An interesting media release
Despite all the ideologically-motivated effort that Left-leaning teachers and others put into getting girls into science, it is notable that the only entrant worth mentioning in the recent science competition were both of immigrant origin -- a Chinese and a Gujurati (North Indian).
I have noted on various occasions that different evolutionary pressures in different societies could well foster a different distribution of mental abilities in those countries. The way Chinese and Indians dominate High School exam results in Australia certainly supports the view that Caucasians, Chinese and Indians are intellectually distinct populations and should be studied separately. What is true of one may not be true of all.
The current findings are certainly well in line with that view. They certainly do not encourage the view that Caucasian girls have scientific potential on par with their brothers
Teen girl bags gold medal in International Science Olympiads
Science Olympiad girls sweep eight medals including one gold and break Australia’s record at the International Physics Olympiad
YiJie Neo, a Year 12 student from John Monash Science School in Melbourne, has won a gold medal in the International Earth Science Olympiad in France, bringing the Australian team medal haul to 17 at the UNESCO-sanctioned 2017 International Science Olympiads.
YiJie competed against more than 100 students from 29 countries, and finished in the top 10 per cent of Earth Science students in the world. The competition involved two theory exams and four practical tests covering the topics of atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and astronomy.
Another Australian team member, Nishka Tapaswi, a Year 12 student from Hornsby Girls’ High School, set a new record by being the first girl to bring home a silver medal from the International Physics Olympiad, which was held this year in Indonesia. She competed against 400 students from 86 countries and was Australia’s sole silver medallist in the tough Physics competition.
YiJie and Nishka were two of the eight girls and nine boys who made the teams to represent Australia at the 2017 International Science Olympiads in Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science and Physics.
“This is an outstanding achievement for Australia. We are delighted that our female Science Olympians raised the bar in a field that has too few female representatives,” says Ruth Carr, Executive Director of Australian Science Innovations.
“Our impressive medal haul this year is testament to our Science Olympians’ hard work and the program’s ability to not only nurture Australia’s top science students’ passion and talent for science, but also to break down gender stereotypes in science-related fields,” says Carr.
The students spent a year in exams and intensive training before competing on the international stage. They outperformed 5,015 other students from more than 300 schools in the qualifying exams, making a shortlist of 93 to attend a two-week summer school at the Australian National University in preparation for the International Science Olympiad competitions.
The Australian Science Olympiad program is run by Australian Science Innovations and is funded through the Australian Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda, with support from the Australian National University.
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Sydney Muslim sheikh says Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is 'worse than ISIS'
Burmese Buddhists definitely don't like Bengali Muslims and are basically trying to expel them from their country. But who does like Muslims? Most Muslim countries won't take Muslim refugees. It is only foolishly tolerant Western countries who take them. In the case of the Rohingyas even the government of their ancestral country, Bangladesh, doesn't want them. Muslims are great at fighting with one-another so you can understand why Bangladesh does not want them. In this case, however, Turkey seems willing to take some of them so let us leave them to Turkey. They are definitely not our problem
A Sydney Muslim sheikh has suggested a female Nobel Peace Prize winner is a bigger terrorist than ISIS. Aung San Suu Kyi spent almost two decades under house arrest before becoming Myanmar's de facto leader last year.
However, Islamist groups worldwide are campaigning against the former political prisoner and democracy campaigner as ethnic Rohingyas, who are mainly Muslim, flee Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh.
Almost 125,000 of these stateless people have fled via northern Myanmar since the military began a brutal crackdown on Rohinya militants almost two weeks ago.
Sydney Muslim sheikh Bilal Dannoun has described the violence against the Rohingyas as a bigger atrocity than ISIS.
'The massacres of ISIS are far less than that of the Myanmars towards the Muslims,' he told his 626,000 Facebook followers.
The 43-year-old Islamic lecturer and marriage celebrant even suggested Australia should be more concerned about Myanmar, also known as Burma, than Islamic State.
'Should not governments campaigning against these terrorists be greater than the campaigns against ISIS?' he asked.
The Australian Defence Force has launched airstrikes on Syria and northern Iraq since 2014 when US-led forces started taking on ISIS.
When it comes to Myanmar, Australia began to relax trade restrictions with the south-east Asian nation in 2013 as the military junta took steps to improve its poor human rights record.
However, Ms Suu Kyi has become defensive when asked about state-sponsored violence against the Rohingyas.
She told Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday she knew what it was like to be under house arrest for almost two decades, after her National League for Democracy won a landslide election victory in 1990. 'We know very well, more than most, what it means to be deprived of human rights and democratic protection,' she said.
'So we make sure that all the people in our country are entitled to protection of their rights as well as the right to, and not just political, but social and humanitarian defence.'
