Posts by Rich of Observationz
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ou are right - there is no causal link between the decile rating and the educational or teacher standards. The systrem measures the average incomes of families in the school zone (or attending the school).
I know. But people like Rougham pretend their (alleged) success is due to better teaching and organisation, when in fact it's all down to the intake.
What worries me is that NZ is moving back to selective university entry. If not halted, this could lead to the UK system where a self-sustaining system operates: "top" universities pick the students with the best grades, who then make the college look good (if my top ten university is any guide, the quality of courses has nothing to do with their success). Plus, of course, the private sector is able to produce students with the grades to get into the "best" colleges.
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Sorry Eddie, you left a wide open goal.
I think Stephen and ex-expat might have a point, but I understood that one of the things the decile-10 schools spent our tax money on was sending scouts to various Pacific Islands to snag their best young rugby players and give them scholarships.
(No scholarships for little bright kids who might help their countries by being teachers, doctors or engineers, of course...)
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I guess it's not unfair per se that NZ is the only country that takes netball seriously enough to pay the players megabucks. It's a bit like the US always winning at American Football, or the Aussies at Aussie Rules (do they actually have *any* overseas top-level competition at that?) though.
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I wonder if you have any specific reasons for wanting to ban private schools. I went to one
Reason #1 is right there.
Reason #2 is that I don't believe that the wealthy (and anyone who can afford private education on top of all the other costs of bringing up kids is wealthy, in my book) have the right to pass their privilege onto their children.
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Bugger. GRAMMAR
Bugger grammar, really reckons I.
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I don't believe that the decile-10 schools actually provide a better education or have better teachers. They firstly have more tractable, easier-to-teach kids and secondly, enable their graduates to gain entry to an old-boy network.
Schools like Selwyn (not to mention alternative schools, which don't really exist in NZ) make much better and mores succesful efforts to actually develop their students than the decile-10 pseudo-Etons.
I'm with Tom, we need to get rid of private education and work on equalising opportunity by making privileged schoools open up their facilities to kids outside their area.
I don't pay taxes to provide the means for the privileged middle class to pass that privilege on to their kids.
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Even if the US is bankrupt, what do you do about it if you're the prime lender, Hu Jintao, for instance?
- Attack the USA to try and get your money back? That would end in nuclear war and you'd get vapourised, or at a minimum have to live out your days in a sealed bunker under the Himalayas. Poor option.
- Stop giving them any more money, and consequently, remove the ability to sell them stuff? Massive unemployment, rioting and a good chance you'd end up hung from a lampost. Also a poor option.
- Work out a way to take their money, dubious though it might be and hence keep the factories running and the workers happy. Keep your palace, coke and hookers. Probably the best choice in the circumstances.
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That link (http://images.logicsix.com/DHS_RWE.pdf) is giving a 404. Maybe the site was overwhelmed with wingnuts.
Also, Angus, do you have a reference for what the US is doing with social security funds?
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The world doesn't have the kind of savings required fund Obama's on going deficits
They do however have the capacity to make and mine stuff that America wants to buy. They want to keep doing so, rather than having hoards of unemployed workers creating trouble, so lending money to the US is a good option.
Plus the US government is a good risk. US public debt is 61% of GDP, which is mainstream (more than NZ, less than Germany). If the US wanted or needed to reduce its debt, it has lots of room to cut spending and increase taxes. Bringing the troops home, or making people pay the same for gas as Europeans, for instance.
Oh hang on, maybe that's the horror that the wingnuts forsee. Making America behave like other states!
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He has previously declined to attend other blogger drinks on grounds of refusing to fraternise with "the enemy" (yeah, seriously ...), so I don't expect we'd be seeing him.
I didn't think 13-year olds were allowed in licensed bars, unless he could persuade a parent to attend.