Ryan Bridge say “Old School is the Best School” … plus please share your stories re caning, etc!
There is a lot going on in education.
Significant reports that the changes in curriculum and method at a junior level are not having the desired effect.
New English, maths primary curriculums had little effect on achievement, first results show.
Curriculum changes are being delayed.
New timeframe for years 0-8 curriculum rollout clarified, union claims win.
Qualifications changes are far from straight forward. I began teaching in 1991 and heard all of the timeline promises, the theoretical underpinning, and educational enhancement promises for NCEA. My, well thought through, expectation for the secondary school curriculum/qualifications is that the education sector has 12 years of chaos ahead. This is a combination of the Minister of Education having been captured by a very narrow range of ideologues and advisers, the deep incompetence of the Ministry of Education, the entrenched opposition of the teacher unions, and poor design from the outset.
NCEA replacement ‘not going to suit our young people’ says teachers’ union.
I am no fan – in any way shape or form – of the teacher’s union – but, like a broken analogue clock – they are right twice a day.
This is serious, but I was a little stunned by Ryan Bridge saying that “Old School is the Best School.”
I went through high school at Wanganui Boys College from 1980 to 1984. I then taught at Tauranga Boys’ College (1991 – 96), Hamilton Boys’ (1997-98) and St Cuthbert’s College (1998 – 2001). That time spanned the transition to NCEA that was supposed to be fully in place by 1996, but took until 2002.
What we had before that was a disaster. School Certificate results were determined around a 50% pass rate in English – destining approx. half of the students to fail – no matter how good teachers were. I remember one student at school asking a future All Black … “What were your best three years at school – 5th form?”
Sixth Form certificate for schools was based on their School Certificate results (e.g. I got a “1” in economics because I had earned it in the previous year with my School Certificate result in that subject). Because I was “Accredited” UE and, knew that I would be from the beginning of the year, I did very little in the 6th form, except practice my goalkicking and perfect my Euchre playing in an accounting class. University Bursary earned you diddly squat but you went through the charade.
“Old School is the Best School” Ryan?
I am deeply unsure why – given the choices the Minister is making – why she did not simply mandate Cambridge exams as the NZ qualification. It would be MUCH cheaper and also likely to be of much higher quality that the Ministry/NZQA combination will come up with.
I have to bring a lighter note. A couple of posts back a commenter doubted my assertions about caning in the 1980s. I raised the situation where two of us in my class lapped the other 28 in a PE run and all of those slow-pokes were caned. I mentioned that my co-conspirator in that crime was also caned 27 times by one teacher for not doing his homework. I should have mentioned that he was also caned by a teacher affectionately know as “Nude Nut” for the sin of blowing his nose.
I contacted the gentleman who had been thrown into doubt. Here are his responses:
“I remember both occasions vividly, especially being padded in advance for submitting the set 1000 lines as actual lines on a page instead of the required phrase. Poor Mr Ton, it sounded like he was caning a bouncy castle. A bean bag would’ve felt more.”
“I also remembered the PE teachers reclining on chairs and rising only to rethreaten those running to lap those that could be lapped or deserving to get caned as well. The same teachers I remembered with one of them shoving you into the school pool after swimming, i.e., you were in your uniform and wearing your school bag. Brilliant educational facility.”
“I’d forgotten about being caned for blowing my nose, but there can’t be too many people punished that way for such a heinous crime. I mean what was the intended corrective behaviour that intervention was seeking to achieve?”
“Nude also had that affectation of cradling the back of his hand on his forehead and for someone teaching English, could barely speak it coherently. No wonder we were bored to distraction. He’d mumble some loose connection to the reading matter he’d then repeat it as scribble on the board until the bell saved us all. He couldn’t run a bath, let alone a class.”
“Or – if you walked into the classroom with a jacket on, he would yell “jacket off” – which was hilarious to 14 year olds. On some occasions we would all walk in with a jacket on and then pile them on one desk. Many times when he turned his back to write on the board someone would say “NUDE”.”
Maybe a good vent would be for people to tell their “old school” stories of what education was really like. I got freaked out at primary school by a teacher who seemed to love smacking bottoms and ended up being banned from teaching as he took his behaviour further with a selected few.
Please tell your stories!