However, she continues to deny the stateless Rohingyas citizenship in Myanmar.
SOURCE
Dick Smith ‘bloody angry’ over ABC segment
DICK Smith is furious over a Wednesday night segment on the ABC’s The Drum which the outspoken entrepreneur claims was “full of lies”.
Mr Smith, who this week announced he would launch attack ads against the national broadcaster for “treasonous” bias in the debate over Australia’s population growth, said he was “unbelievably angry” after watching the segment.
The episode featured host Julia Baird, Choice chief executive Alan Kirkland, marketing strategist Toby Ralph, Institute of Public Affairs author Georgina Downer and Fairfax journalist Mark Kenny. “It was just full of lies,” Mr Smith said.
Last month, Mr Smith launched a $1 million advertising campaign calling for Australia’s annual migration intake to be scaled back from 200,000 to the long-term average of 70,000, in order to stabilise the population under 30 million.
Mr Smith took issue with being characterised on The Drum as “anti-immigration”, with panellists describing his anti-ABC advertising campaign as a “stunt”, and with claims that he would donate $2 million to One Nation.
“All they have to do is give me one phone call,” he said. “Nobody says to them, ‘Have a look at the ad first, look at his Fair Go Manifesto.’ They come on with lie after lie. I’ve never had an anti-immigration ad, the ad was about perpetual growth. I have always been unbelievably pro-immigration — it’s why our country is so fantastic — but at 70,000 per year, the long-term average.”
He reiterated that the anti-ABC ads were not a stunt. “It was part of my continuing campaign that you need to have a discussion on population,” he said. “I’m going down there at 4.30pm and going to ask to be on the show.
“They probably won’t let me on because they have to hand-pick all of these people who basically just spruik growth for some reason. There is obviously some direction at the ABC that anyone who doubts growth must be racist.”
And he described the suggestion that he would donate $2 million to One Nation as a “distortion”. “No one has ever said to me, ‘Would you give money to Pauline Hanson?’,” he said.
“My plan is to run an advertising campaign in marginal seats to support whoever has a population policy, and I’m utterly convinced by [the next election] I will have one of the major parties with a population policy.”
During the episode, panellists suggested Mr Smith’s anti-ABC attack had forced the broadcaster to discuss his positions. “Maybe one of the reasons the ABC and indeed all the other media outlets have not covered this to date is because it’s not a really well founded argument,” Mr Kirkland said.
“If you look at migration, predominantly people who arrive here are better educated than the rest of us, their kids do better at school, they’re generally of workforce age ... which delays the impact of an ageing population.
“So we’re getting a lot out of migration at the moment. It’s geared towards delivering what employers need, and that’s what fuels the economy. It’s been one of the most consistent forces driving economic growth in Australia decade upon decade.”
Mr Kirkland said the real issue was infrastructure had not kept pace with immigration. “Cutting immigration won’t do it, we just need to plan better for the impacts of immigration on demand for services,” he said.
In a statement, an ABC spokeswoman said panellists were “invited on to talk about a variety of topics, their opinions are their own and we don’t control what they say”. “The panellists last night ... expressed a range of views on Dick Smith and all topics, and Mr Smith’s campaign on population was fully covered,” she said.
“It was a graphic from the Nine Network that used the term ‘anti-immigration’. The discussion around Mr Smith donating money to One Nation was based on Mr Smith’s comments, which have been widely reported. The ABC did not distort Mr Smith’s comments.”
It came as Mr Smith announced he had joined a political party for the first time in his life — but categorically ruled out running for office. “There is no chance I’m running,” he said.
Sustainable Australia, which shares Mr Smith’s views on cutting the migration intake, is hoping the high-profile support will get it over the 750-member line needed by next month to register a NSW state party in time for the March 2019 elections.
Party president and founder William Bourke, who pulled in 6.5 per cent of the vote when he ran for Joe Hockey’s North Sydney seat at the 2015 by-election, said Sustainable Australia was on a “massive recruitment drive”.
Sustainable Australia currently has more than 1000 members federally and about 375 in NSW. “We’re really confident of making the 750, especially with Dick Smith,” he said. “It’s free to join at the moment, and memberships have already started rolling in the door this morning.”
Mr Bourke, who believes the party can land multiple candidates into the NSW upper house, said Mr Smith had been a “friend of the party for several years”.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to convince Dick to run, but there’s a whole lot of water to go under the bridge,” he said. “We’ve got a whole range of high-profile candidates and many people that are approaching us now that Dick’s formally on board.”
While immigration is a federal issue, Mr Bourke said there were a number of ways state governments could “push back”. “States do have significant input into the immigration issue,” he said.
