The Finance Bible

ZG #4 - Australia's Education System Plummeting 1/2: Exposing the Collapse (Part 2/12)

• Zeke Guenthroth

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Australia’s school system is broken — and the numbers don’t lie.

In this episode, Zeke Guenthroth is joined by education advocate and guest speaker Curtis Piper to dissect the crisis consuming our classrooms. From plummeting literacy to ideological agendas replacing basic knowledge, our schools have shifted from institutions of excellence to breeding grounds of confusion, underachievement, and social decay.

🔍 What you’ll learn:

  • Why 1 in 3 Year 9 students now fail to meet minimum reading standards (NAPLAN)
  • How Australia fell behind the OECD in reading, maths, and science (PISA results)
  • The hidden costs of abandoning discipline, exams, and male role models in schools
  • The truth about OBE (Outcome-Based Education) and why it failed
  • How gender politics and emotional fragility replaced resilience and excellence
  • Why suspension rates are soaring, especially for boys, and what's behind it
  • The cultural rot from replacing facts with feelings in the curriculum
  • Why financial literacy, mental toughness, and masculinity are missing — and matter

💬 “We went from chalkboards and discipline to TikTok and safe spaces. And we wonder why our youth are more anxious, less literate, and completely lost.”

This is not just an education issue — it’s a national identity crisis. This episode is part two of Zeke’s twelve-part season exposing the collapse of Australian culture and calling for a bold, honest rebuild.

This is not just about bad grades — it's about the future of our country.

🔗 Listen now and join the movement:
🎧 Website: https://assetroad.com.au/the-finance-bible/

📢 Found this valuable?
Share it with someone who’s ready for honest conversation. The longer we wait to address these fundamental issues, the harder they become to solve.
Australia’s identity crisis demands our attention now — before the qualities that made our nation great disappear entirely.

DISCLAIMER:
The information in this podcast is general in nature and does not constitute personal advice. It does not take into account your individual objectives, situation, or needs. Always consider whether the information is appropriate for you and seek professional advice where necessary.

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Zeke Guenthroth:

Australia's education system is failing not just on paper but in practice, and the fallout isn't just about low grades. It's about broken discipline, confused identities and an entire generation of kids being misled. In this episode of the Finance Bubble, I sit down with a fellow young man, curtis Piper, who was a high performer at my high school. We sit down and unpack the uncomfortable truth behind the classroom collapse. The uncomfortable truth behind the classroom collapse. We'll expose the damage caused by outcome-based education, break down how schools went from teaching maths to pushing ideology, and reveal the behavioural crisis affecting both teachers and students, from falling PISA scores and skyrocketing suspension to the disappearance of male teachers and the rise of classroom gender politics. We lay it all on the table. This is part two of our 12-part cultural deep dive, and we're not just pointing fingers. We're preparing to fix what's broken. Hit, play and let's talk about how to rebuild our schools, our kids and our country.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Welcome back to another episode of the Finance Bible Podcast. You joined with myself, zeke, and your co-host, oscar. But before we get into it, please note that nothing in this podcast should ever be considered as personal financial advice. But if that is what you are seeking, get in touch, let us know and we will hook you up with the correct professionals. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Let's get into it.

Zeke Guenthroth:

And here we are. We're back for another episode Today. We're joined by Curtis Piper. As you probably would have heard in the trailer, this young man was actually one of my classmates. He was in school with me for quite a while and he was a delight to have around the classroom. So we've got him on here today to get his opinion and he he's welcome to share, welcome, wow. Thank you very much for having me. This is amazing. I'm privileged and honored to be here with you. Oh, the privilege is mine. Now let's just jump straight into it. Let's skip all the semantics and the introductions and the fun.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Um, ultimately, when we were in high school, you know, I obviously wasn't the most behaved man in the room. Sure, you, on the other hand, remained in class and you got to sort of experience the true teachings yeah, that's right when, ultimately, what you learned wasn't really up to scratch. There's certainly subjects that are good and they perform well, but there's other things that sort of don't perform so well, and that was a decade ago. Things have gotten worse since we've left school. Yeah, and that's scary, isn't it? Yeah, because it wasn't wonderful when we were there. No, like, I mean, there's so many things that I wish we learned that. We didn't. There's many things we learned where I was like what are we doing? Why am I here? But ultimately we require national excellence and we're not hitting the mark anymore. We used to do pretty well education-wise back in the day. We're just on a never-ending falling trajectory and it's terrible, and not just academically, socially, mentally, financially, everything. This is part of a 12-part series where we're going to be diving into a bunch of different issues in Australia, so you'll probably see more as we go on.

