By Chris Trotter*
By 2024, this country’s education system is supposed to be delivering competency in literacy and numeracy to all young New Zealanders. What used to be called the “Three Rs” – readin’, ‘ritin’, ‘rithmetic – should have been mastered by all but a handful of students heading into NCEA examinations. Ominously, our education system is far from achieving this most basic of objectives.
The Ministry of Education has been trialling the NCEA assessment tests that it plans to have in place by 2024. The first trial-run took place last year, the second in July of this year, and the results of both trial-runs are dire. Of the approximately 16,000 Year Ten students (14-15 year-olds) tested in July, only 34 percent achieved a “pass” in writing; 56 percent in maths; and 64 percent in reading. These results differ only marginally from those obtained in 2021.
That is to say, after ten years of schooling, only a third of young New Zealanders can write coherently; only half possess basic computational skills; and only two-thirds can cope adequately a level of written communication fundamental to success in adult life.
These numbers represent a scarcely believable tale of professional failure across New Zealand’s education system. What it reveals is a society that is rapidly losing the ability (if it hasn’t already lost it) to keep itself going – let alone improve itself – on the basis of its own human resources.
Try to imagine the response of New Zealand’s principal export markets if tests revealed that no more than two-thirds of its livestock could be described as healthy. Or if, by other measures, that fraction of healthy animals fell to a half, and then to a third. People would demand to know how the Ministry of Primary Industries could possibly have missed such a catastrophic decline. They would demand to know what is was doing to lift the overall level of New Zealand’s livestock health?
The livestock analogy is brutal, but a level of brutality is warranted here – if only to wake New Zealanders up to the perilous situation in which they now find themselves. For decades, we have been telling ourselves that the best way to make our country wealthier, fairer, and happier was by educating its young people to the highest possible international standard. We looked at countries with world-beating education systems – and test results – like Singapore and Finland, and assumed that theirs was the level of performance to which our own educational experts aspired.
Clearly, that was an unwarranted assumption. New Zealand’s education system – once celebrated as one of the most successful in the world – is in free-fall. By all the recognised international comparators, we are failing – and failing fast. So bad have things become that it is increasingly difficult to find a sufficient number of willing and able participants to make our international test-results robust enough, statistically, to stand comparison. In a telling sign of the times, this dearth of suitable participants is being presented by some school principals as a signal that it is time for New Zealand to abandon international comparisons altogether.
Thankfully, at both the political and bureaucratic levels, New Zealand’s perilous decline has been noted and remedial action demanded. By 2024, the slide must stop. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. The call has come very late, and, tragically, it is likely to be resisted.
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Across academia, in the teacher unions, and increasingly at the chalk-face, the whole notion of education being a cosmopolitan enterprise, in which young New Zealanders must be able to participate (and compete) with confidence, is being rejected. In its place, “progressive” educators are erecting a system geared to rectifying the cultural and social inequities arising out of New Zealand’s colonial past.
With increasing vehemence, international standards are rejected as “Eurocentric” – or even “white supremacist” – weapons for obliterating the unique insights of indigenous cultures. The bitter letter-to-the-Listener struggle over the merits of “Western Science” versus “Mātaurānga Māori”, was but the tip of the ontological iceberg currently ripping a massive hole, albeit well below the waterline of public perception, in New Zealand’s education system.
The extent to which this debate has progressed is revealed in the responses to the shocking performance revealed in the trial-run NCEA assessment tests. According to a post on the RNZ website, “independent evaluators” are concerned that: “New literacy and numeracy tests could lower NCEA achievement rates among Māori and Pacific students.”
“They’ve gone back to the ark with these one-off tests which is just ridiculous”, fumed Peter Brooks, Principal of Fryberg High School. “I don’t know where this idea came from that you could test for literacy and numeracy on one day, online, just on computers. It’s just fraught with problems. To me it’s a giant leap backwards in terms of determining whether the kid’s literate or numerate or not.”
