And that’s why education is the way it is.
To be fair, RNZ covered it. But there was no mention of the fact it was our lowest score.
Over 400,000 kids in 57 countries and the headline was “Reading level of 10-year-olds tested against international counter parts”.
It's not really a headline that suggests the lowest ever score.
The article suggested the latest drop was statistically insignificant. It went on to explain that some countries did better than others, no kidding, that variation in reading standards happen for a variety of reasons, double no kidding, and that the ministry hadn't evaluated the data yet. So, sort of a republishing of a press release, which happens a lot these days.
The Sydney Morning Herald, for a while, lead with these stats, thus indicating someone there is at least awake.
Their headline was “Falling through the cracks”. They too had a score that suggested they shouldn’t be happy about, but ironically it was a score a lot higher than ours.
Here is the tragedy - reading joins literacy and numeracy. The well-known PISA tests have seen us drop from being in the top 10 globally for maths and reading and science. In maths, we have gone from 4th to 27th, we are 11th in reading and 12th for science.
This of course tends to involve kids who turn up at school, which is another of our problems. Most of them no longer do on a regular basis.
The point is, there is clearly a crisis here. There's an indisputable, documental crisis and, yet, where is the concern?
Where is the coverage? Where is the discussion that comes out of the coverage? Where are the alarm bells and red flags?
Are we numb to failure? Is the media too biased to cover it because it makes the Government look bad?
When did our kid's backwards trajectory become such a non-story, that a globally significant study, showing an ever-decreasing outcome, can barely draw a headline anywhere?
It's easy to blame the media, of course. Maybe they merely reflect the lack of interest from readers and watchers, most of whom will be parents. Did no-one read all the other stories of educational decay, so they gave up writing them?
What the hell is the matter with us?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings
Over 400,000 kids in 57 countries and the headline was “Reading level of 10-year-olds tested against international counter parts”.
It's not really a headline that suggests the lowest ever score.
The article suggested the latest drop was statistically insignificant. It went on to explain that some countries did better than others, no kidding, that variation in reading standards happen for a variety of reasons, double no kidding, and that the ministry hadn't evaluated the data yet. So, sort of a republishing of a press release, which happens a lot these days.
The Sydney Morning Herald, for a while, lead with these stats, thus indicating someone there is at least awake.
Their headline was “Falling through the cracks”. They too had a score that suggested they shouldn’t be happy about, but ironically it was a score a lot higher than ours.
Here is the tragedy - reading joins literacy and numeracy. The well-known PISA tests have seen us drop from being in the top 10 globally for maths and reading and science. In maths, we have gone from 4th to 27th, we are 11th in reading and 12th for science.
This of course tends to involve kids who turn up at school, which is another of our problems. Most of them no longer do on a regular basis.
The point is, there is clearly a crisis here. There's an indisputable, documental crisis and, yet, where is the concern?
Where is the coverage? Where is the discussion that comes out of the coverage? Where are the alarm bells and red flags?
Are we numb to failure? Is the media too biased to cover it because it makes the Government look bad?
When did our kid's backwards trajectory become such a non-story, that a globally significant study, showing an ever-decreasing outcome, can barely draw a headline anywhere?
It's easy to blame the media, of course. Maybe they merely reflect the lack of interest from readers and watchers, most of whom will be parents. Did no-one read all the other stories of educational decay, so they gave up writing them?
What the hell is the matter with us?
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings
5 comments:
We are numb to failure because the media do not hold those who fail to account.
If they printed articles that bluntly pointed out the issues and who, how and why they are failures then people may start to ask questions of those responsible.
The media holding no one to account and speaking no truth to power are by that ommission culpable.
If they tested te reo Maori and matauranga Maori NZ kids would come out on top.
So what’s wrong - the tests!
I think it worse Anna Mouse. The media do not even have to do the work, there are plenty of experienced people who can write articles for them, to critique the issues but the media will not publish them.
With the exception of sites like this, it is hard for these people to get their voices or ideas heard.
I have spent my life as an educational activist,because I care about our children and their future. There can be few things more important.
It is infuriating to me the media have been programmed into concentrating on PC topics which I won't list, to suit the governments agenda. Learning about the conflicting pedagogies and ideologies of education is not a very sexy topic and also quite technical.
I have been heartened by the example of US journalist Emily Hanford who has made it her mission to inform the public on why ,for example, unacceptable levels of illiteracy have occurred in the US. Since NZ has very similar educational systems, her writings are highly relevant here.
Perhaps you Mike could take up the challenge and start the ball rolling here.The kudos is enormous. Emily has won multitudes of rewards and even been labeled saintly.
She is visiting NZ in August to talk. Maybe you could meet up. She is a very nice person. The 'saintliness' may even be contagious!
Learning to read can transform a child's life.
Anna Mouse, that simply can't be? Everyday in 'Stuff' owned papers full page declarations tell us they are reporting for us - not the Beehive!
Of course, the truth of it is that they are mere 'advertisements' comprised of puffery and bs of the worst kind. Getting hard-edged inquiry and commentary, yet alone any balanced truth, out of the Fourth Estate is but wishful thinking these days.
And, as for our education systems these days, how bad does it have to get?
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