Perspective with Ryan Bridge: Aren't children allowed their own political views?

So the teacher's union is warning about a rising tide of extremism in our schools.

I've read the story - what's the actual problem? That's what I'm trying to figure out here today.

Apparently, some kids say they're 'Trump Boys' - i.e. like a majority of Americans, a few kids here support the Republican party or MAGA movement.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: The screens are the problem

I don't know if you remember - but not long ago on the show we had a debate about screen time and how bad it is for kids.

The question we were asking is - are we all just having a moral panic over screens, or are they as bad as the experts say they are?

And I think we’ve just got more evidence that the latter is true - that screens are a particularly pernicious problem of our age for the little ones.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: We're way too chill about kids missing class

Let me tell you something that happened today.

This morning, David Seymour was on the radio with Mike Hosking, outlining his plans to tackle truancy in this country by enforcing the rules so that parents cop fines if they don’t send their kids to school.

Only about 2.5 hours later, over on ZM, a mum entered a competition to get herself and her daughter to the Taylor Swift show in Melbourne tomorrow.

Penn Raine: Who is Jennifer Pritzker…and why should we care?

Between 2000 and 2019 it is estimated that 500,000 Americans died from overdosing on OxyContin, the Perdue Pharma opioid pain medication, developed initially for severe pain but later widely prescribed. Subsequent Federal investigations revealed that Perdue had not held clinical trials to support its claim that the drug was likely not to be addictive and that its contact in the FDA had a cosy relationship with the company for whom he later went to work for a trebled salary soon after he had ushered OxyContin over the line.

HDPA: National's education policy could potentially be a game changer

If you are a parent or a grandparent worried about whether our schooling will teach your child to read properly – you need to listen to this.

Good education announcement from National today. I have been waiting for anyone to announce this for a couple of years now. So I'm pleased someone’s finally done it.

If the Nats win the election, they will require all primary schools to teach little ones to read using structured literacy – which is basically going back to phonics. 

Melissa Derby: What is the purpose of education?

What is the purpose of education? It’s a question we should be seriously asking in New Zealand. Recent reports about the dire state of our literacy and numeracy outcomes have led, incredibly, to questions about how relevant these foundational and crucial aspects of education are. While some view education as solely about learning literacy and numeracy skills, others think education should develop children’s social and emotional competencies or validate various socially-approved aspects of their identity.