A report by Evaluation Associates Ltd identified “a risk fewer priority learners – which included many Māori and Pacific learners, those from low socio-economic backgrounds, and students with special education needs – would achieve an NCEA qualification once the tests were introduced.”
That a disproportionate number of Māori and Pasifika New Zealanders remain concentrated in the lowest socio-economic groups is one of the saddest constants of New Zealand sociology. Breaking the dismal cycle of low incomes, low expectations, low educational attainment, has eluded successive governments operating in the neoliberal era. Convincing Treasury, the business community, and the broader electorate, to endorse the level of spending required to transform the education sector into a credible vector of Māori and Pasifika escape from structural disadvantage, is a goal our politicians have yet to set themselves – let alone achieve.
In part, this failure is explained by the unwillingness of the more privileged sectors of our society to state with brutal clarity that breaking free of the dismal cycle of “lows” will only ever be achieved by aiming and scoring “high”. Parents must be told that there will be no special pleading; no softening of standards; no blaming of history. Their children must pass the tests, and they must help them pass the tests. The New Zealand state can build schools, and it can train teachers, but it cannot instil a determination in young Māori and Pasifika to be educated to the fullest extent of their powers.
It must also be made brutally clear that if young New Zealanders – preponderantly Māori and Pasifika – do not acquire the skills needed to run their own country, then their own country will be run by those who do have the skills. Increasingly, these managers and professionals will not even be Pakeha, but people from far-off places, with little or no empathy for the indigenous culture of Aotearoa.
The best way Pakeha New Zealanders can undo the damage of colonisation is to offer Māori an education system equal to both the expectations of the rest of the world, and to the promises contained in te Tiriti o Waitangi. The best way for Māori to achieve tino rangatiratanga is to take that offer – and ace the tests.
*Chris Trotter has been writing and commenting professionally about New Zealand politics for more than 30 years. He writes a weekly column for interest.co.nz. His work may also be found at http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com.
86 Comments
"It must also be made brutally clear that if young New Zealanders – preponderantly Māori and Pasifika – do not acquire the skills needed to run their own country, then their own country will be run by those who do have the skills. Increasingly, these managers and professionals will not even be Pakeha, but people from far-off places, with little or no empathy for the indigenous culture of Aotearoa."
The children of New Zealand ought to have communication and basic math skills. Speak good English, not Maori English or some other hybrid. Learn to be proud of their work and achievements.
If we recruit IT professionals from India, and doctors from elsewhere, its partly because our brightest and talents migrate elsewhere. And soon most doctors trained in NZ will be good for GP jobs only.
The present focus on indigenous culture, as in Creative New Zealand is not right. Not when it appears to be exclusive to Maori. Culture ought to reflect the population and evolve with each generation of New Zealanders.
Nothing wrong with a focus on Maori culture but only if it is a living culture not something being preserved from competition by a self-chosen elite.
Nothing wrong with being a GP - my own GP is either Iranian or Egyptian and has a list of his medical certificates on the wall that cover all the best universities (John Hopkins, Edinburgh and somewhere in NZ). He is just a great GP.
Unfortunately this article is typically insular and parochial and doesn't even attempt to look at what's going on globally.
The same pattern is playing out around the world. We are not special.
The question is: why? Technology? Education? Something else? The realisation that being smarter doesn't necessarily make you happier?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289617302787#s0030
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190709-has-humanity-reached-peak-intelligence
My child is in year 7. He arrived in NZ at the start of year 4. Only this year is he starting to learn maths concepts that are new to him. Meanwhile half of his class can't do their times tables. In Japan he was considered to be slightly above average, and they start school a year later than NZ kids.
We cannot keep reacting to failure by setting a lower bar.
