The Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research at the University of Sydney says she will discourage her daughter from studying an Aboriginal language at high school because it’s in her best interest.
Professor Jakelin Troy, a Ngarigu woman from the Snowy Mountains says the move to include Aboriginal languages in the HSC is an extraordinary step forward. Although she admits to being disappointed that the that Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards did not work with universities to ensure that language studies will count towards a student’s Australian Tertiary Admission Rank.
Dr Troy has told NITV that she’s passionate about her language and would love her daughter to study it although not at the expense of compromising her ability to gain entry to a university.
She says with the number of Aboriginal students vying for university places increasing each year, students will be faced with a distressing choice – between studying an Aboriginal language and potentially jeopardising their overall admission rank to qualify for tertiary education.