Zeke Guenthroth:

All right, but jumping straight in, like PISA rankings, which is the Program for International Student Assessment, it's been going downhill. You know, in 2000, we were ranked fourth in reading and 11th in math. By 2022, they've dropped pretty rapidly 17th in reading and 29 in math Wow, from fourth to 17th math wow, from 4th to 17th, yeah, and 11th to 29th. So how that happened? I mean, there's plenty of ways to figure it out, but that is a huge drop. You've gone like 22 years is not a long amount of time in the education scheme of things. Like australia's been around for a while, schools have been around for a while. What drastic changes have happened in that time to propel us to be in such a negative environment and a down pit like just falling. As I said, um exactly naplan, for example. Do you recall doing naplan in school? I do remember doing the naplan test. Yes, there was multiple, and I also remember making it not compulsory.

Curtis Piper:

Yes, that's right.

Zeke Guenthroth:

I think that might have happened in primary school, actually, because people were getting stressed. They didn't want to do them. Well, okay, whatever. But the last NAPLAN 2022, that we've got statistics on publicly available 33% give or take. Statistics on publicly available 33% give or take of year nine students did not meet the minimum literacy standard. That is a significant number for year nine students. So one third of people can't meet the minimum reading capability, the minimum reading. That's ridiculous. How is this happening? I actually don't know the answer to that.

Curtis Piper:

That's all we're here to find out. That is a jarring number in statistics to have in Australia.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Yeah, we're meant to be a good country, one of the best in competing in the education system. You would assume Absolutely Like I would not walk around and look at people and go one, two, three, oh, he can't read. One, two, three, he can't read. Wow, that one, two, three, oh, he can't read. One, two, three, he can't read. Wow, that is yeah. So every third person you walk past I mean that's young, because it used to be better. Um, you can pretty much go, probably can't read, so it's not good.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Um and oecd comparison, so that's a basically 38 countries that come together, mostly like um, higher performing countries. You, you know, like UK's in there, us's in there, we're in there, just a bunch of countries like us. We are getting outperformed by countries that have much less economic wealth than us, like they're not as prevalent, might I say. So Poland, estonia, singapore are dominating us Really. Yeah, singapore, probably one of the top performers in education, and we are just not there anymore. Well, that's really good for Singapore, but I think Australia could then learn from its neighbouring country how we could then improve our education system. Surely Would you not do that if you were Australian? I would there you go. You would sit down and you'd go okay, we're failing as a nation educationally. What have we got that is different to other places and what's getting taught? What's not getting taught Exactly? You'd sit down, you'd monitor their curriculum and you'd introduce it and change it and do the same for us.

Curtis Piper:

Precisely, that's exactly what we should be doing.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Well, that's the first part of it. So just a little background on what's going on. But next we move on to a bit more of interesting topics, which is OBE, outcome-based education, which was in place when we were in school, curriculum decline and a little bit of ideological teaching as well, which has come into effect in recent years, predominantly since we left, that came in. I don't really recall too much of it. There's definitely some issues where, um, we'll dive into them soon enough. I think it was just beginning on our way, yeah it was yeah, absolutely.

Zeke Guenthroth:

But I do remember there was a few times like we we would be sat down, they'd segregate the boys and the girls. The boys go to the big tin shed, the girls go to the hall and we'd get different discussions. We'd have police come in and tell us not to send nudes and that we shouldn't harass girls and stuff.

Curtis Piper:

That's right. Yes, I do remember those.

Zeke Guenthroth:

It was basically I don't know about you, but my experience was I felt like you guys are doing the wrong thing all the time.

Curtis Piper:

Like I was a villain.

Zeke Guenthroth:

We're here to tell you you're all naughty, stop, right, yeah, no-transcript. Yeah, you'd been put in this category where it's like, okay, I'm in the wrong regardless, right, yeah, terrible. But there was a major shift from linear to you know. Linear being exam-based learning or testing to outcome based, non-linear testing and learning. So, for example, outcome based and non-linear would be things like um english, or short answers, or long form answers as opposed to you know um, or assignments as opposed to like a test, where you've got multiple choice short answers and answers requiring like a specific answer, as opposed to an attempt to answer a thing.

