Where were you when standards slipped?
It was reported in the ODT today (29.8.25) that a group of 89 school principals have sent a letter to Erica Stanford opposing that minister’s proposed changes to school qualifications.
School principals are (I would think) the best placed people in the community to observe the trends in student achievement levels over time. Most would have one or more decades of experience.
One wonders therefore where the collective voice of these principals had been when the nation learned with such a shock earlier this year that our children’s achievement levels in numeracy and literacy was vastly lower than comparable countries.
Surely those principals would have known all that and should have been raising hell with the ministry to make these changes.
It would have been a much better look for them to be proactively promoting a better system than shouting "no" to the minister’s proposals.
Have a lie-down
Dave Tackney (27.8.25) seems very annoyed and upset about the increasing use of te reo.
I suggest Dave takes a few deep breaths and maybe has a lie-down because the tide has turned — Kua huri te tai — and te reo is here to stay.
Dave also seems to have an issue with New Zealand passports, namely that the word Aotearoa is on the passport and thinks a Customs officer in France would have "no idea what Aotearoa is but would instantly recognise the name New Zealand."
Fear not Dave, the foreign Customs officer could just cast his eyes a little further down the passport to read in large letters the words New Zealand passport. I think most Customs officers could manage that.
From 2027 the words New Zealand will appear above the name Aotearoa on our passports thanks to petty politicking of the present government.
I recently renewed my passport for another 10 years and am very happy that the words Uruwhenua Aotearoa appear above the words New Zealand Passport .
Dave Tackney, responding to Elspeth McLean’s discussion (Opinion ODT 20.8.25) of Education Minister Erica Stanford’s removal of some simple, well-known, and commonly used Māori words from the ministry’s Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) early reading texts, wrote: "The mixing of two languages in written form does a disservice to both languages. It is about time that the feelings of the majority are considered in this matter, as the written form of the English language has been around for millennia and needs to be respected."
But the present English language, written or spoken, didn’t exist "millennia" (a word adopted from Latin) ago. Old English arrived in Britain with 5th century Anglo-Saxon invasions, and has enriched itself by co-opting words from other languages (that word comes from Latin, via Old French), including Māori, ever since.
It seems unlikely that the feelings (that word is from Old English) of the majority (from French "majorite") of New Zealanders are as blind to this reality, or as biased against use of Māori words, as Mr Tackney.
More importantly, whereas in written English the same vowels can represent different sounds (e.g. "rough", "through", and "fought"), in written Māori vowels represent sounds clearly and consistently. So it should be easier for children to learn to read from texts which include Māori words — perhaps, logically, the number of Māori words in RtRPP books should be increased, rather than deleted.
Tackling problems in his own unique way
Mike Houlahan’s obituary of Phil Silva (ODT 30.8.25) jogged my memory to a morning in 1988 or ’89. I was in my office before usual business hours in the old Barningham building where the Dunedin Study was then based.
Suddenly, an almighty racket started up from along the corridor. I decided I had better go and investigate. In the administrative office I found Dr Silva in a cloud of exhaust fumes.
He had just put down his chainsaw after cutting off the end of a desk that had been jutting out and getting in the way. For me, this image remains a symbol of how the Dunedin Study survived. As Mike Houlahan has written, Dr Silva was a visionary "who never did anything by halves" and preserved the Dunedin Study.
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