Posts by Lucy Stewart

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  • Hard News: Standards Matter,

    WT, as they say, F?

    I don't even.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Standards Matter,

    Not so much the coasting, I think. Just adjusting to having the freedom to screw up after having been coached by their league-table conscious school. Also greater access to excessive drugs and alcohol but that's a whole other story.

    Coasting does play a huge role, though; I knew a bunch of very bright people who completely failed to adjust to the need to work and to the need to self-monitor, despite wanting to achieve well.

    Depends. In America they do; admissions officers at US schools will look at an A from a Chicago inner city school a lot more favorably than an A from New Trier. That's because American schools are funky, of course, but if NZ schools go down that path the same sort of thing could happen.

    And yet for graduate school, grades mean almost nothing because so many people have straight-A averages due to grade inflation.

    That's the other league table issue; without really strict monitoring, in an environment of competition for students, everyone just nudges up their grades to make themselves look better. Which entirely fails to solve the problem national standards were meant to address.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Standards Matter,

    Maybe it does appear these teachers are hard to come by.

    Or it could be a mix of things, e.g. school was a long time ago (it's not much over a decade since I was at primary school, and I only have vivid memories of a couple of the teachers), different teachers will have influence on different students, that sort of thing. I would probably only pick two or three teachers who had a strong influence on me, but I know that other teachers who I didn't know well/connect with well had strong positive influences on other people.

    It's a bit like asking people who they were friends with at school and declaring that because they only name one or two close friends all the other kids must have been unlikeable little snots.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Standards Matter,

    The whole thing falls apart at this point because defining what is "good performance" is a moving target based on changes in culture and society.

    And because any system based on getting children to achieve at or above an average means, by definition, that half should be achieving below it - or it's not an average. How that is dealt with is the important question, but it's always such a "you keep using that word...." moment.

    (Word to the rest of your post, too.)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Field Theory: The Sevens: Part 0,

    So how do they manage?

    Some of the ones Campbell Live talked to had quite ingenious pockets hidden in the costumes. As for the sunscreen - well, judging by the number of seats unfilled during lots of the rugby footage, they were just all staying inside out of the sun!

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Hell's Bells,

    It's just completely fucking incompetent

    Oh, I don't disagree. I can completely understand how it could have happened - the tino rangatiratanga flag has been used so much the question probably didn't occur - but that doesn't excuse the fact that it should have occurred to someone.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Start with your conclusion,

    It's Friday after all.

    Yes, but it's on the verge of cancellation - for getting too close to the truth, obviously. (To bring the thread full circle, one episode featured a vaccine conspiracy.)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Hell's Bells,

    While we're talking about copyright, I'm quite amused by all the talk in the media around 'applying for copyright' for the tino rangatiratanga flag.

    The outrage that someone should dare to assume they have copyright over something they designed is quite bemusing, yes. Of course, you can have a good debate about the appropriateness of *exerting* copyright in this instance, but...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Hell's Bells,

    The Men At Work composition itself is wholly original, but Greg Ham's flute break in the song as it has been recorded and performed has been deemed to be infringing, if not identical. Australians who thought they might have some cultural ownership in the old song have another think coming.

    I don't think anyone would dispute that they're the same, I just don't understand how one riff comprising a very small percentage of the whole song - and not anything like the entirety of the song it appears to have come from - can entitle Larrikin to such a large share of the profits.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

  • Hard News: Start with your conclusion,

    Ultimately an admin error, just need to be aware vaccines do have risks.

    Nothing is risk-free. It's just that the risks associated with vaccines are vastly smaller than the risks associated with getting smallpox (or measles, or whooping cough, or...you get the point).

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report

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