Zeke Guenthroth:

So outcome based is like did you explain your point? Yes, yes, here's a point, whereas back in the day it was this is the answer. Did you give it it Exactly? No, you were wrong. So that started changing. I mean, western Australia introduced it in the 1990s and then it was adopted nationwide. It's more just demonstrating silly things Like you get vague assessment rubrics. Grade inflation occurred drastically after the introduction and men actually started going down because men are very linear, not non-linear. So that's why we still dominate things like mathematics. Yes, because we're very like bang, it's there like that. Is it structured thinking of?

Zeke Guenthroth:

yeah point a to point b and exactly um, whereas we do terrible in english because it's very wishy-washy. You know it's a scoozy, it's a fiazzy. I hear that.

Curtis Piper:

Yes.

Zeke Guenthroth:

So I like that one, do you? It's a bit of Wolf of Wall Street reference for anyone having a listen that doesn't know what's going on right now. But ultimately it declined any academic like competitiveness. Right, and on this note as well, my little sister just finished her HSC last year, as you were probably aware. In math they started getting assignments. How can you make assignments for maths Pretty much just an exam, but they do it at home Really. Yeah, that's interesting.

Zeke Guenthroth:

She was telling me she was doing a math assignment and she wanted help with a question and I was like hang on, a minute, rewind, retweet. What did you? Just say yeah, and she's like oh, it's an assignment. And I was like in mathematics, how is that possible? I was like how mathematics, how is it possible? Like, how well. I used to sit there and do it in my head and I'd get actually another thing sidetracked doing assignments, uh, exams, even for math when we were there, was dumb, because you would be one mark for getting the right answer and one mark for showing you're working out, and I would. I'm the kind of person that I'm just good at math. I get an answer, I look at something, I go bang, bang, there's this, and then it'd be like I have to show my working out, to show how I think, how everyone else thinks, and I couldn't do it, so I'd just write like the that was an interesting concept that the education system had, where you had to prove was it proof?

Zeke Guenthroth:

as if they thought we were cheating. Perhaps no, no, no, I think it was to see your thinking right. So you had to try to show that you demonstrated the thought pattern that was required to get the answer. Okay, I don't know what else it would be and would they mark you down. I wonder if you got to the right answer from a different form of thinking, perhaps like you gave a brand new answer. Yeah, I get, I get what you're saying. Like as in you, you get the answer, but you do it in a weird way.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Yeah I don't know I don't know if that is accepted or not, but I um, I used to get the answer and then I just rewrite the question, like you know, if it was something like 450 dumb example but 450 plus 25. Yeah, I just wrote 450 plus 25 equals 475. But then it's like but that's not good enough working out and I would lose a grade for it.

Curtis Piper:

Really.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Yeah, every time. Oh, that's yeah. Okay, I think I'm understanding what you mean. Interesting, yeah, like you shouldn't have to think about that and you shouldn't have to write down how you did it. It should just be that's the answer.

Zeke Guenthroth:

And then, like division, you know how they wanted you to do, like you'd write the number on top, then you'd have a line and then you'd write like another number, and then you'd do all these little squiggles and you're like taking a one or plusing a one or whatever. I hated that. About long division yes, yeah, I never did that, I just did the answer. Yeah, but I wouldn't show that because I didn't do it and I would lose the mark again. Um, yeah, but the assignments for mathematics I just said to her, like why can't you do this exact thing but in class? And she's like that's not what we have to do anymore. I was like, do you still have blackboards? She's like, yes, we do. Um, but, yeah, such an interesting concept. They. They've pretty much completely removed all competitive environment and any like stress creator or like any pressure cooker system, yeah, and moved it. So I mean that is fascinating how they've done that.

Curtis Piper:

Yeah, if you.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Is it because have they seen someone else do that? Or is Australia kind of making things up and thinking, wow, our kids are kind of having a bit of trouble? And they thought, all right, well, let's put them in their own environment and see if they do anything to improve on what they have, because it's possibly, I guess, going to help them. It doesn't sound like it is, though. It doesn't. No, not at all. Here, my original thought process was okay, the change from linear to non-linear was actually to boost female education, because that, when schools were created, obviously it was actually men, um, which we can all agree is not right, um. But as we went on, they ultimately noticed that, um, females weren't doing as well as males in school. When their shift from linear to non-linear happened, it sort of flipped on its head.

