Posts by Rob Stowell
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Oh Gandhi, no sweat. Took out the Raj, and all that. The passive resistance thing is unbeatable.
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there's some good research on charter school systems (including the huge Stanford study I noted upthread), and overall it's not that encouraging.
Indeed. Just reading a profile of Arne Duncan (unfortunately, subscription required) the current Education Secretary in the US. It looks like he's full-steam ahead in favour of charter schools anyway.
Not on the basis of very good evidence- as even supportive academics acknowledge. But rather on the basis of his own experience of school and his mother's truly remarkable success in that area. Anecdote and feeling trumping evidence again?
One thing that's indisputable: teachers with passion, nous and commitment make a difference (there's a bit of research coming out that indicates it can be a very big difference indeed).
But: you can't legislate, or necessarily buy- commitment and passion.
You can nurture it, and it can be passed on. Exceptional teachers are out there, and they can inspire their colleagues and their students- to take up teaching.
The new primary curriculum, fresh off the press, has helped enthuse and motivate teachers.
But while you can't legislate- or in any easy way, 'incentivise'* this passion and commitment, I think you can dampen it with hasty policy or ill-advised legislation. And there does seem to be an flood-tide of the hasty and ill-advised.
*money does help attract good quality teachers, and retain them. But a competitive system of remuneration seems unlikely to produce more exceptional teachers. -
Thanks tim- and Gordon. Inspiring.
Strikes me something odd is going on, orright. Look at this:Finnish students have come out number one in the three international assessment tests published since 2000: in reading-literacy, science and maths. New Zealand rates number 3 in reading-literacy, fourth in science and ninth in maths.
- in any serious calculation, how does this warrant a grand-standing "teachers are useless and failing us" argument? If you add in the (serious, and bloody difficult to address) "long-tail" of 20% under-achievement- and our lowish (by OECD standards) per capita income, we should be pretty proud of these figures.
If Key and Co boosted us somehow to up to 3rd, 4th or even 9th in per capita income, wouldn't they be crowing and beating their chests?
So let's apply Key's statements to their friends in the business sector. NZ is rated one of the easiest places in the world to do business. If those businesspeople and chamber of commerce types weren't so lazy and incompetent- and busy protecting their patches and bachs- we might just get our per capita income up to 9th (our lowest ranking of the three international educational standards.)
Then we'd have a heap more cash for education. We might even finish off the Finnish. -
Ouch. And it appears Capill's father was vice-principal for some time. Way to teach values, eh?
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And you can't use carer-respite money to pay family members- at least if they live in the same household.
I can understand some of the rationale: there'd be a temptation to take the money, and the carers would get no respite (though the respite money can give you from worry is indisputable).
But ruling out using carer-respite to give live-at-home members of a family (teenagers, grandparents etc) a small recompense- and principal carers a break knowing the care is coming from someone familiar, in their own home- seems mean and petty. -
I think Carol is working for M(äori)TV now. Some new shows, some tightening up-
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Shot an interview with him in 92, in Chch.
Book tours must be hell. He was a tad... waspish. Interviewers who haven't read your work can't be a lot of fun for anyone... -
"little boy who cries wolf, again"
Easy to forget the-little-boy-who-cried-wolf was right in the end. Not that he got to gloat ;)
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recordari: Here's an idea- as the site guidelines suggest, try registering and posting under your own name. So that your boss, or your mum, or your mate, or the guy you went to school with and hated- could all see just what you've contributed.
Just try it. -
Thanks George- wasn't meaning to be snarky.
Siting is critical, and altitude also a big part of that. Most cities- and the council we come under is no exception, even though we live in the country- don't want 20m towers all over the place, often for good reasons.
Generally NZ has 'good' winds, but we suffer from too much (for many small-scale/cheapo generators) as well as the general problem of intermittant wind-flows. Despite various 'feathering' techniques, 4 I know of were blown to bits in Canterbury the summer we looked into it first (1998- a big el niño year, IIRC).
I'm still interested... but as we're not on-the-grid it's very much a non-standard situation.