Affirmative Action Creates Victims

I’m sure that no regular reader of my blog needs reminded that people should be treated on merit and ability, not race. But it seems that some have not yet caught onto this idea. The results can be very ugly. The National Review covers a case where a young man was admitted to a university…

Getting rid of the public education system should be the goal of every politician

I find this just weird, myself. The Green Party reshuffled its portfolios today and co-leader Metiria Turei is now in charge of speaking on education for the party. She came out swinging saying the Government was undermining the public school system through national standards, Novopay, the Christchurch schools announcement and charter schools. Charter schools were…

Charter School – results matter, the crown doesn’t

Charter schools seem to be some sort of weird obsession with the left. Witness the latest attempt. Before the announcement was made, the Education Ministry’s documents warned the overall potential for a negative impact on students’ education from teachers who did not meet the minimum standards for the profession was high. “Teacher registration is one…

The best teachers are the best teachers

Oh, this is funny. The government has announced the framework for its new charter – sorry, “partnership” – schools. The core details? No requirement to teach the national curriculum No requirement to hire trained staff No requirement to pay those staff the negotiated collective rate The upshot: deunionised schools, Sounds good. employing poorly-paid, Or rather, paid…

Student Allowances

I was browing around with a vauge feeling that there was something I was going to blog on tonight. Then I remembered – this. Student allowances will be limited to four years of study and automatic loan repayments will be bumped up to 12 per cent of income, the Government has announced. In a pre-Budget…

The union says it, Idiot believes it, that settles it

Idiot really hates the idea of charter schools. Destiny Church. They’ve announced plans to move their existing private school to South Auckland and re-establish it as a charter school in order to receive public funding. LOL. No, they have not. What Idiot’s own source says: Destiny Church could receive money from the public purse if…

Meanwhile, in the upside down world that is teaching…

Teaching, the only profession where better results can be obtained by people who aren’t professionally trained*. Also, apparently you can’t attract good staff if you offer to pay them more. “If people have total control over the curriculum, that’s open to go down a path which may or may not be beneficial for everyone. And I…

Chicago school bans homemade lunches

Some on the left like to tell us that “Political Correctness Gone Mad” is a meaningless phrase. Nonsense. Students who attend Chicago’s Little Village Academy public school get nothing but nutritional tough love during their lunch period each day. The students can either eat the cafeteria food–or go hungry. Only students with allergies are allowed…

Quote of the day “I’m pretty sure you were born yesterday” edition

From the Herald. The Chifley College student also says that Casey in fact had bullied him prior to the altercation and threw the first punch. “He abused me first … he was like ‘get to class, you idiot’, all that sort of stuff,” Ritchard said. I don’t know what’s worse, the bullying or the fact…

Student Idiots

After the earthquake, we had a fantastic response by the Student Volunteer Army. Meanwhile in Dunedin, the students are making sure that that young people retain their irresponsible reputation. “Earlier on Saturday night, the fires were mostly couches related to parties. But later on, at 4 or 5 on Sunday morning, they seemed to be…