Curtis Piper:

So we saw lots of girls outperforming men.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Yes, correct, yes. So girls started really dominating things like English, science, that's pretty much it. But, um, they, they started doing much better as a cohort, um, and then I think that's maybe what they're trying to do with math, because men still really dominate that subject, because it is very linear. So if they're bringing in the assignment like part of it, then maybe that's going to help boost it, but overall then it's like okay, well, if you're going to go home and do it, then how do they actually know what you do and don't know like? I could have done a whole thing for my sister in two minutes and she'll do it 100% and be the top of her class. No one would have known, right. So, and instead, if you were at the I'm doing the math test, like we did, and you, for an example, gave your answer and it was the right answer, but for some reason had to show you're working out, then how is that any better If they're asking for working out but they're letting them do it at home, where, for instance, you could have helped your sister and then given her the grades that she needed for, perhaps whatever degree she was going for, yeah, pointless. And especially now, even when we reinstall this app, you can chat GPT. Even when we were in school, there was an app you could scan a math equation to give you an answer. That's true. Yeah, it's all stupid, it's very silly.

Zeke Guenthroth:

But HSC like mathematics, participation of it, the courses that actually included calculus back in the day, were 39% in 2001 and they have now dropped to 29%. That was only in 2015. It's got worse since then, but I don't have the relevant statistic available. So in 14 years it dropped 10%. So we're dropping things out. I don't even know what they're learning in math anymore, but I couldn't tell you it's still not financial. I know that much, which is a huge part of our society, which is something that we should definitely A-grade stupidity, right. And then if you compare that to like Singapore or Finland so Singapore retain standard exams, so you have to do an exam, and they're one of the top performers still globally in math and science. And Finland delayed the introduction of ideological content until actual literacy was secure. So they would, instead of doing ideological content early, they would delay that, so they'd focus on getting people to a point they can read, they can do math, they can do science, and then they would introduce that at a lower level. Rightfully so, because that's the foundation of which those literacies are built on right, correct, absolutely. Whereas we get in our current curriculum you start getting ideological teaching in year one, which is just ridiculous. I mean, well, we'll come back to that, we'll talk about it a bit more further.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Okay, yeah, then you've got like behavioural breakdown and you've got a collapse of discipline. Then you've got like behavioral breakdown and you've got a collapse of discipline Even when we were in school, like if you did something wrong, what really would happen? That's a great question. Maybe held back in class? You missed out on five minutes of lunchtime? Oh, no, ten, maybe, yeah, and that's even if you got held back. Realistically, what's actually going to happen? Oh, zeke, stay here for ten minutes of lunch. No, realistically, what's actually going to happen? Oh, zeke, stay here for 10 minutes at lunch? No, yeah, oh, okay, then they'll probably tell the deputy you might get a suspension. Oh, no, we've got a four day holiday. And then what? And then how is that helping? I mean, is it then the only thing that you're relying on? Is it's like okay, well, mum and dad are going to discipline them at home, but then if you're relying on mum and dad to discipline them.

Zeke Guenthroth:

We bring in the issue of fatherless homes, right. So with fatherless homes, we all know the impact that that can have on a child and ultimately the outcome is outrageous. So you've got 85% of behavioural disorders in children are traced to a fatherless home. Wow, so they have a 20 times higher than average chance of having a behavioural disorder if they have a fatherless home. Wow, that's a huge step. And so if you get suspended, you go home and you need to be disciplined or told off or whatever it is, and you're from a fatherless home, which, which is majority of the people that are making the behavioral issues in general, then there's no discipline train. That just it's never ending, right, and I mean, I think people are attributing this sort of discipline that a father gives to toxic masculinity, maybe, which is just. This is very correct yeah, yeah, I don't think it's right.

Zeke Guenthroth:

I think a man in the house is, you know, in charge and you should all listen to what he has to say, because he's not leading you down a path to destruction and chaos. He's trying to lead everyone into this path of I want to say paradise perhaps, but it's definitely just the better path that the, the head of the household, is trying to lead his family in. Yeah, and it's like, realistically, like even again I can refer it back to myself growing up. It's like if I play it up, what's mom gonna do exactly? She's gonna smack me, hurt her hand or try to use a wooden spoon and break the wooden spoon because I'm a tank. And then it's like, oh shit, dad's home. Yeah, I'm in trouble now. How good was that threat from mom? Yeah, when your father gets home and I was like, oh, that was the most powerful weapon she had against us yeah, every time don't make me get your father, yeah, and so what?

