Point_of_View__Education_for_Life_Program

Hi, my name is ... and i will be presenting my point of view on the Education for Life Program. I was reading the newspaper the other day and I came across the statement ‘All year 9 Victorian students should be sent to compulsory camps. As a year 12 student I suppose it will not. As students and teachers we all have been through the ‘adolescent’ stage of our lives. I believe this stage is important in our lives as we make many mistakes from which we learn from, whether they result in a good or bad way, we need to live these certain mistakes in order to learn from them. The idea of ‘Boot Camp’ from premier John Brumby is just another stunt that is avoiding the ‘real’ problem of schools, not having sport facilities such as sport fields and that there should be equal access to sport in schools before this useless ‘boot camp’ since students can’t afford to join local sport clubs or go on excursions. I think that the Brumby government should use the $208,000,000 which they are willing to spend on the ‘boot camp’ plan, on fixing schools and providing them with better equipment. What about Echuca Hospital' They have been awaiting some help since 1962. The proposal of this military based camp is an insult to teachers and parents. Are teachers and parents not doing enough to provide school students with real life experiences for young teens' I think the answer is obvious. In fact, most schools already have effective life skills programs for year 9 students, such as the Year 9 ‘City Centre program’ which most of us in this room have experienced and also some general school camps. It is important to take into consideration the rates of Australian teenagers (ages from 15 to 20) who aren’t at school and have no job is high at 13%. This can be controlled. These teenagers require support and encouragement. The Brumby Government can spend some amount of money to provide schools with educational psychologists, student welfare coordinators and remedial teachers instead of the huge amount of money they are looking to spend on ‘boot camp’. Every youth deserves the opportunity to finish school without their personal life being an obstacle and this extra support could just be the right thing. Many of us in this room, work and pay tax and for the ones that don’t work, eventually you will and end up paying the government tax. Now it’s clear that John Brumby is not going to pay the $208,000,000 from his own pocket for this ridiculous plan; his going to be using our money that we pay as tax. So look at it this way, our money is being misused in front of our eyes. Do we want a government that is abusing our money' The Victorian government is simply out of ideas and has put this ‘boot camp’ plan in the spot light to draw attention and keep our minds off the issues of the need for better hospitals, education and public transport. Furthermore, the Brumby government can allocate this money to schools, hospitals and other government departments which would benefit the society more effectively and win votes of many. If somehow the plan is to continue, I suggest Brumby should make it as an option for year 9 students to go to ‘boot camp’ whether they would like to or not. Not all teenagers are violent and ‘off-track’ in life and its not fair on those who haven’t done anything wrong to endure a ‘harsh camp’.