Posts by Paul Campbell

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  • OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia,

    Well for a start it can mean that schools are being rated not on how well they are teaching students but instead on how well they can exclude kids who need more, more expensive support- throwing the profit motive (rather than actually teaching people) in as the prime mover of the people running a school distorts what's important - I mean why pay for all those expensive remedial work if you can avoid it by - getting the best results from standardised tests to get the most funding and the most efficiently running school is great in your for-profit charter school

    But it doesn't scale it also means there's a school somewhere full of the kids who weren't able to be cherrypicked - that school's probably getting less money because it's not showing the wonderful gains of your cherry picked leading lights and it's also cutting back on remedial work because it doesn't have the money

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: The Next Labour Leader,

    I heard someone today describe National foisting charter schools on Christchurch as "hitting them when they're down and wont fight back"

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Election '11 -…,

    And as I said above voters do already have a way to have a say about who's on a party's list - join the party and vote there (the law does say that lists must be chosen 'democratically' right?)

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Election '11 -…,

    Tuo: that's why you join a party and get involved in the process of choosing their list - AFAIK the parties keep their memberships pretty close, you could probably join them all

    Having the general public chose party lists is getting dangerously close to an American style primary system - personally I think that it should be up to the parties to decide how to choose their lists - a party with a system (or a country with a system) that elects 3 potential ministers of Education but no one who can be minister of Finance is probably doing it wrong.

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Election '11 -…,

    Or about a certain Mr Goldsmith ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Referendum '11: counting…,

    One of the big problems with STV voting for local body elections is that they're send in by mail and, in Dunedin's case at least, they are counted somewhere else (Christchurch over a period of weeks) - this makes scrutineering practically impossible and certainly not free (for the scrutineers who have to travel to another city and pay for a hotel for the weeks that the ballots are counted)

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: When A City Falls,

    We saw Once Were Warriors in the US, after living away from NZ for 10 years - we went in knowing nothing about the film other than that it was a film from home .... we came out quite blown away, in many ways, ......

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: When A City Falls,

    Yes, I'd like to add my encouragement to go and see the Orator - one of the best films I've seen this year

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Last Words,

    My vote for the greens is not a vote against Labour, nor is an explicit vote for the Greens - like last time it's a vote to pull the general Left further left than Labour

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

  • Hard News: Last Words,

    Yup that’s what I chose
    greens
    local Labour guy
    mmp
    stv

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

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