Life In Australia

Queensland, like the rest of Australia, is chronically short of engineers, accountants, scientists and maths teachers.

The situation looks set to worsen.

According to the Courier Mail, it seems that large numbers of Year 11 and 12 (lower and upper 6th form) students in Queensland and Australia are avoiding advanced mathematics, opting instead for the elementary variety.

Good news for British school kids who one day might want to come here? Perhaps ………… except we know from recent statistics that not many British kids are interested in learning maths either.

So who is it good news for? I imagine students from India and the Far East who know the value of hard learning will prosper.

In Queensland, more than half of all Year 12 students are studying maths A – the easiest maths course.

37.1 percent are studying maths B, the intermediate subject while just 8.4 percent have opted for maths C, the advanced subject.

In 1995, 14.1 percent of students took maths C, dropping to 11.7 percent in 2004.

According to Professor Garth Gaudry, over the past decade, there has been a mass movement into elementary maths, posing a serious threat to the nation’s capacity to compete internationally.

“The nation is at risk of a dire shortage of mathematically-trained people.”

Professor Tony Bracken, head of Mathematics at the University of Queensland said the University of Queensland’s decision to drop Maths C as a prerequisite for engineering was one of the major influences contributing to the fall off in Maths C Queensland schools.

But, he said, engineering students who had not studied Maths C at school had to complete a make-up course as part of their engineering studies.

Professor Gaudry said university entrance scores should offer greater rewards to students who opted for more difficult subjects.

“Most universities have softened entrance requirements and dropped prerequisites. They are underplaying the level of mathematics essential to undertake many degrees successfully.”

You would think I’d be used to Aussie English after two years. Well I’m not. I understand it, but some words don’t sound right.

Lolly is a case in point.

To me a lolly will always be something on a stick that comes out of the freezer. We used to make our own lollies by freezing orange juice onto sticks. If you want this sort of treat in Australia, you’ll need to ask for an iceblock. Our eldest’s favourite is lemonade iceblocks.

When an Australian talks about a lolly, they’re meaning something that I’d call a sweetie or a sweet – like Smarties or Fruit Gums or such like.

Onto more healthy issues – like vitamins. Aussies don’t say vitamins (so that vit rhymes with sit) they say “vytamins” (so that the vit rhymes with bite). Very odd sounding to Pommie ears.

They’re not common in the UK, but in Australia, Sausage Sizzles are very popular.

People grill sausages outdoors and serve them on long rolls / buns with generous amounts of tomato ketchup.

Sausage sizzles are used for all sorts of fundraising activities. My daughter’s school has them every so often, as do many societies and charities.

Now a row has blown up because of the “un-Australian” attitude of Gold Coast City Council. The council has refused a permit for a lifesaving club to have sausage sizzles on the esplanade – which they have traditionally done every Sunday in summer.

Whichever way they dispute is eventually resolved, it crystallised in my mind another Australian cultural icon – the sausage sizzle.

Australia has already exported the “barbie” to the UK – but not, unfortunately, typical barbie weather. I wonder how long it will take for the sausage sizzle to catch on in Britain?