Zeke Guenthroth:

like, I feel really really bad for the mothers in this situation because, like what, what can they do exactly? Like what authority? I don't want to say what authority do they have, because they obviously have authority, but what like um disciplinary action can they take? And it's like there is no, and that's why we keep getting this situation. Like 71 of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes same problem. Then you got 80 of rapists with anger issues come from fatherless homes Same problem. Then you've got 80% of rapists with anger issues come from fatherless homes. That's terrible. 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. These are all really high statistics percentage-wise.

Zeke Guenthroth:

They're huge. So the number one problem really should be addressing this in terms of actually, I put this up as probably one of the biggest issues in society in general. I think you're right. It'd be five or so. I think you're absolutely right. I'd be figuring out exactly what's going on, what's causing it, how to fix it, and that's something that we will discuss in a later episode. As one of the other other ones that come up, I can't wait to listen to that one. Oh, it'll be good. Um, a lot of speculation, but it'll be fun. It will be fun.

Zeke Guenthroth:

So children growing up without fathers twice as likely to repeat a grade or to drop out of school and they're less likely to achieve top grades. Fathers' presence actually drops the likeliness by 40% for them to repeat a grade and 70% for them to drop out of school. To grade and 70% for them to drop out of school. So if you've got a dad, you're 70% less likely to drop out of school. That's incredible. What is the cause of that, I wonder? I mean honestly, like the father has that. I think that's it. It's just discipline, and like maybe it's role model as well. Yeah, if you've got a father, role model, especially when you're getting brought up in school where, as we said before, men are villainized to an extent.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Yeah, that's fair yeah, then you, you as a, as a boy or a man at a young age, you're like, well, I mean, if we're all scoundrels and scumbags, like what am I going to do? I don't have a dad, you know, I've got no one to look up to, and I can picture that being a young bloke, like you'd be very like confused at what you do. If you're raised with a single mum, you go to school and 75% of teachers are female, really, yeah, so you're in a position where it's like I still don't have a man to look up to. And then the ones that you do, they're all celebrities and the new slander's. Yeah, it's so.

Curtis Piper:

You're like, okay, we're all scoundrels yeah, I guess we are all done for yeah yeah, there's no.

Zeke Guenthroth:

And then obviously, your, whatever happened in that situation, your mom's not going to be very happy. So, may bad mouth the men, may be fair, but again it's like, okay, well, men, this man that we all suck, yeah, okay, it would be very hard as a young kid growing up, even as a young girl growing up, to be hard. That's a great point, because you'd be like again, I have no father, wrong, I don't know how we're supposed to be treated, right like. I don't know how we're supposed to be treated, right Like. I don't know how we're supposed to treat men. I don't know anything Exactly.

Zeke Guenthroth:

It's just such a weird gap to have. And divorce is on the up and up. It's so easy, since they made it legal to not have an actual reason. Yeah, that was a recent not recent but recent enough in modern history change. You used to have to have a reason, so like, um, cheating, abuse or whatever it was like, yeah, an actual reason to get divorced. Now you just go and you get divorced. Wow, it's like, oh, he called me, called me an animal, that's interesting that kind of takes away the power of like the vows that you make it.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Yeah, yeah, virtually. Again, it was wishy-washy. Yeah, that's scary. I don't like that. I don't like it either. It's much better if we can treat our words as something valuable and worth. That's what words should be. If you say something, it should be spoken into existence. It should be cement, concrete, firm.

Zeke Guenthroth:

But yeah, if you grew up in a fatherless home, it's going to be tough. But then, at the same time, even if you do have a father, you've got that authority figure at home and you've got that discipline. Then you go to school, you've got 75% female teachers. Then you're probably going to be in a position where you're like, hmm, I can probably play up here and probably get away with it, and you're just waiting on that. Hope that they don't tell your parents so that your dad doesn't take advantage of this. He'll take advantage so that your dad doesn't discipline you.