They used to put smart kids in the class with the year ahead, or put an accelerated class together of the clever kids to keep them engaged. Now I'm told they no longer do that, apparently if you have a group of 'smart kids' the other kids feel that by extension they are 'not smart', and obviously a schools primary focus should be ensuring no ones feelings are hurt. Strangely they still have a 1st XV but what do I know.
Yes , the charter schools were achieving great things ... as they have for decades in London , giving an educational boost for lower decile kids ...
... naturally , Labour hate competition ... government knows best is tattooed into their DNA , so they scrapped NZ's experiment with charter schools ... against a wail of protest from the pupils , parents , local communities ...
All these years later and they still do not get it. The system should have never been changed from School Certificate and University Entrance. The old system set a benchmark that enabled students to be compared with those 30 years ago, instead what we have now is a system that gives everyone a hospital pass, seriously what did you expect to happen to the education system.
We tolerate failure in all sorts of sectors. Ministers used to resign when things occurred under their watch.
As a parent of a young boy, I am simply wondering what system will fail him first? Health, education, justice... take your pick.
How can we expect anyone to take responsibility for themselves when the people who got themselves into power promising reform are allergic to it when they fail, year on year, to stop things getting worse, let alone start making them better?
There are two issues in education that get conflated.
1. Can a person read?
2. Everything else.
The first issue is the most important because once you can read you are able to achieve the rest given sufficient motivation, determination and aptitude. It is hard to define what reading is - for example I used a dictionary to check the word 'conflate'. But if you cannot understand the instructions for your new electrical equipment nor use a newspaper to discover if your team has won nor follow directions to your next job interview then you are in big trouble. Trouble with your life and too often trouble for society - prisoners are known to have very poor literacy rates. This is the main issue and ethnicity is irrelevant - once a year the minister of education should get on his knees and apologise as he lists the names of every 11 year old who is functionally illiterate.
Education was lost to the below average students years ago when technology in the classroom was brought in to be the great panacea. There is simply no substitute for doing the work, and for decades schools have been unable to find a way to get many children to do the work. The problem is exacerbated in the homes that many of these children come from because their parents never did the work themselves and can offer no help. Staying after school in study labs used to be necessary for those failing, and until school systems start believing in discipline (as Asian schools do) no lift in education can be expected amongst those who are uninspired in the classroom.
Numeracy and maths. I'm puzzled that more Kiwis are not interested in maths; really puzzled that my daughter was in the top stream for maths but had done no calculus and that my fourteen year old grandson barely has heard of algebra when I was doing calculus at his age. However maths is not for everyone and NZ does not need 100% of school leavers stuffed with maths and 95% hating it.
All children need some physical exercise and they all need numeracy. Not all children play for the first fifteen rugby and not all children need to battle with the abstract concepts of maths.
So the target should be all children being numerate and maybe half studying the maths that lie beyond basic numeracy. Don't bother with international comparisons.
BTW - I still love maths but after 50 years I still have never used calculus.
Pushed to your limits is fine. But why keep pushing year after year in maths if there is minimal progress? In sports they notice you are too slow and fragile to be playing rugby for 7 years so they find children other physical activities. Thinking skills is a very general term. Problem solving - well the first way most of us solve a problem is to ask someone who knows the answer. I'm not arguing for no maths or for simply abandoning those who cannot do it - just find other activities and let the maths teachers concentrate on those who can handle abstractions.
That's the problem. Teachers are meant to teach kids who can't do stuff how to do it.
What you're arguing for is that if a kid doesn't get something on the first hop, they should just be... I'm not sure what exactly, but the teachers should be left with the kids who pose no challenge and who can be taught by the most passive means possible. That's not teaching, that's lecturing.
No, teachers are supposed to instill a love for learning, it doesn't really matter what in. This more than anything will serve kids later in life. Across the board those who are happiest and most successful are those who are able to take ownership of their own learning.
Mass testing kids is a recent thing that was invented in an American University this century. Testing was supposed to help improve education outcomes. On all measures it fails. It does not raise standards and it makes people less likely to enjoy learning.
