The school is Shirley Boys High.
And then last year, Rangiora High School did the same thing.
Something that Rangiora High School's principal said struck me.
He said, the results have been a huge shift in engagement, in attendance, in achievement.
It is not what I was expecting. I was expecting a small shift, but it has gone through the roof. It's made a massive difference in everything in the school.
And that reminded me a lot of what the principals and the teachers said after we banned the phones in schools.
Remember that we banned the phones, and suddenly they were saying, well, the difference is huge.
But all we've done in both cases is the obvious thing, isn't it?
I mean, obviously, if you take the phones away from kids, they're gonna be less distracted.
They're gonna learn better, they're gonna talk to each other more, they're gonna play outside more.
And obviously, if you put 30 kids in a room by themselves, there will be less noise than if you have 120 kids in a big space together.
Why is it so hard for us to do the obvious thing?
Why was the Ministry of Education so hellbent on doing the wrong thing?
Because if you listen to educators or everybody else who's involved in this, they will tell you it was virtually impossible to get a school upgrade unless you agreed to take all the walls down and buy in, and yet, obviously it was a really big mistake.
It feels a little bit like the Ministry of Education went through a weird experimental phase that has cost our kids, with everything from classroom styles to weird ways to teach English when they didn't have to do it.
And when common sense would tell you that it wasn't gonna work, why is it so hard when it comes to schooling for us to do the obvious thing?
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show HERE - where this article was sourced.
14 comments:
Gonna?
Answer: because the ministry of education is staffed by marxists who want to make people stupid because ignorant people are easier to control.
It needs to be shut down…
To anon : A goanna is a reptile. A typo maybe?
The problem with teaching is that it was near perfected 100 years ago. Solitary teachers managed classes of 40 and more and instilled in all the ability to read, write, do arithmetic, behave, and a moral code. Pupils were failed to their level so the teacher had a more uniform class. And the students had an incentive to try. And learned that life is not all easy. But there was little scope for teachers bored by the routine to progess to higher positions. So the custom of advancing theories developed. Good teachers were so universal they taken for granted. So to be noticed they advanced theories. Others seized upon to also be noticed. Thus in recent times we have acquired the disasters of support of maori contrived culture elevation, Marie Clay instinctive reading method, and open classrooms. The latter an artful attempt to waft the ability of good teachers to those recruited primarily for their pro maori inclination. if I was a good teacher I would resent some alien understudy and spy freeloading off my ability and creating constant diversion. Children are forever looking for distraction which the large rooms provide in over abundance. The lower windows of very old classrooms were frosted. It is hard to believe that open classrooms have been so promulgated. But that observation applies also to near everything advanced by the Teaching Council.
Regrettably sloppiness such as gonna, particularly in an article by a journalist on education, distracts from the message.
Thank you, Heather for your interesting article and question.
Our schooling has been hijacked by 'elite' academics who are brainwashed into believing their esoteric theories are always superior than common sense that any ignorant citizen had.
The elites require constant change and experimentation on children as if they were lab. rats. To these academics anything from the past, as Robert describes was evil because it produced students who can't think like widgets out of a factory , compliant workers for a capitalist system. These theorists lurch from one fad to another with no regard at all for consequences .Their ideology of promoting socialism/ progressivism / Marxism is paramount to them. Hence open class rooms allows more socializing and group think between students of different abilities and age groups.
Whether it produces higher academic standards or not was never on the agenda. Only annoying traditionalists and pig -ignorant parents would insist on instilling knowledge and basic skills into children .
As Anonymous 8:40 AM says the aim is largely to change society into a Marxist - socialist state. Strong independent thinkers and workers taught traditionally , with a desire to build -up society can go offshore to somewhere else to have their children educated.
Heather sometimes writes in a colloquial style. It probably helps her get the message out quickly; she's a busy person. I wonder if any readers didn't know what she meant? Pendants don't rule the world and it's not a test but we do need standards I suppose. MC
With the spelling Nazis showing up I guess there a few teachers reading this. Pity they don't put so much effort into the kids they face each day.
Get a grip commenters, if the best you can do is comment on the writers use of misspelt words to get attention, then the ruse worked.
Hopefully you read and understood the message.
Sorry but Heather is a professional journalist, and should spell like one. We often talk like that, but it is a slippery slope when professionals write like that. Next thing we'll see "text speak" as proper grammar
I read and understand Heather's message.
I don't understand most of the stuff (especially. Stuff) that appears in the MSM, because their editors think that I need to be re-educated into the superior Maori language.
Anon 2.14 sums it up.
Do you call the writers of 'correct' history pedants? If you transpose a couple of numbers in maths, does it matter? If the written language becomes debased does it matter? If grammar is bad does it matter? If old fashioned words like c**t are used, does it matter?
If journalists can't be bothered to use their tools of trade properly and respectfully they lose credibility and the message sooner or later.
You mean “If journalists can't be bothered using their tools of trade properly and respectfully, sooner or later they lose both credibility, and the message.”
Goodness! Isn’t this such fun…
What is message of Anon 5.22?
I wonder what George Orwell would say? Lazy language leads to lazy thinking and ultimately loss of intellectual intelligence.
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