As a child I dreamed of being an academic. Either that or a monk – a vocation for which, on several grounds, I proved unqualified. I pictured academe as a contemplative life of gracious courtyards, vigorous conversation and pondered meanings; exhilarating mind-work dedicated to building scholarship and passing it to new generations. Sure, it was a tad Oxbridge-romantic but no more elitist than MasterChef or nippers. I was 10. I thought that was what you did if you loved ideas. How wrong I was.
UTS proposes to treat women as intellectual cripples, inherently less capable than men of clearing this particular intellectual hurdle. Feminist? Hardly. Feminism respects women’s womanness. This makes being female a category of special needs.It devalues existing women engineering students and graduates by tarring them with the same “well, of course, you had a leg up” perceptual brush.
But the core principle is this. If you change the selection process, you should change it for everyone. The result was an avalanche of unintended consequences, a catastrophe whose true dimensions we are just now starting to perceive.Dawkins’ reforms, drawn from Friedrich Hayek’s monetarism, presumed that the market was the universal model and any type of service provision other than user pays amounted to communism. Such was the “new left” weirdness that this was sold as a blow for egalitarianism. Everyone, they argued, had a right to a degree.
At the same time, and just as inevitably, universities have proved unable to deliver the higher salaries presumed by the user-pays HECS model. Indeed, as a, many university graduates would have benefited more – in material terms – by learning a trade at TAFE.
Universities are now a joke all I care about is numbers through the door and money in the kitty for them massive property portfolios. The quality of students particularly in the engineering field has been disgusting getting lower over the last twenty years
Before too long they will probably start weighting ATAR's by diversity
The majority of university students in Australia are female already - we won't be happy until that number is 100% and there are no men in the workplace
UTSEngage has turned it’s female students in second class citizens and laughing stocks. This is the most sexist and demeaning policy imaginable. UTS what were you thinking? Sydney
Not necessarily...when you consider that women may consider other career options based on similar ATAR results required for course applications available to them & incentive is simply to entice more women into Engineering careers where needed.
Why are we exporting education to foreign students Then importing these very same skills
Back to formal entrance exams tailored to faculties and courses - oh but wait furring students would fail without good command of English language
'Feminism respects women’s womanness. This makes being female a category of special needs.' Ill-conceived policy. iansburnett UTSEngage UTSFEIT EngAustralia
With all the new buildings in Australia cracking and crumbling may be a good idea to raise the entry 10 points for engineers.
I am legitimately shocked - an (apparently) sensible perspective offered by The Age...
+C+C2