of a university course to learn the practical skills required. However, with these changes, TAFE will be out of reach for many. Only the well off will be able to fund their education. With no government loans available how will people fork out $8000 a year while they are not working? The average person won’t. Hence they will either not study or go to university.
Speaking for an arts standpoint, these changes will dramatically affect the industry. Artists with average incomes that can’t afford TAFE may never realise their potential. Melbourne, being the UNESCO city of Literature, should be helping writers flourish, not putting a lid on them.
Alec Patric said,
September 27, 2009 at 7:30 am
That’s one of the best titles ever Koraly. Laughed my head off. But then I stopped laughing. I punched my computer. Now you owe me some money as well Koraly.
Koraly Dimitriadis said,
September 27, 2009 at 7:34 am
Alec Patric said,
September 27, 2009 at 7:41 am
Outrage. At those fat cats.
But you know I’m joking. I didn’t punch my computer. Are you kidding. I kiss my computer. That’s not true actually. But I stroke it sometimes when I pretend to clean it. It’s a pretty nifty computer Koraly. If you saw it you wouldn’t want to punch it either.
You can buy me a drink when I see you again though, if it makes you feel better.
Cheers.
overland literary journal » ‘uni made me dumb’: guest post by Koraly Dimitriadis said,
September 27, 2009 at 9:15 pm
[...] Koraly Dimitriadis is a Melbourne writer. She was one of the people who took part in the Overland master class on political writing, some time back. This is a repost from her blog. [...]
Marc said,
January 5, 2010 at 6:08 am
Uni turned me into a depressed alcoholic … well, it made me depressed and then I started the alcohol myself.
I say; leave uni to the rich twats who use their student cards as a status symbol that proclaims them to be so much better than all you louts.
But while they’re screwing around fighting to get a hold of a peice of paper, I am working to get me a hold something less tangible but a helluva lot more meaningful – a funny little thing called experience.
Koraly Dimitriadis said,
January 5, 2010 at 8:17 am
Thanks for your comment.
Experience is worth so much more than a university degree. TAFE is excellent for this. Most of my degrees went in one and came out the other.
Murderer Brumby stop killing our art « overland literary journal said,
January 17, 2010 at 11:15 pm
[...] It seems Premier Brumby has been on a bit of a rampage the last year, killing off our art, and apparently, this is only the beginning. I thought it couldn’t get any worse when the skills reform was introduced mid last year, putting TAFE out of reach for many Victorians. This legislation stabbed at the heart of Melbourne’s thriving art scene by abolishing government-funded places for students with equivalent or higher qualifications and forcing them to pay full fees, which many are unable to afford. This change hurt the arts – writing, film, music – because many people study art when they’ve matured and come into themselves and this is usually after having studied and worked in another industry. I wrote an article about the changes on my blog and Overland last year and you can read that here. [...]
Murderer Brumby stop killing our art « Koraly Dimitriadis's Blog said,
January 19, 2010 at 9:06 am
[...] I wrote an article about the changes on my blog and Overland last year and you can read that here. But Brumby didn’t stop there. The same time the TAFE changes were introduced, new liquor [...]
Discoking said,
March 6, 2010 at 12:51 am
Great Blog!……There’s always something here to make me laugh…Keep doing what ya do
Lazy Leadership: $300 million slashed from TAFE sector « One lifetime is not enough, for all my words – Koraly Dimitriadis said,
May 10, 2012 at 6:50 am
[...] with the skills form. Implemented for the sole reason of combating the skills shortage in Victoria, opening up the TAFE sector to compete with smaller private institutions and universities actually had the reverse effect with TAFE enrollments dropping significantly. To [...]