Kelvin Davis, the Associate Minister of Education, is in something of a lather. He says Maoris deserve nothing less than achieving at the highest levels in the world whatever they do. Quite right Kelvin, but what is the best way to achieve this? Davis said among some teachers there was an “acceptance” that low Maori achievement was simply the way things were. Here we have Kelvin blaming the teachers rather than addressing possible shortcomings in the system.
Davis said accepting the status quo wasn’t good enough. Indeed it isn’t Kelvin. But, again I ask, what is the answer? Davis said while schools didn’t see a lot of overt racism, this “lack of belief” in Maori students and what they could achieve because of their backgrounds was “systemic racism”. “That overt stuff you can deal with. It’s that underlying quiet racism that’s really hard to address”, he said.
Hogwash.
This time, instead of looking at the system as being part of the problem he plays the all too predictable race card. He says educators need to be challenged on the results Maori children are experiencing in their classes. They no doubt are challenged, Kelvin, not by results but by the attitude or non-attendance of many of the children. He called for the streaming of children based on their academic abilities to be removed as it disadvantages Maori children.
Kelvin finally mentioned the system but drew a wrong and negative conclusion. Streaming should be seen as a positive for Maori children as it is a means whereby they can aspire to improve so as to move up into the higher classes. But no, it’s a negative and a disadvantage according to Davis. This is largely the reason, for all the money thrown at them, that they are no better off. It’s not always a money problem, it’s often an attitude problem and a truancy problem.
One man, with more intelligence than Ministers Hipkins and Davis put together, analysed the problem and did something about it. Alwyn Poole recognised that the state education system, in whatever form, was not a one size fits all. He set about the introduction of charter schools, the best thing to happen in education in years. The proof of the pudding was to be in the eating. To children in the lower socio-economic groups it tasted real sweet. They were enthusiastic and excelled where they had failed in the state system.
To the teachers’ unions, the pudding left a very sour taste in their mouths. They quickly realised they and their system were at risk of being seen to fail some children and they didn’t want a bar of it. When Labour came to power, the unions (their paymasters) were quick to tell the government to dispense with charter schools. And their political puppets dutifully obeyed. So all the good work and notable achievements of Alwyn Poole and others were undone. And we are expected to believe the unions have the best interests of the children at heart. Spare me.
The BFD. Photoshopped image credit Luke
As their bosses won’t allow charter schools, Labour has to find another way to try and solve a problem of their own making. Is it something new and transformative? No, it’s simply what they had when last in Government. It’s called Te Hurihanganui, whatever that stands for. A similar programme to their 2013 Te Kotahitanga whatever that means. This supposedly improved the educational outcomes of Maori. It comes with a $42 million taxpayer price tag.
Kiwiblog’s David Farrar has taken a look at Maori educational achievement rates and his findings are quite revealing. As he puts it, under a “racist” National Government the percentage of Maori leaving school with no qualifications dropped from 37% to 18%. The “kind, caring” Labour Government saw it increase to 22%. Again under the “racist” National Government the percentage of Maori leaving school with NCEA level 2 increased from 46% to 69%. The “kind caring” Labour Government saw it drop back to 65%.
As with everything else under Labour, all the arrows are pointing in the wrong direction and the kind, caring teachers’ unions wouldn’t have it any other way. What a disgrace.
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