CALCULATING THE TRUE COST OF PRIVATE SCHOOL EDUCATION: BASED ON A SURVEY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SCHOOL FEES

The cost of a child's education should not be a mystery to consumers, yet little has been published about the true costs, and it is no simple task for parents to calculate. This paper seeks to fill a gap in the research literature that exists in relation to informing parents and educationalists alike as to the true cost of private school education. The term cost is used in the economic sense as encompassing not only the price paid for the product (school fees) but also the opportunity cost to the family in terms of what they forego in order to finance private schooling. Identifying opportunity cost is a useful means of assessing the impact of factors, other than financial, that are influential in determining whether or not private education is purchased. From a survey of South Australian private schools, we have been able to provide a detailed account of the price variations between the fees charged, as well as identifying a variety of additional ancillary charges. Based on the survey figures, we have projected the amount of money that needs to be taken out of the family budget in order to pay for a child's private schooling. At the time the survey was conducted the cost of private school education across three strata, on average, ranged from $13,400 to $42,246. We calculated that incremental family pretax incomes of between $20,303 and $64,009 would be required to fund this education. The amounts represent an opportunity cost to a family whereby money could be put to alternative uses such as home renovation, an overseas holiday, or a buffer against unexpected life events. We conclude that the outlay is substantial for many families and that greater transparency of all costs is needed for families to make informed financial plans to accommodate the overall cost of education for their children.     

Eating Its Own: The Whistleblower's Organization in Vendetta Mode

This paper reports on Australia's largest whistleblower study. Specifically it focuses on the experiences of whistleblowers in the Queensland public sector during the Goss Labor government's first term. Rather than being affirmed as good citizen-workers when they took disclosures of wrongdoing to their supervisors within the units in which they worked, the whistleblowers encountered obstruction and vilification. Their experiences offer a rare check-up on the state of workplace dissent.     

Sexual harassment in the heartland? Community opinion on the EEOC suit against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America

The number of sexual harassment cases filed annually with the EEOC has more than doubled, from 6000 in 1990 to over 15,000 in 1996, and monetary settlements reached through the EEOC have risen from $7.7 million in 1990 to $27 million in 1996. This article reports the results of a survey of community responses to the sexual harassment suit filed by the EEOC against the Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturer of America (MMMA), plant in Normal, Illinois. Eighty-seven percent of the respondents reported following the case and half said they believe the women’s claims are legitimate. But when asked to assume that they were a member of the jury hearing the sexual harassment case, only 33 percent said they would find MMMA guilty.     

Spirituality and social work in long-term care

The spiritual aspect of care of elders in long term care has only recently been re-affirmed. A social worker who has volunteered, worked, and consulted in nursing homes shares her perspective on the importance of the "spiritual" to nursing home social work. From the perspective of 40 years of involvement in long term care, she offers suggestions for assessment, education of staff, affirming rights in the religious arena. Workers are encouraged to keep hope alive for themselves as well as for those with whom they work.     

Adoption from care in Northern Ireland: problems in the process

ABSTRACT This is a study of the processes for freeing children for adoption in Northern Ireland. The focus was the time taken from admission to care to adoption order. The findings confirmed that the process is dogged by delay at each stage. In total the average time from the child becoming looked after to the granting of an adoption order was 4.5 years. Most of the time taken was in the stages for which social services had lead responsibility, principally the decision to pursue adoption as the plan for a child. The children were very young when admitted to care – average age 1 year 7 months. Most were admitted to care because they were being neglected. Their parents were well known to social services and had multiple problems. Most parents unsuccessfully contested the social services’ application and this contributed much to the delay. Their former foster parents adopted almost half of the children and these children tended to be placed more quickly with their adopters than those placed with adopters who were not their foster parents prior to the adoption process.     