There is a lot of guff in the commentary section today, based on an article that is also full of guff.
I really love this website but it's amazing how many people are experts in every topic that is raised.
We all should be experts in education because we all have at least a decade of experience. So we all can and maybe ought to have an opinion.
I agree about the love of learning but nothing knocks it out of you like modern schools. The most intellectually curious adults I meet have usually not gone to university.
Possibly becoming socially aware with empathy/sympathy for others, being able to defer gratification appropriately and developing good manners is more important to society and to the child than confidently manipulating calculus.
We're allowed to be more ambitious than that. You also don't need to study poetry or read great novels to achieve a functional level of literacy but where is the beauty and wonder in that? Mathematics should be taught for the same reason poetry is taught. The abstract thought required for mathematics is what separates us from animals. It is one of the greatest achievements of humanity. Arguably greater even than language since abstraction is so difficult for us to master. It would be such a pity to deprive schoolkids of one of the things that makes us human in favour of a utilitarian focus on "numeracy".
""The New Zealand state can build schools, and it can train teachers, but it cannot instil a determination in young Māori and Pasifika to be educated to the fullest extent of their powers."" Prof Jim Flynn the international expert on IQ said it was a matter of cultural priorities. The Pakeha and more so the Asian parent would ask about the maths homework while the Māori and Pasifika father would be saying 'lets go out and throw a ball around'.
I don't know Mr Trotter's ethnicity but what grounds has he for asserting his cultural priorities?
All of the above - and spare a thought for teachers. Teachers used to be professionals of esteem and value. My grandsons tell me they would not go into teaching for love nor money - and they are fourth generation pupils at a state secondary school of good reputation. I wonder about current education in the art and science of pedagogy? A bit woke perhaps?
I
science of pedagogy
Unfortunately those two things rarely go together. The number of times I see pedagogists present Dale's "cone of learning" https://blog.roompact.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/81e0e-neil-beyersdorf-cone-of-learning.png which has been thoroughly debunked numerous times is astounding https://www.worklearning.com/2015/01/05/mythical-retention-data-the-corrupted-cone/
https://ldaccelerator.com/lda-blog-1/people-dont-remember-10-20-30-not-even-on-a-cone
If the "experts" at teaching aren't capable of discerning what's fact from fiction, what hope have our kids got?
These 2 graphs tell a tale...
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/learning-outcomes-vs-gdp-per-capita
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-government-expenditure-on-education-gdp?country=~NZL
Which suggests the answer is to start spending more on education....
With the Peter Ellis case and the resulting feminization of education has been a huge disaster for boys. Plus this woke NCEA, plus now we hear streaming will not be allowed.
And there are sections of society who do not require or encourage their children to read. And who brainwash them into thinking that the police are bad people. Told that they are victims. Imagine trying to teach such people!
Its no wonder that things are going downhill fast.
Have you heard of "Celia Lashlie" schools? There are several very prominent state boys' schools around the country which follow her "philosophy". No "feminising" them. And recognising that boys are boys. And they stream...
If people want a good education go to either the US or Ozzy - I read that the US had the edge of the Ozzy schools.
Jobs are better housing is better and way of life is better. Why would you stay in this elitist country, pouring tax dollars into a group that cant be bother to work?
I agree. My wife and I lived in the US for 5 years & our 2 children had a good piece of their education there. The youngest (5 years) had to show she could count to 20, know 5 colours, 4 shapes, know how to write her name and give her address before she could leave kindergarten. No exceptions. Our son (8 years) had a male teacher who understood how to teach boys - he thrived. Our NZ system is far too woke. To lift our kids out of poverty, our education standards must be raised.
Lol yeah. But as long as out economy relies on selling houses to each other for more and more money.. all our kids can be real estate agents.. just need to learn how to talk up thr price of a wooden shoebox.
