Another Labour-led Assault on Kiwi Education

SOLO-Youth Press Release: Another Labour-led Assault on Kiwi Education

June 11, 2008

"Another Assault on Kiwi Education is on its way with Labour's recent legislative manoeuvre to raise the legal school leaving age to 18, unless the student attends Polytech or University," says SOLO-Youth spokesman, 14-year-old Callum McPetrie.

"In response, 15 High School Principals on Auckland's North Shore have said that, should the act pass, they will deliberately violate it. It is not hard to understand why. Why would a school principal want to keep students who have already expressed an intention to leave school—usually to go into the workforce—and who would simply cause violence if they were kept back? Why would a school want to waste money on the hiring of new teachers, adjusting wages to compensate for the extra stress put on current teachers, extra school teaching material, and new classrooms for students who don't want to learn?

"On top of that, keeping students in school prevents them from getting productive jobs out in the workforce, where they could truly be productive. Jobs and apprenticeships also provide the best education for more hands-on students looking for a career in the trades—which can provide an excellent source of income—but the current Labour Government believes that education can only be done in big, monotonous buildings, at little desks, subject to whatever the teachers says. It's this failure to differentiate between schooling and education where Labour fails miserably. What it all comes down to is more resources required from a less productive economy.

"Thus, the responsibility falls onto the parents and taxpayers to pay for the extra students, who don't want to be there, and get no value out of the education system. Parents and taxpayers are getting more for less—and the strain on schools could jeopardise their own child(ren)'s education.

"The same deluded principle has also been applied to Universities. For various reasons, the Left has taught New Zealand that everyone has a right to go to University. As a result, more people have come out of the University system with degrees which are worth nothing to an employer, thanks to everyone else having one. More money is being used to fund students who go and produce less, on the whole, and who would be more successful in the trades—where New Zealand has a major deficit.

"However, University is hardly compulsory—whereas this current proposal will make school attendance compulsory.

"In the end, all this stupid proposal boils down to is election-buying, and trying to pretend that education under Labour has not been pitiful. As proof, John Key is also supporting the proposal. Now try to argue that it ISN'T election-buying!" McPetrie concludes.

ENDS

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