Adolescents' Expenditure On Alcohol: A Pilot Study

Minimal research has examined the extent to which underage youth access and purchase alcohol. This pilot study investigated adolescents' expenditure on alcohol, and the circumstances in which underage youth access alcohol. A street intercept survey was used to interview 187 young people aged 13 to 17 years in shopping centres in metropolitan and rural Victoria, Australia. Seventy percent of the sample self‐reported that they drink alcohol. Young people were more likely to report that they were drinkers as their income increased. More than one‐third of the sample and over half of drinkers purchased alcohol with their own money, spending on average $22 when they last purchased alcohol. Drinkers obtained their alcohol from a variety of other sources including friends over 18 years old and their parents. This study shows that underage youth have access to and pay for alcohol even if they do not purchase it personally. Further research in this area with a larger sample is clearly warranted to inform both prevention strategies and effective practice.     

Adoptions in West Germany: Attitudes of Social Workers

Correspondence to Dr Martin R. Textor, Hessstrasse, D-8000 München 40, Germany. Summary After a short overview of adoption services in Germany, thelegal situation, and the number of adoptions the results ofinterviews with 117 social workers arc presented. All of themwere responsible for adoptions and worked at agencies of localauthorities or welfare organizations in Bavaria. Their attitudestowards adoption as an alternative to abortion, towards birthmothers, adoptive families, searching adoptees, internationaladoptions, open adoptions, and the placement of children arcexplored. It was found that the attitudes were very heterogeneousand that they had changed during the last 20 years: The respondentsespoused a more positive view of birth mothers and searchingadoptees, considered uncommon groups of applicants (e.g. singles,remarried couples) and children (e.g. handicapped or older ones)for adoption, and took a more positive stance towards half openand open forms of adoption. They did not see adoption as analternative to abortion, were against private adoptions, andstrove for more open forms of adoption.     

What is this Thing called Economic Rationalism?

Anyone well informed on current debate In Australian politics would have heard the term ‘economic rationalism’. It is used frequently in conjunction with such policies as closing down rail services, applying user-pays principles, introducing reforms to higher education, attempting to privatise government-owned assets, and so on. For a long time the term economic rationalism was used on the assumption that we all knew what it meant and how it worked. However, until recently, little writing had been devoted to its underlying assumptions or its implications for wider social and political questions. The main purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how economic rationalism has attempted to transcend the moral or ethical issues that are an inherent part of the social sciences and humanities. Economic rationalism is not just about economics; its precepts, whilst relying on the supposed neutrality of economics, go far beyond the economic into the realm of the social, the political, and the philosophical.     

Tenure Differences in Income and Housing Benefit in Later Life

The first half of this article examines the distribution of income among older people in different housing tenures using secondary analysis of the 1988 Family Expenditure Survey (FES). The use of the term “older household” refers to those where the head of household is aged 55 and over. Income has been adjusted in order to take account of the size and composition of elderly households. The second half of the article examines the effects on the distribution of income when the definition of income is widened to include housing benefit. In 1988 the average weekly income of older households who were owner occupiers was twice that of older households who were renters. While the addition of housing benefit to the definition of income has only a marginal effect in reducing income inequality among all older households it had a more significant impact in reducing income inequalities among older renters more of whom, in comparison to older owner occupiers, were located in the lower income groups.     

Unequal Partners? Local Government Reorganization and the Voluntary Sector

British local government has recently undergone its most far-reaching reorganization for twenty-five years. The impact of this reorganization was considerable within local authorities but it also substantially affected other organizations with which they worked at a local level. This paper explores the perspectives of voluntary sector organizations involved in social care: a set of actors which, prior to reorganization, had been encouraged by central and local government, through notions of partnership and through community care legislation, to undertake more direct roles in service delivery, consultation and strategic planning. During the consultative period prior to reorganization, many voluntary organizations reported that they had been marginal to the process. Reflecting on the process of reorganization itself, many voluntary organization respondents commented that it had been disruptive and provoked considerable anxiety. Post-reorganization, voluntary organizations felt that rebuilding of relationships was necessary and that the promise of partnership had meant little in practice at a time of potential crisis for local.     

Paying for Old Age: Can People on Lower Incomes Afford Domiciliary Care Costs?