Zeke Guenthroth:

I don't know where I was going with that, but like, if they don't make that call and then your dad doesn't know, then again, what discipline do you have? You might get in trouble. As you said, you might have to stay back for lunch, you might get a suspension, which may or may not be a reward. Yeah, there's nothing that can be done and it's like, I don't know, I think. I think respect goes a long way in school, absolutely like, if you, there's a lot of teachers that I did. Respect was a lot that I didn't, and the ones that didn't, they knew it. The ones that did, they knew it. I was an angel. I was like the kids from Cat in the Hat yeah, angels. You've watched that recently. It's a great reference, it's true. Is it the nannies? Yeah, yeah, the nanny. She's like she wakes up on the couch and she gets a phone call from the mom. She's like hi, the kids, and it's the two things.

Zeke Guenthroth:

And they're sitting there like knitting or something, and she's like they're not kids, they're angels. But yeah, students, they rarely face any consequences. I know for a fact as I said, I wasn't great in school. There's no denying that Academically, yes, behaviourally questionable, that's a fair statement. And there was no consequence. Like the worst that you get is a suspension and it's like okay, well, fun. But, on that note, one in 23 students in 2023 were suspended at least once. Wow, okay, so read that again for me please. So that was one in 23 students got suspended at least one time in the year 2023. So we're talking like 5% of the population. Yeah, in school, that's ridiculous. It's almost one classroom is always getting suspended. Yeah, it'd be nearly more than one in a classroom.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Essentially, yes, in a public school. In a private school, they're normally a bit less people in them. And then, if you move on to teacher safety, you've got 55% of teachers reporting that they suffer from work-related stress or mental health issues in a 12-month period. That's interesting. So if you've got 55%, let's just call it more than half of the teachers in a position where they're mentally not coping, hmm, then they're the authority figure in the classroom and they're not coping with the classroom and they're not coping with the classroom, then what are the children doing? They're also gonna follow that role model yes, footsteps, and they're not going to cope. Exactly so. It's a never-ending, perpetual cycle of terrible, terrible outcomes, and it's getting worse and worse.

Zeke Guenthroth:

There is a slight exemption to that that private schools enforce strict decoder behaviour and they do consistently outperform public schools in academic and wellbeing metrics, especially in terms of like behavioural issues. That is due to many things. It could be, for example, smaller classrooms, easy to control, right. It could be due to parents paying a mozza for their children to be there. Some parents will pay upwards of 700 grand over their life for one student. Wow, 700 grand From K to 12. Yes, wow, yeah. So you know, year one might be like $16,000. Year two might be like $17,000, $18,000, $19,000, $20,000. And then by the late years it's like $34,000, $40,000 in some schools. Yes, so it builds up and over that 12-year period then you get to that 700 grand figure give or take. I follow At some schools.

Curtis Piper:

That's on the higher end.

Zeke Guenthroth:

So if you're playing up there, your parents are not going to be happy. No, definitely not. And the teachers are not going to be happy. And each student is not going to be happy, because they're going to be like getting asked by their parents oh you know, what did you learn today? Or how was school today, or whatever. Because they today, or how was school today, or whatever, because they have an actual invested interest correct. And then the kids parents that are getting told, oh, we didn't do much because joe was playing up all day, they're gonna be like well, that's not what I'm paying, I'm.

Zeke Guenthroth:

What's it to be here between that classroom in that year? Yeah, you know, you've got over 250 grand being spent by parents accumulatively. So they're all going to blow up, contact the school, bang, do something, he's gone. Yeah, like that can't be happening, exactly. Yeah, that's another interesting one. That is a good contrast comparatively to public school systems. Oh, big time. Because in public school you go like what I think we had, like 32 in a class. Yeah, give or take. Again, some classes were bigger than others and the worst that you'd get there is they'd move you from one class to another.

Curtis Piper:

What does?

Zeke Guenthroth:

that mean we're now going to go distract this class. That is a terrible solution. It is a terrible solution, but what is the right solution? There's got to be more discipline and I think we need, again, probably more male role models in there. Increase the deficit of 75% female and 25% male. I don't know. What else do you think is a solution?

Zeke Guenthroth:

I would like to look at our neighbouring countries. Like you were saying, singapore have improved or outperformed us, I should say, in a lot of academic areas. It would be interesting to see what their sort of households are like, if they're anything similar or different to ours. Just to get to the root of the cause, because obviously having a male in the household is a huge factor to a child's performance in education. Yeah, so the education minister needs to get on that, needs to start looking at other people's backyards, yeah, before he looks at ours and then, uh, sort it out.

