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Today I finished the final piece of assessment (an online exam) for what is the Development Psychology course at Auckland University (for want of a better name). It's been a pretty grueling procedure overall, partially because the course content is rather odd, to say the least, and partially because my assigned assessor has been rather boxed-in in their own evaluations. For the former what I mean is the content doesn't really match what is written on the tin; there is an over-emphasis on early childhood development (which is important, granted), about the right amount on adolescent development, virtually nothing on adult development until old age (so often the course jumped from 20 to 64 with very little in-between), too much content on clinical cases (again, important, but relatively rare), and too many examples without coherent results (a meta-analysis with formal pragmatic methodology would help enormously). Anyway, it's done now and I'll move on to the far more scientific and objective study of the brain for the final unit.
As a relevant segue, a few days prior attended a rather spectacular dinner and function for Wesa Chau's campaign for Prahran with a guest speaker, the Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth, Dr Anne Aly. Naturally enough, there was quite the collection of MPs present, current and former. Why is this all relevant? Because in addition to being a tireless advocate for cultural diversity, Wesa is also very sensitive to disability and mental health issues having previously worked in that sector. For their own part, Dr. Anne Aly's ministerial role means there's a Federal Office for Youth for the first time since 2013, a matter which peak youth mental health research groups like the Orygen Institute could not help but mention. On the night Dr Aly made the very pertinent point that this Federal government is the most diverse in history and, whilst a very long way from optimal, is much more reflective of the actual make-up of Australian society. A reflective diversity in government is necessary for social cohesion and a sense of belonging by members of a community and without it, even in a nominal democracy, the continuous feeling of alienation felt by those not present is quite harmful.
As a relevant segue, a few days prior attended a rather spectacular dinner and function for Wesa Chau's campaign for Prahran with a guest speaker, the Federal Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth, Dr Anne Aly. Naturally enough, there was quite the collection of MPs present, current and former. Why is this all relevant? Because in addition to being a tireless advocate for cultural diversity, Wesa is also very sensitive to disability and mental health issues having previously worked in that sector. For their own part, Dr. Anne Aly's ministerial role means there's a Federal Office for Youth for the first time since 2013, a matter which peak youth mental health research groups like the Orygen Institute could not help but mention. On the night Dr Aly made the very pertinent point that this Federal government is the most diverse in history and, whilst a very long way from optimal, is much more reflective of the actual make-up of Australian society. A reflective diversity in government is necessary for social cohesion and a sense of belonging by members of a community and without it, even in a nominal democracy, the continuous feeling of alienation felt by those not present is quite harmful.
