By Zanny Begg
The federal government has launched a new measure aimed at teaching young people their "A B C". The $143-million scheme will link the payment of unemployment benefits for 18 to 24 year olds to their literacy and numeracy levels. From April, those who fail to meet the test will be forced into learning programs or have their benefits cut.
This scheme will do nothing to solve the problem of youth unemployment. Figures released on January 13 reveal that unemployment among young people is now 24.6%. Yet a recent Australian Bureau of Statistic's survey has shown that 15 to 24 year olds have the highest levels of literacy in the Australian population. Clearly the problem for most unemployed young people is not their literacy and numeracy skills but the lack of jobs.
Rather than reduce the high level of unemployment for young people, the government's scheme will single out the most disadvantaged young people in the job market — early school leavers, people who use English as a second language and Aboriginal youth — for "special treatment". Young people who "fail the test" will be coerced into a 40-week learning program or be cut off the dole.
There will be no particular test set by the government, but an idea of what questions will be asked is provided by the Australian Council of Education and Research comprehension test (see box).
'White Australia' welfare policy?
For people who use English as a second language this test may not be easy. The government claims that the intention of the legislation is to help these young people "learn English". But if the government was serious about helping migrants' literacy skills, why did it freeze funding to the migrant employment training program in July 1996?
For indigenous young people the test contains many western cultural assumptions. Currently, only 29% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people complete 12 years of schooling. Compulsory literacy and numeracy programs (devised by private course providers) will only further alienate these people from the education process.
Blaming the victim
Public funding for secondary education remains inadequate. Class sizes have grown as the teacher-student ratio has dropped. In this environment, many young people who have learning difficulties leave school in frustration.
Increasing the level of funding for public education would do a lot more to assist these young people than implementing a compulsory learning program after they have joined the dole queue.
Education minister David Kemp has denied the policy is punitive. But what could be more punitive then linking a person's ability to eat to their ability to read, write and count. If implemented, the dole test will only teach young people that the government's "A B C" stands for Absolute Bastard Capitalists.