Zeke Guenthroth:

But another thing that's going wrong and I mean, if you're looking at the amount of time spent on things in school, there should be like, if you've got 10 million things to teach, how much time can you spend on one thing? Bugger all. If you've got 50 things to teach that are really important. You can spend a lot more time on it and get it done. So when you're introducing like gender ideology in classrooms as young as year one, then you're taking that time away from other things which are critical to a child's growth Absolutely, especially when we can't read. 33% of us can't read in year nine. That's outrageous. But we know whether or not we want to be a boy or a girl. Is that what I'm hearing Apparently? Do we know the difference between a boy and a girl at year nine Apparently? That's interesting, cool. I'd like to investigate that more as well. I mean better. Yet in the curriculum, new South Wales, victoria and Queensland all include gender ideology. Wow.

Curtis Piper:

And they get exposed as early as year one. That's insane.

Zeke Guenthroth:

I don't think that makes sense. So if I'm year one, how old are you six? Yeah, yeah, if I'm year one, how old are you Six? Yeah, so you're one. In Australia, for the international listeners, you're six years old At that point in time. If I'm getting explained to what a boy is or what a girl is, or that I could be a boy, I could be a girl, just even opening that sort of wormhole there, I'm instantly curious and confused.

Zeke Guenthroth:

You don't really have the capacity at that age to go. This is right, this is wrong, or I feel like this, or I feel like that. Like I remember growing up, I thought that I was going to be a wizard. Yeah, I was like seven years old, I'm running around and playing yugioh and I'm like, okay, I am the dark magician. I was. I was running around thinking I would be spider-man. I was going to be a superhero all day.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Yeah, exactly so, like, like, if that can of worms is open, it's like you can be what you want to be or whatever why would they open the door to people so young? It's a weird time to do it. It's not the right time. And then you've got to actually really question why is it that age? What would the government get as a like positive to that? That's a great question. How is that improving the education that that child is receiving? Well, even take the education out of it. What actual benefit does that have for anything in society at that age? That is a great point. Nothing, that's a very good point. Yeah, and I mean, I'm highly down that people know that age. What's going on?

Zeke Guenthroth:

yeah, um I can remember being six and thinking not even thinking. I just knew I had no idea what was going on. My brain was a sponge and I was ready to absorb as much information as I could and then use that to then grow up, which would make me the man that I am now, exactly. And so, at that early age, getting something like that brought into your mind it has to play an impact on what you become. It has to because you're getting shaped you don't know anything Like.

Zeke Guenthroth:

If someone told me that I could actually develop superpowers by being bitten by a spider when I was eight years old, I would have done it, yeah, let alone six. I would have been like, oh cool, it's a redback bang, done, I'm dead. Yeah, redback must be radioactive. That's the one I want. That's the most powerful spider. I'll be the most powerful spider, yes, oh, so silly, but this is having an impact on real life because, if we go back to 2003, there was 10 referrals to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, as in 10 being the maximum, there was fewer than 10, but we're rounding up to be generous In 2003, fewer than 10 referrals for gender clinics in Melbourne, gender clinics being clinics that help transition.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Okay, fast forward to 2021, and this is 21. This isn't even the last four years, which we've seen a dramatic increase. In fact, I'd probably assume that from 2003 to 2021 would be similar. From 21 to 25 in terms of the overall number Okay, from 21 to 25 in terms of the overall number Okay, 820. 820 referrals in the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne for gender clinics. Wow, so not just a hospital, a children's hospital 820. In one city has had an 82 times referral.

Zeke Guenthroth:

How is that possible? When did that happen? 2003 and 21? You absolutely are, but no, like what when? I don't understand how the education system oh, hang on, sorry, I don't understand how the people of australia have now accepted this ideology that children, if they listen to their children, tell them that I'm I know I look like a boy, but I'm really a girl. They're then going to accept that as truth. Well, here's the interesting thing In this time period, the parents haven't had to be notified. Wait a minute. Okay, so there was no. I think it might be in the curriculum now that they do need to notify parents. I'm not 100% sure on that, because it's Surely that's the case.

Zeke Guenthroth:

You can't access it that late, but at that point in time they didn't have to be notified. How can that be allowed? That is their child. I don't understand. Surely, if we were to look at a hierarchy of responsibility, the parents are the pinnacle of that child's responsibility or being responsible for that child, yeah, but also, like I'm just thinking like children's hospital Children, yeah, like what when you can't have sex until you're 16 or you can't provide consent because you don't know what you do and don't want? But I can change my whole life, wow, well, a bigger decision for me is removing genitals, taking tablets to change my gender, than having sex with someone. I actually now disbelieve that this is happening. Is this real? This is real. Yes, this is actually real. Are children transitioning at this age? This is fully true In Australia. In Australia, I don't believe it.