The Labour government has made it clear that it will not countenance major changes in the financing of long–term care for older people in England and Wales. One consequence is that people on modest retirement incomes will continue to have to pay for elements of their care in their own homes. The government also implicitly assumes that people of working age, on average and below–average earnings, are expected to save in order to pay for long–term care. However, evidence about individuals' willingness and ability to save and to pay for long–term care is scanty. Accordingly, an interview survey of 100 people—today's and tomorrow's pensioners—was undertaken in June and July 2000. They were asked detailed questions about their financial circumstances, and about their ability to pay more towards their own health and social care costs, now and in the future. The results suggest that today's pensioners on average and lower incomes are experiencing difficulties in paying for care services in their own homes. Tomorrow's pensioners who are currently on average and lower incomes will struggle to pay for care services in their own homes. The results also support the view that people tend to overestimate their retirement incomes and do not understand how long–term care is financed. They think that the government can and should pay for long–term care.     

Monitoring Income Maintenance Policies for Single Mothers

The Supporting Parent's Benefit was introduced in 1973 in an atmosphere of controversy. It provided Australian government support for certain low income groups of mothers with dependent children, for the first time. An attempt has been made in this study to assess the impact of long term income maintenance on these hitherto unsupported mothers. Changes in the population of beneficiaries have been monitored by analysing annual aggregate figures taken at 30 June for the years 1974 to 1979 which were provided by the Department of Social Security. The non-married subgroup which is the largest group of mothers and children is of particular interest. Claims that adolescents have been encouraged to take on the care of their ex-nuptial children simply because financial support is available are not substantiated. However, it is evident that, for more than half the total number of ex-nuptial mothers, Supporting Parent's Benefit must be relied on for a period of many years. This study indicates that this subgroup generally have fewer material resources than the married supporting mothers so that the long term effects of long term low income existence on mothers and children needs to be known in order to gauge the overall results of the introduction of the benefit. The question why some ex-nuptial mothers become independent of support quickly and others do not merits further investigation as it may provide important clues to ways of improving the benefit program.     

Family Visiting with Institutionalized Mentally Impaired Aged

The nature and frequency of interaction between 43 mentally impaired aged residents in a long term care facility and their relatives was studied. It was found that in most cases the frequency of visiting remained stable over time, and in addition, the relatives combined visiting with other tasks-gift giving, assistance with grooming, etc.-on behalf of their family members. The artice includes recommendations for institutional staff help to these relatives as they cope with the continuing decline of the aged person.     

The value of job safety for railroad workers

The value of reducing job risk is estimated using a hedonic wage model and a risk variable that is matched by occupation and state of residence. This study is the first to use the hedonic wage approach to estimate the value of safety in a single industry. Industry-specific estimates will help researchers and labor policymakers better understand the distribution of compensating wage differentials across industries. Our estimated value of job safety for railroad workers is between $21,000 and $26,000 (1980 dollars) per statistical disabling injury, which is somewhat larger than the average of values estimated in previous studies that use cross-industry or crossoccupation aggregate risk data.     

Do Life-Saving Regulations Save Lives?

Life-saving regulations may be counter-productive since they have an indirect mortality effect through the reduction in disposable income. This paper estimates the effect of income on mortality, controlling for the initial health status and a host of personal characteristics. The analysis is based on a random sample of the adult Swedish population of over 40,000 individuals followed up for 10–17 years. The income loss that will induce an expected fatality is estimated to be $6.8 million when the costs are borne equally among all adults, $8.4 million when the costs are borne proportionally to income and $9.8 million when the costs are borne progressively to income.     

The Micro and Macro Dimensions of Gambling in the United States

A national probability sample of 1736 respondents and a Nevada State probability sample of 296 respondents were surveyed during the summer of 1975 to determine the extent of gambling activity in the United States, to estimate the amount of government revenue that could result from various changes in the gambling laws, and to predict the social consequences of these changes. While there were large variations among regions and demographic groups, a majority of all adult Americans gamble. Wagers on commercial games amounted to $22.4 billion in 1974 of which $17 billion was wagered legally and approximately $5 billion illegally.     

