University entry should be about excellence, not parity

There was a time when a university degree meant something. Not so today. It is reported that the federal government’s higher education review advocates easier entry to university despite students having poor high school grades (“Low bar to entry under uni reform”, 26/2). In pursuit of what, one may ask. What evidence is there to prove students who have poor grades at high school will achieve at tertiary level? Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle wrote: “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort and intelligent execution.” Nothing has changed.

Geoff Ellis, Smithfield, Qld

University was always for the smartest kids in the room because it was about excellence, not parity. The real issue was remedying the school system to improve education and foster the maximisation of potential in disadvantaged students. It clearly hasn’t been properly addressed. Admitting to university those who cannot reasonably hope to succeed is cruel and the remedy it engenders is the lowering of standards to avoid disappointment (and wasted HECS fees) for them. How is that the solution? Whither the pursuit of excellence?

Leni Palk, Unley, SA

It’s a noble goal to give Indigenous regional and disadvantaged students the same life-transforming benefit of tertiary education as their more privileged peers, but it appears that the Universities Accord review is claiming that our TAFE system is incapable of providing life-transforming benefits.

The view that one really needs to experience university life for personal fulfilment is highly contentious. As somebody who has observed the US education scene at close hand for some time, it worries me that the recommendations of the review will put the same pressure on Australian families as already applies to a great number of US families, where small fortunes are chewed up by sending students to “colleges”.

The sad outcome is that a lot of young people have such degrees but unsatisfactory jobs. Do we really want to follow?

Bob Miller, Leederville, WA

Hard conversation

In some parts of the country, not reading a bedtime story to a child is nearly a sin. In other parts, a 10- year-old is joy-riding a stolen car at midnight. What a juxtaposition. Recent discussion on what is to be done about youth crime is productive. But there’s another conversation that is long overdue. It’s time to talk about our welfare system – a tangle of unintended consequences that too often results in poor outcomes for children. Or, to be dangerously blunt, how many of these children live in homes with welfare payments the only source of income? How many of them are fatherless? How many of their parents are addicts?

As a community, we have a responsibility to look after those who cannot look after themselves. It is a mark of our decency and a badge of honour. To fund a system that makes serial fatherlessness viable is unconscionable. And to abandon children in an environment in which they cannot possibly thrive is pure neglect. Our welfare system needs to reflect the commonsense values of most Australian homes. This discussion is uncomfortable, confronting and bristling with danger. It will outrage some. Good.

Jane Bieger, Gooseberry Hill, WA

Glorifying ‘martyrs’

How will those Australians who drape Palestinian flags across their homes and cars, dress in the Palestinian keffiyeh and profess support for Palestine and hostility to Israel react to the glorification of jihad and martyrdom extolled at last Tuesday’s anti-Israel demonstration outside Melbourne Town Hall (“Anti-Israel rally hears martyrdom glorified on city street”, 26/2)? Will they agree that anti-Israel martyrdom “is great”, as is the practice that when “every single martyr died, they go to their houses with a sweet” and “chant to his mother ‘You are very lucky … I wish my mum (is) in your place’ ”?

Surely promoting or carrying out such insanity in Australia will be considered, even by our most bigoted anti-Semites and ardent pro-Palestinians, as a bridge too far. Or, given the paralysis of those with the power, authority and responsibility to act on this, do we have to wait and find out?

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic

Taylor’s life tips

Kim Keogh makes a valid point concerning Taylor Swift’s “humility and authenticity” as evidenced at the recent Grammy awards (Letters, 26/2). I first came to admire these features of her personality in her while listening on YouTube to the beautifully crafted acceptance speech she delivered at New York University following receipt of an honorary doctorate of fine arts degree in May 2022.

I commend it to your readers, particularly those with teenagers or grandchildren, as it’s a brilliant, yet at the same time lighthearted, guide on transitioning from a structured academic life to the grown-up world.

John Hughes, Kincumber, NSW