Letters: Your Say

Have Your SayNot humorous
Editor,
Without sounding humourless, this heading is a little like school boy humour behind the toilet block (Mobile mammograms abreast with the times, 15 May 2012).
   I feel a play on words in certain circumstances, such as an item about mammograms, isn't clever, or funny.
   I'd suggest another approach in these circumstances particularly with so many deaths from breast cancer.

H
Commerce
Yahoo serious
Editor,
Is a Uni degree worth it? (The social return on universities, Features 15 May 2012).
   Why not ask Yahoo!!

Brian
Australian Tax Office
Seeing the light
Editor,
I refer to the article ‘Answering the call to be extraordinary” (Personal Development, 15 May 2012) and this quote from it:
   “Often times, we are confounded by our ability to be extraordinary.
   What is it that drives the best of us to accomplish the seemingly impossible?
   Thomas Edison had 1,000 failed attempts before he finally figured out a way to create the electric light bulb.”
   Really?
   Well, if “answering the call to be extraordinary” means stealing someone else’s idea and then passing it off as your own, then, yes, how “extraordinary” of Edison.
   Because Edison didn’t create the light bulb, he actually stole his employee’s work and on-sold it, discrediting his reputation in the process (he later admitted this in his old age).
   The real creator of electric light was infact, Nikola Tesla. Please feel free to look that one up sometime.
   I sincerely hope that successfully passing someone else’s idea off as your own is not considered typical of what passes for “extraordinary ability” in the APS these days.

Annalise
FaHCSIA
In previous editions... Defining ourselves
Editor,
I have no problem with the political correctness of the terms “carer” or “spouse” or “partner” (Language of officialdom devalues ties with those we love and care for most, Talking Point 16 April
2012).
   However, I think an individual is entitled to define themselves in relation to their actual situation.
   I always refer to someone’s “partner” if I am not aware of their situation, however, I happen to have a husband and that’s how I refer to him.
   I don’t think the term is exclusive and if a man has a “husband” or a woman has a “wife” and they want to use those terms, they should.
   My mother was recently recognised as being my father’s [her husband’s] “carer”.
   To her this was a positive recognition of everything she does for him. But she remains his wife.
   Frank’s article is thought provoking.

Karen T
Attorney-General’s
Teachers testy
Editor
I would like to know if all politicians are required to go through a similar yearly performance assessment? (Teachers to pass annual tests, 1 May 2012).
   If not, why not as it is they who have implemented this assessment on teachers?
   How do teachers in lower academic and socioeconomic schools pass such assessments and have the same opportunities as teachers in higher achieving schools?
   How do teachers who have a personality clash with their principal pass these assessments?
   I am not a teacher but based on the claim Mr Garret states “that teaching is a very important role in our communities” I would assume they should be paid in accordance with many other professional positions in our society (but they aren’t).
   I think teaching is a very important role and needs a much higher profile and status recognition than currently exists.

A
Industry NSW
Editor,
Fantastic idea! (Teachers to pass annual tests,1 May 2012).
   Nurses have been having to complete annual Professional Review and Development activities for years.
   It will help acknowledge the best and put a stick of dynamite up the rest.

Matthew R
Health
South Australia
Drink drive data down
Editor,
I am very open to harsher penalties for “driving whilst impaired” but there was no data in this article that would support the recommendation to lower the BAC requirement to .03% (Is a drink driving killing murder?, Talking Point, 1 May 2102).
   I would like to see the statistics for people with .04/5% before applying a potentially ineffectual mitigation measure which may just result in prosecuting vast amounts of innocent people for merely having a glass of wine with dinner.
   I would also note that the BAC threshold in both the UK the USA is currently at .08%.

C
Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
Editor,
William Sproul’s article on drink driving (Is a drink driving killing murder?, Talking Point, 1 May 2102) suffers from not examining its social context.
   Most people in Australia live in situations where they are compelled to drive. This means that crimes committed at the wheel of a car are treated by society as a whole as being “different” from crimes committed in other circumstances.
   Virtually all adults, and not a few minors, are licensed to operate one of the world’s most dangerous pieces of machinery and access is rarely withdrawn, because society couldn’t function if it was.
   What we need is a comprehensive public transport system, including rural buses and a network in the outer suburbs as well as the traditional inner suburban areas, to give everyone a practical non-driving option for the journey they need to make.
   Apart from the benefits usually cited, it would reduce drink-driving, take many disqualified drivers off the road and make it more practical to set appropriately high standards for driver’s licences that at present are virtually distributed in boxes of breakfast cereal.
   Deaths from drink-driving are just the tip of the iceberg.
   The larger problem is the extent of society’s dependence on the private car.

Greg P
Bureau of Statistics
print
pdf
Email a friend



Click to visit the PSshop
Next