On the other hand.. and if our housing market does bomb.. maybe we will find ourselves a tad lacking in skilled workforce and productive businesses.. who would have seen that coming.
If my granddaughter's comments about Hamilton Girls High School year 12 is anything to go by, the teaching staff need to be sacked. Too many teachers for one subject in one year with no continuity between them and no idea on the subject matter anyway.
Fortunately she gets help from family and friends. We have a major problem ahead with young people leaving school without any real ability to exist in society today.
I'm one of the teachers there, and I agree with her tbh. Though it's hardly unique to that school. Replacements will likely come from the same pool of incompetence, if they can find some at all. Schools with good reputations like the girls and boys highs have been pushing their rolls higher and higher without corresponding investment into facilities and staffing, so it's normal to have classes of 28-32 now, and especially at junior levels it feels like constant overcrowding. Combine this with everyone using devices and you can imagine how many students coast by without learning anything for months at a time.
It's a huge contrast to the low decile schools, where I used to get between 5 and 15 showing up to most classes (of a roll of 26). That was a whole other mess - having to write reports about why achievement in your classes was not consistent across ethinicities (um, because half of them didn't show up to school??)
CT in good socialist tradition repeats the mantra that the state must do more
and then throws in the usual woke bleat about needing to overcome colonisation
If you want to achieve things in life dont wait for the state to deliver as you are more likely than not to be disappointed. Education is one of those "things" in life where you have to put in the effort and take advantage of what is offered - individually and for your family
The state meanwhile needs to overhaul MOE so that it focuses on education for all and scraps the co-governance and co-education agenda its been building for years. This will actually require some employees to depart to enable a return to core role
In fairness, the older generations who rant against the state had a state that provided quite a lot for them, including free tertiary education. And they often don't really believe what they're ranting because they're the first to ask for state help when hard times hit, and they didn't cut benefits for themselves - the universal pension benefit - when they cut them for others.
It's definitely a benefit. Unless you can point out where this bank account is that contains all their superannuation "contributions" from paying taxes all their lives? It doesn't exist because in the 70s people voted for National Super Benefits over Compulsory Super Contributions (Kiwisaver).
I mean, we have the NZ Super Fund which is currently at $54b. But that was introduced in 2003, and if we were to fund all superannuation benefits from that, assuming a 10% p.a. return rate, it would be gone in 5 years.
Dan, you and Rick need to put your bias aside against older generations! Your view that you persist in promoting doesn't blame the pollies at all. You both talk about what was offered when Piggy killed the Super fund, but what choices were we given? And what information was available to help us decide? Unlike today with the internet we relied on newspapers and Government spokes people to tell us, and looking back on it the message was totally shaped to produce the result Piggy wanted. Piggy was pretty close to being an autocrat. So get off your high horse, take off your blinkers and try to put that cell you think might be your brain to use a little constructively. The pollies today are no different, and with at least two generations of politicians away from Boomers things are not changing. this is no conspiracy theory like the 4th Turning suggests. it is simply shallow minded pollies looking after themselves and not the people.
I can't speak for Rick, but I wasn't born at the time. So what choice do I have as a tax payer today? See my taxes frittered away regardless of need, while core services are falling apart, because a previous generation made some dumb decisions? People had the choice of voting Labour, but Muldoon's Dancing Cossacks tv commercials spoke to their selfishness.
It's not even necessarily about the funding cost, it's the sheer entitlement mentality and ungratefulness that oozes from the recipients. Complaints that pensioners can't afford to keep their houses warm and that we should fork out more, meanwhile for other's it's pocket money for overseas trips.
Even the Boomers had to accept the costs of earlier generations. Our parents faced the depression of the 50s and the consequences of economic policies that didn't and weren't working. The problem is one of elites dictating to the masses. Surprisingly I see it is continuing today by the post-boomer generations. The cost of superannuation is not a consequence of boomers, but of politicians making poor economic choices, and breaking promises.
