Australian students' test scores hit record lows

0:00Thanks for your company this afternoon. Australian high school students have recorded their worst results in international tests for reading and maths with new data revealing many 15-year-olds in New South Wales and now more than two years behind their parents' generation. Joining us on the debrief today, Billy Miller, Vanovich from the Wine Charts podcast in Brisbane and James Lake from SCA News in Melbourne. Good afternoon to both of you. What digital learning is blind for this, heading backwards in the results, do we need to get the tablets and the computers out of the classroom, Billy? I think so. Not just in the classrooms, but in the homes as well. You know, I know when I was a kid that to work out 44 times 38, I had to do it by hand. Nowadays my child just goes to Alexa and asks her, so I think it's really a problem and I think as parents we should all be concerned that, you know, numeracy and literacy are being treated as obsolete skills when really they're not. James, do you think we're telling kids that they probably don't need these skills because

1:02they just look at their iPad or their phone and use chat chat BT? Yeah, I actually think that's one of the biggest problems. There are so many skills that we used to learn because they were necessary though and technology's taken away that necessity. You know, one example is, you used to open a map, learn how to read the map, learn the directions to where you were going and then you just went there. But now you don't have to memorize a map or the directions, you just open up Google maps. So it's skills like that that are being lost and maybe you're not taught in the first place. Yeah, pen and paper, very important. Hey, moving on earlier this week, US President, Donald Trump went on another social media posting spree, sharing an image appearing to claim ownership of the moon and another of next generation US space force uniforms, which have drawn comparisons to fascist regimes. James, they either look like that or be great space movie uniforms. Look, look, I'm not a Trump lover or a hater. I think the whole world's holding its breath until his presidency finishes and this post is really just trying to stir us up, I think.

2:04And these uniform designs look like he kind of got AI to generate them. Yeah, they're not too good. Yeah, they look like something out of some sort of movie. Billy, he's gone for Iceland, he's gone for Greenland, he's gone for Canada. Why not the moon? Listen, I think as Australians, we should shotgun the sun. OK, if so, let's see all the bodies are up for grabs. Then I say we grabbed the sun. OK, we put a little flag on it and we start charging the US tariffs on how much sun they're using. So look, I like it. If we're going to do it, let's just do it. Hey, we love the sun. We just got to use sunscreen. Exactly. Finally, a series of experiments is revealed. Upper class people are more badly behaved than lower class people with psychologists behind the research, finding rich people are more likely to cut people off in traffic, ignore pedestrians, crossings and take lollies meant for children. Billy, is that your experience? Look, I think it's the world's experience at the moment. It starts with stealing candy from a baby and then it ends with stealing the moon from

3:05Maddie. So, you know, I think that is something to be watched for sure. James, do you think people who may not have as much as others probably value things a little bit more? I think they certainly do. They value those lollies in the jar. They value other people. They value their time. I think this is not teaching people a shortcut to being rich and powerful, just to steal lollies and cut people off at intersections and that's how you work your way to the top. Well, there are some examples around. James, Billy, thank you for joining us today. Thank you.