Category: Education
School has always been, and is still, a means to an end. That end is the entry of emerging adults into the world of work – or rather, as is largely the case today, the transition to higher or further education leading on to a career track. Societies spend megabucks on schooling and have a right to expect a return, namely the production of young people with the cognitive skills and attitudes towards study and work that will turn them into productive citizens who will benefit society in return.
In 2003, the late Dr Michael Crichton, a best-selling author with more than 200 million books in print including Jurassic Park and State of Fear, was asked what he thought was the most important challenge facing mankind. He explained: “The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age it takes on a special urgency and importance. We must daily decide whether the threats we face are real, whether the solutions we are offered will do any good, whether the problems we’re told exist are in fact real problems, or non-problems.”
The whole thesis that there is a ‘sustainability’ crisis and that it requires urgent global attention, depends on a substructure of belief in such things as global warming, irreplaceable resource depletion ‘footprints’, and gathering problems of poverty and disease. All of these are, to a greater or lesser extent, disputable, and ought to be disputed, if unnecessary and counter-productive action is to be avoided.
Without a doubt, the welcome sound of the New Zealand National Anthem ringing out from the London Olympic Games rekindles that wonderful sense of pride in being a New Zealander. The Games serves to remind us of what a powerful motivating force competition is. It is the very thing that pushes the boundaries of human endurance and effort. How tragic that the guardians of our education system have progressively removed competition from our schools, when striving for success is such an important driver of achievement.
In 1996, the Adult Literacy in New Zealand survey of adults aged 16-65 found 66% of Maori and 41% of non-Maori were below the minimum level of literacy required to “meet the complex demands of everyday life and work.” A 2006 survey's results were no better: it found 43 per cent of adults with some sort of literacy issue, and half the population with numeracy difficulties.
With the Rugby World Cup now almost behind us – and a HUGE congratulations to the All Blacks for their win and to all of those who made the tournament so successful – the country’s focus will soon turn to politics. With the 2011 general election just four weeks away, we should expect a flood of well rehearsed policy announcements from all political contenders aimed at attracting our votes. Since this is the season for new ideas we thought we would share some of the initiatives that we have come across during our NZCPR research work, that are being used by countries around the world to address their public policy challenges.
“Nia Glassie died in Starship Hospital on 3rd August 2007 aged three years. She had been on life support for 13 days. She had such severe brain damage that she was unable to breathe without life support. The medical evidence at the trial established that the horrific injuries and swelling to her brain were consistent with blows, and possibly, kicks to the head...” Coroner’s Report, Wallace Bain August 2011[1]
When I was a student, I took a course in the sociology of deviance. After weeks reviewing theories about the causes of law-breaking, the lecturer announced that we were asking the wrong question. The real question, he said, is not why some break the law. It is why we don't all break the law.
There are no excuses for the rioting and hooliganism that took place in Britain in recent weeks. It was criminal and cowardly behaviour – the worst form of opportunism by (mostly) young delinquents. That the government has made a commitment to the British public that the rioters will face the full force of the law is as it should be. The tragedy is that the initial response to the crisis by the Police was so inadequate that rampaging mobs were able to create widespread mayhem and death.
Let me first explain the backdrop to the situation we find ourselves in today. Back in the 1970s businesses avoided the UK because of its high taxes, high strike rates and low productivity. Most commentators felt that there was little that could be done and decline was inevitable. Yet, after some radical reforms, strikes declined, productivity improved and as tax rates came down, companies started to invest in the UK once again.
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