I'd suggest stop looking for someone to blame, but do some analysis of the policies put in place by our politicians and push a debate on their merit or otherwise. The people on the street, irrespective of their generation, have little to no control on them. After all each of us just has ONE vote.
Ah as usual, no one to blame. No one to blame for housing prices, or huge population pressure placed on Auckland without infrastructure, no one to blame for how hard it is to make ends meet and raise a family. Constantly lectured, I might add, by the generation who actively profited from this state of affairs about how they had it worse.
Maybe when elder NZers accept that they presided over an enormous slide in our living standards to their own benefit, then maybe we can move past the blame game. But refusing to accept anyone ever had it as hard as they did and then expecting everyone else to just 'move on' while they live with the fallout is a slight double-standard.
We can find $16b (and growing) to give to anyone over 65, including multi-millionaires and landlords, but can't find less than $1b to abolish the need for student loans. Meanwhile we also battle with funding fair pay to nurses, staffing issues in fire and police, and our roads are falling apart.
- "Nurses fearful of working in overloaded hospitals"
- "Nurses at three private hospitals strike over pay, conditions"
- Porirua Fire Station: "3 staff moved to other stations to fill gaps, leaving not enough staff to crew the first appliance out the door."
- "The Wellington region's two largest fire trucks are out of action after breaking down."
- "New Zealand schools hit by 'mega-strike' as 50,000 teachers walk out"
- "Some detectives are set to hang up their suits and walk the beat as police battle signifiant staffing issues."
- "Potholes taking over New Zealand's roads are causing a trail of destruction with popped tyres, dents and damaged wheel bearings"
If you want to achieve things in life dont wait for the state to deliver as you are more likely than not to be disappointed. Education is one of those "things" in life where you have to put in the effort and take advantage of what is offered - individually and for your family
You're 12. Your parents didn't do well at school, and can barely read themselves and never read to you. Dad is an alcholic who beats mum up in front of you. They don't earn much so you go to school hungry. You're bullied because your clothes are tatty and smelly and you come from a poor background.
An all too familiar tale.
And you think a kid can "put a bit of effort in" and overcome all that?! Maybe the odd one, but most will struggle and repeat the cycle. It's a bit more complicated than just "effort".
Then there's "the bell curve"....
Its not surprising when only 44% of Maori kids attend school regularly.
https://figure.nz/chart/ArLDOAkWunBAKJWj-VmMM6xKpZpT1Hkea
So long as this is acceptable, then educational underperformance and entrenched poverty will be the outcomes. But hey, lets blame "colonisation" - much easier to be the victim than to take responsibility for their own inaction.
Just wait until streaming is abolished, and that one third of kids who are currently achieving are dragged back down to the lowest common level of those who are not. Parents better start saving for private school, because otherwise the outlook is pretty grim.
I think we would find (if we kept the stats), as Thomas Sowell points out what happened in the States, is that all cultures were on the improve until the late 1950'/early 1960's but when they mistakenly tried to bring everyone up to the same level at the same time with their affirmative action laws, then it has since gone downhill for everyone.
Excuses now predominate over reasons, and the biggest excuse for many is colonialism.
I'm kind of amazed CT is saying Maori and Pasifika families need to step up and do the work. This wouldn't go down well with the left wing intelligentsia would it?
I think this is 'wrong thinking' in the current environment and he would be sent on a critical race theory course.
He also didn't mention that teachers may or may not care about the three Rs, but they certainly care about what gender your kid is. Or isn't. Or how they might be somewhere in between.
The poor education system has been a favourite bleat of mine for 40 years or more. [Sigh.] It still is.
Thank you CT for recognising the appalling state of the results of our flailing & failing education system. It has been this way for a long time already. When I was at school they didn't suffer fools gladly. I was one of them. A fool that is. This was hard but a necessary reality check for me. Scholastically I was only average. I'd basically tuned out for the latter 2-3 years & was playing sport & hooky mostly. A similar has been proven to be true in my life. I may have 3 properties but they are only average properties.