Drinking patterns and attitudes about alcohol among New Zealand adolescents

ABSTRACT

Questionnaires about alcohol use were administered to consenting Year 10 students at 10 secondary schools located in regions of Southland, Otago and Hawkes Bay (n?=?579) to examine drinking patterns and attitudes about alcohol of 14–15-year-olds. The average age of first drink was 12.6 years, two years younger than previously reported, with no difference in age of first drink for different socioeconomic statuses or ethnicities. Fifty-four per cent self-reported having consumed alcohol, and 23% had done so at least once within the last four weeks, with 13% reported regularly drinking more than five drinks in one session. While almost half of the 14–15-year-olds in this study reported never drinking alcohol, 75 individuals reported regular binge drinking. This was more common for students in lower socioeconomic schools; almost a third of students in the lowest socioeconomic group reported drinking five or more drinks every time they drink. There may be benefits of alcohol education resources for children as young as 12 years.     

The $74,973 Question: Are Medicare Beneficiaries Informed Users of Private Medical Care Contracts?

Health-care providers are allowed to opt-out of Medicare, privately contract with beneficiaries, and require that beneficiaries pay the full cost of services. Responses from a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries reveal that they lack the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions regarding such contracts. For example, only 4.6% of participants knew the correct answer to a real-life $74,973 question, leaving a full 95.4% vulnerable to paying a large bill, even a $74,973 bill, they should not pay. In addition to advocating that Medicare effectively monitor private medical care contracts, social workers should educate beneficiaries and/or their caregivers on the implications of entering into such contracts or refer them to their State Health Insurance Assistance Program or Senior Medicare Patrol program for expert guidance.     

Towards Accountability in Social Work: Long Term Social Work in an Area Office

Summary This article reports the results of monitoring the social workof two long term teams in an area office throughout one yearwith the help of a computerized Case Review System. It describesthe characteristics of some 1,400 long-term cases of whom 61%were disabled, visually handicapped and/or elderly and 22% presentedproblems related to children and families. One of the outstanding features was the concentration on surveillanceand review visiting which was reported for nearly three quartersof these cases and was considered the most important socialworker activity in two fifths of them. In over half of theselong term situations no change was expected and nearly threequarters of the cases were to remain open indefinitely. Another striking feature was the somewhat uneven distributionof social work resources among the different problem groups.Although the physically disabled and/or elderly outnumberedthe child/family problems by two to one, they made up only 20%of the cases allocated to individual social workers, while almostall the child and family problems were allocated amounting to35% of all individual caseloads. But the disabled and elderlyreceived far more domiciliary services and aids to daily living. This exercise has brought into sharp focus the question of howto ensure continuous support and surveillance for the very frailelderly, as the occasional social work visit did not appearto be the appropriate means of support, rarely anticipatingor averting crises. The data highlight the challenge which chronically disorganizedand disturbed families present to social work skills. The outcomescast doubt on the wisdom of closing, within the intake stageas low priority, relatively early family problems, and on thesharp division into intake and long term teams. The general issue emerging is the need to formulate more precisesocial service strategies for those who require long term careby others to some extent—the very old and frail, the chronicallyphysically and mentally disabled and children in long term care—andwhat specific contributions social workers can usefully maketo this enterprise.     

精彩人生乐章中的不和谐音符——关于报告文学《精彩吴仁宝》的几点质疑

著名作家何建明先生新写的长篇报告文学《精彩吴仁宝》,气势恢宏,文笔优美,展现了一个具有典型意义的共产党员风采,值得一读。然而,令人颇感遗憾的是:文中出现一些与事体情理相悖的细节描写。诸如:1961年华西村人均欠债15 000元问题;吴仁宝在华西村任支部书记的时间是个变数;会计给技术人员扛着麻袋送奖金问题;华西村村名来历问题;华西村党支部组建时间问题;残疾人黄永高两岁时从树上掉下来摔断腿问题;吴仁宝家少领二三亿元奖金问题等等,都似乎有夸大其辞或掺假注水之嫌。使得对歌颂对象有失真之感,其结果只能是欲高则不达,甚至是往先进人物脸上抹了黑,实在有违初衷。究其原因,从作家自身来讲,是对报告文学不能虚构情节的文体要求未能真正把握;从外部环境来说,与时下文界浮躁和掺假文风的浸染有关。