Zeke Guenthroth:

820 in Melbourne, the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne in 2021. Well, that's how many referrals they received. Yeah, okay, good, it doesn't necessarily mean all 820 went ahead. That's fair enough. But I mean, if you're getting referred to that point, the door's been well open. You're pretty well through the door, that's fair. You're pretty well through the door, that's fair. But it's all getting taught before literacy.

Zeke Guenthroth:

It's getting taught before puberty, before puberty, before puberty. That is not right. I think, if anything, the earliest I would expect at the door being opened is at puberty. Maybe 16? Yes, if you can't drink until you're 18, why can you change your whole like livelihood? Exactly, if you can't have sex until 16, how can you change your whole livelihood before that? There's no way we are giving children that you can't drive a car until 17 with supervision, but you can change your whole future of your life before that. I'm shocked Like who is enabling these decisions? You can't invest in shares until you're 18, but you can go and change your whole livelihood.

Curtis Piper:

These comparisons are outrageous, I know.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Like what else is age-based? You're not a responsible adult until you're 25. Your frontal lobe, as a male, hasn't developed until you're 25. You, technically, in court can still get away with certain things because your frontal lobe's not developed until 25. Wow, that is interesting. Pre-18, you can get away with a lot more in court because you're not developed as well Up until about 14, you pretty much can't even be prosecuted because you don't have the capacity to understand right and wrong and make that decision. Yeah, this is Australian law, fair enough, yeah, but pre-14, you can go ahead and make these changes.

Zeke Guenthroth:

No, I don't, I don't believe it. I know you've got it right in front of us and you're saying look, it's right there. Absurd, yeah, outrageous, shouldn't, shouldn't exist, but it does, and surely people are open to accept that. I mean, if everyone's seemingly willing to accept the children are going to decide whether they're boy or girl, surely we can decide. Let them decide when they're actually man and woman, right? Yeah, why, why is it necessary to be so forthcoming about this to children? Let them learn their abcs, let them learn how to read and write. Yeah, let them learn to count 100, exactly, please, like. Oh, it's just. Those are the, those are the credentials that we need in our education system, so that then they can then go on to grow up and have a foundation where, sure, if you want to go down that avenue, you can, but you at least know how to read and write what you're doing. Yeah, it's actually. I'm fully baffled. There's no.

Zeke Guenthroth:

I've been trying to think ever since the start of this podcast. It's been 30 minutes, 40 nearly, and I've been sitting here thinking about this one point what could be a benefit of introducing that to children? And I can't think of one. I have no idea. I mean, are they going to go down the avenue of, like the biology of things when they're just six and ten years old? I don't know, I don't even think like they go down the hormonal route. Do they explain to the children the hormones that they're taking? The children wouldn't even understand it. Why would they? In year five, you're getting taught actually it might have been year four like you're getting taught that girls can get periods and stuff and they've got to, like you know you might wear a tampon or a pad or something and that's like whoa really. Yeah, you don't even know what's going on. You're just told this can happen exactly and you're you're like whoa. So like if you're getting taught about periods in year five or four or whatever and boners in year five and six as a male, I remember that and they had that. They had like a diagram up and it was a penis and it went pointy or something and I was like. I was like oh, wow, but like how do you go from from that happening and that's still in place to before that allowing the further like hormonal action and stuff? You don't know anything. I think you can agree that that's absurd, surely? Yeah, let's let agree.

Zeke Guenthroth:

This episode has gone for much longer than anticipated, so I'm going to break it up here. We're going to split it into two parts and spread it out. That way you can listen to it over multiple times instead of sitting there and listening to an hour and a half straight, as I understand, that may be difficult. So we're wrapping it up here. The next episode will be published pretty quick. Just doing that now, catch published pretty quick. Just doing that now Catch you soon, dale. As always, we hope you enjoyed the episode and if you did, you know exactly what needs to be done.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Hit that follow button, subscribe, share it to friends, family or even your co-workers. Sharing this podcast helps not just us, but everyone in the world to learn about their finances.

Zeke Guenthroth:

Thank, you Dale.

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Oscar Don

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Zeke Guenthroth

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