Posts by Ross Mason
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I started the PC up as I was thinking about what makes a good school. Read the latest posts and Ben has hit what I was thinking spot on. His comment about the teachers and wifey and him throwing the NS out the door and - shock horror- concentrating on the child.
And:But he looked on the bright side, that the human beings who are responsible for education in the schools have managed to make every stupid initiative work out in the long run, that education works despite the politics.
Paul then telling us about what makes a school a community and the community part of the school.
Those two posts tell me that there is quality out there in the classes. Please Mr Key, help us keep the best, attract the best and importantly, trust the community to help our kids achieve. They will.
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Kahnacademy as seen on 60mins on TV3 on Sunday Night.
Now, I would have a bet that this is the kind of "e-learning system" that Johnnie Boy's Treasury bods thinks this country should adopt. It must be good. Can't beat free. Bill Gates said so.
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Poster #23 from Stuff (our Keith??)
Are kids trad-ables? Are they commodities?
Sell them anyway.....think of the savings....
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A year is a long time in politics. But Prof Gluckman politely suggested to the govt back in April 2011 that better Evidence Based Policies would be a really really good idea.
From the report:Foreword
The public good is undoubtedly advanced by knowledge-informed policy formation, evaluation and implementation. The challenge is how to do better in two related domains: the generation and application of knowledge to inform policy making, and the use of scientific approaches to the monitoring and evaluation of policy initiatives.And just to make sure this geezer was not speaking above his station:
As Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister I have the brief to promote discourse that will lead New Zealand to better apply evidence-based knowledge and research across all domains of public endeavour.
The crux:
1. Preamble
Democratic societies make decisions and policy based on many inputs, including fiscal considerations, societal values, prevailing public views, and the ideals and vision of the government of the day. But democratic governments want to make good decisions and at the base of such decision making should be the use of high quality information and evidence, both in developing new policies and in evaluating current policies. Decisions made in the absence of such informed background material are, by definition, less likely to be effective or efficient and can entrench policies which may be of little value. Thus governments can become constrained by earlier policy decisions that are not easily reversible because there may be a popular or political perception that they are effective when in fact they are not.(My emphasis)
Please Prime Minister, it is time you refreshed your memory and organised a fireside chat with Sir Pete. After all, you hired him to tell you like it should be. -
Hard News: Media7 will soon be Media3, in reply to Emma Hart,
Where are all the straight cis male sex bloggers, hm?
I suspect petrified of writing about it as they would likely be firebombed or tied to lamp posts if they did. Given what happens to "perverts" in this country.
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Hard News: Media7 will soon be Media3, in reply to Lilith __,
a certain Fiona Rae, who has also turned us down
Heh. Didn't Stephen Price manage it on the Court Report???
:-)
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Gender and Media 7. The gathering of ( a wee bit more than anecdata I hope) of Media 7. Given the lack of replay TV I have had a quick look at the programmes you can get at and the Media 7 extras just below the full programmes. I zapped through to check the panels only. Of the last seven full programmes 21 males and 2 females appeared. Of 4 Media extras that I could see panels (from Dec 10 to Sept 11, 10ish males and 2 female, one who happened to be playing a ukalele. I suspect that the highlights were over represented by males as well.
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Hard News: Media7 will soon be Media3, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Where did you find that gem?
8 Tribes huh.
I'm from Grey Lynn apparently. GREY LYNN???? !!!! FFS. Who wrote that diatribe? They authors HAVE to be North Shore. I see Te Kuiti Pinetrees don't feature. The nearest the tribes go to anything rural is Balclutha. Maori?? Who or where are they??
And they have the gall to make money from this?
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Jury service. Do it. Question: If you were in the dock for something you didn't do, would you want you on the jury? If you say no, then you have failed Civics 101.
I have always wanted to start the Informal Party. No fees. Tell everyone to make their vote informal and voila! You take the votes. Simple.
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You mean.....I won't be having cold turkey afterall??? Noice.