“State governments make agreements with the Immigration Department to set up international migration programs, so states can withdraw from those agreements. They can put pressure on the federal government to say, ‘This is overloading our cities, suburbs and towns, overdevelopment is a problem and our environment is suffering.’”
Mr Bourke said while property development was an important industry, it was “dominating our economy and it shouldn’t be”. “We need to diversify the economy and invest excessive capital that’s currently going into property into our factories, farms and small businesses,” he said.
“The sooner you move away from an unsustainable property Ponzi the easier it will be to transition to a sustainable and prosperous economy.”
SOURCE
Mother claims schools are wrong to teaching students about sex and masturbation
A VICTORIAN mother has claimed schools were wrong for teaching students about sex and masturbation.
Marijke Rancie made an explosive video last month about how the Safe Schools program is trying to “erase gender” and reappeared on Mark Latham’s Outsiders program this week fuming about students using plasticine vaginas in a class about masturbation.
The woman known online as ‘Political Posting Mummy’ told the former Labor leader that her son — who is in year 7 — came home upset after the lesson.
“They were given things like plasticine and pipe cleaners and obviously I thought, ‘this is health class’,” she said. “Are we talking reproductive system? What are we doing here?
“It was very clear it was made as a sexual organ. So he had to sculpt it, as he knew it, and then he was redirected to make a clitoris and the labia. “Really? Thirteen years old and he said to me, ‘Mum, it was really creepy’.”
Audio was played on the Outsiders program from the sex education class. “It’s very easy for boys. There’s a penis and I touch it,” a female adult is heard saying. “For girls it’s a little bit different. Do girls masturbate? Yes.”
A Victorian Department of Education and Training spokesman said there was a lot of misinformation being presented to the community about this topic.
“Sex education has been taught in Victorian government schools for decades,” he said. “School-based sexuality education is one of the learning and teaching responsibilities a school undertakes to equip its students for a healthy life.
“Sexuality education is delivered in an age-appropriate manner in line with students’ ages, abilities and emotional development, taking into consideration the needs and context of the school community.
“In the primary years, sexuality education focuses on understanding our bodies, how they grow and change, age appropriate information on how babies are conceived, pregnancy and puberty, as well as help seeking.
“In the secondary years, sexuality education has more of a focus on puberty, safe sex and minimising risk, contraception, healthy relationships and help seeking.
“The Department of Education and Training provides evidence-based teaching and learning resources for teachers to use as they see fit to support delivery of comprehensive sexuality education.”
But Ms Rancie — a member of the Australian Liberal Party and Australian Christian Lobby — has slammed the Safe Schools program.
In a video posted online last month, Ms Rancie claimed children were exposed to dildos in the classroom and they were being taught how to masturbate with household items. “I kid you not, the rumours about this program are 100 per cent true — the program sexualises children,” Ms Rancie claimed in her online rant.
“Safe Schools is teaching your children anal sex and anal sex positions. It’s teaching them STIs like it’s no big deal. The concept is hyper, hyper-sexual. I’m not OK with that. This is grooming.”
Ms Rancie has attended anti-Safe Schools forums alongside Cella White, the woman who made headlines for appearing in an anti same-sex marriage ad.
She claimed her son’s school, Frankston High School, told him he could wear a dress and use female toilets. She was also outraged her child was told to refer to a transgender person by their requested pronoun.
“What is the benefit to my son? He’s got a learning disability, he’s struggling with his times tables, he doesn’t need to deal with this,” she told the Herald Sun last year.
At the time Frankston High School principal John Albiston said the school accepted all students and people regardless of cultural origin, disabilities and gender.
“Joining the Safe Schools Coalition is about informing staff and learning how these young people can be supported — we are not encouraging boys to wear dresses or do anything different to what they’ve always done,” he said.
According to Fairfax Media, a number of others have joined Ms Rancie and Ms White on the frontline to fight the Safe Schools program.
Former councillor Christine Stow who ran a Safe Schools “information session”, former Liberal candidate Moira Deeming and Liberal member Vikki Fitzgerald have teamed up against Safe Schools. Other mothers Paige Yap and Rosemary Wheeler are also involved.
Earlier this year Ms Fitzgerald passed out a leaflet in Education Minister James Merlino’s electorate on behalf of the Parents Speaking Out Group.
Fairfax Media reports a number of the woman also voiced support for federal MP Michael Sukkar, a conservative who has spoken at an anti-Safe Schools forum for the Chinese community.
A flyer advertising the forum made false claims the Safe Schools program encouraged school students to act like homosexuals and bisexuals “so that they will conform to new age ideas of gender”.
The Victorian education department has been contacted for comment.
SOURCE
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