Our falling achievements in educating our youth have been in the news lately with (very) concerning and consistent reversals in reading, writing, mathematics and science. The educationists are letting everybody down. Time for a re-think.
A microcosm of the general malaise may be seen in the case of Wainuiomata High School here in Wellington whose pupils achievements have slipped badly year-on-year in the most recent periods. They perform badly not just by other Wellington school standards, but against national averages and even under-perform in equivalent decile comparison:
With just 620-odd pupils but 70-plus staff you would think they could do better, but maybe there’s a clue:
“Pouwhare said she and her peers started the campaign, called Huarahi Maori o Te Awakairangi, as part of an assessment for their Maori activism class, in which they were tasked with developing a social action that would influence public policy..”
Hmm.
If teachers cared about the pupils, Maori and non-Maori alike, they would be more interested that students entered the working world with better grades under their belt rather than being “particularly concerned with the fact that Lower Hutt’s Wakefield St got its moniker from William Hayward Wakefield”. Good grief. An obsession with street names? Isn’t that fiddling while Wainui burns?
Says it all really:
“Acivitism” A new word, previously unknown in English, describing teachers putting their own petty political agenda ahead of pupils’ urgent needs, all while being encouraged by an outfit whose ‘journalists’ can’t spell, but can be sorry.
A sorry situation indeed.
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