But I got lucky. I travelled. A lot. Almost 6 years on the road in one form or another. I worked to travel. That was it. The lucky part is where I nearly died. There were at least 3 occasions I could go into when it was close. Very close. So what happened? I learnt how to survive. Simple as that. Survival is not a skill well taught these days but it is a handy one to know when things get ugly.
Back at the ranch, things have gotten ugly 3 or 4 times over the years in our small business. That's part of life in a small country. But I'd learnt how to survive & so put those skills into practice. Stop. Evaluate. Look at your options. Try again. It works. Failure has a way of teaching you that nothing else can. Learn how to survive.
I look at the young people today & in places I am rendered speechless. Really? This is it?
Yep. And as CT says, it's getting worse. And it very much resembles New Zealand's falling standing globally. How about that, ay?
I learnt the 12 times table by rote. Sing song style.
I doubt there has been an hour of my life since when I did not use it. Want a number. Snap it's there.
A terrible education. They shudda taught me the 20 x 20 times table by rote sing song. Would have been really useful. errr. Maybe the 30 x30
NCEA was introduced because of an ideological belief that no child should fail at school. Clearly that is a failed ideology. Go back to external national exams. The real world is highly demanding of performance. It always has been, no matter the level of technology. Teach kids at school that they need to step up and perform to their best, and that they can fail. Better to learn it there than later on.
Excellent article. Non Maori kids are being penalised and held back to pay for colonialism. Instead of pushing one group down to push another up, how about focusing on lifting all boats. Starting with the basics like intervention based on socio economic status, not race.
!960s Martin Luther King - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
2022 Te Pati Maori Party - “It is a known fact that Māori genetic makeup is stronger than others.”
Race Relations Commissioner called Maori Party racist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgSztQxxawE
At the end of each year an MOE inspector goes to each primary school. They sit in the principals office with the principal and every year 5 student comes in and the door is shut. The child needs to read a passage aloud from a book at year four level and answer a random times table question. For each student that fails either $1000 is deducted from the principals salary.
The students that fail come back for the same test at the end of year six. If they fail again the principal looses $2000 from their salary . They wont be so blasé about writing off at least 5% of their students then.
the “Three Rs” – readin’, ‘ritin’, ‘rithmetic.
Well, that's pretty illiterate right there. This is pretty low brow journalism devoid of any critical thinking. It's just nitpicking political bias with zero attempt to understand a range of causal issues.
1. The home environment and parents ability to teach these things as well. Are parents reading to their children at a young age? Are they able to encourage basic counting skills in everyday activities? At an early age there needs to be an element of play and fun around learning. If parents are stressed or struggling with basic necessities they are less likely to be able to give attention to these matters. What values were the parents taught to be able to give attention to their children's education? Think Maslow's hierarchy of needs to see why many may struggle to learn.
2. Technology and media. The consumption of social media, reality TV etc is messing with childrens brain development and attention spans. Yes this is the responsibility of parents but their ability to manage this relates to 1.
3. An industrialised factory education system. The inability to nurture the individual. As Einstein stated - "teach a fish to climb a tree and he'll always be stupid". A love of learning isn't enough if it's not complemented with nurturing ones inner being/spirit, ones gifts and interests or an understanding how each individual might learn best.
As one who was academically and athletically gifted and was "streamlined" in the top classes, school did become relatively boring and pointless at a certain point. Too many teachers on power trips, BS emphasis on image and "discipline", demanding respect by virtue of their authority, double standards and hypocrisy. It's still happening now with rules around hairstyles. Strict authoritarian structures don't necessarily create healthy learning environments.
At least some 'Third World' countries are trying to do better, but NZ manages to combine incompetence with complacency bordering on arrogance - a prime example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/02/guest_post_something_is_rotten_in_th…
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