Insights
Issue 24/2013 - 5 July 2013
In this issue:
•Pouring money into education | Rose Patterson
•R.I.P. Kenneth Minogue | Luke Malpass
•In terms of badly used English | Oliver Hartwich
Pouring money into education
Rose Patterson | Research Fellow | rose.patterson@nzinitiative.org.nz
Last week, the OECD published Education at a Glance 2013, comparing education indicators across 42 countries. Ministers Steven Joyce and Hekia Parata highlighted a few points
of interest. Strangely, these highlights concentrated on New Zealand’s spending on education, as if spending was a
marker of success.
The Ministers pointed out that New Zealand spends 20% of its public expenditure on education, the second highest
percentage in the OECD. What they didn’t point out was which country was placed 1st. It is Mexico, with 20.6% of public
expenditure on education. We are 2nd in the OECD … next to Mexico!
Surely then, New Zealand and Mexico must be among the highest performing countries in the world. The Programme for
International Student Achievement (PISA) study shows that yes, New Zealand is doing well in education by global
standards. Our 15-year-olds are 7th in the world in reading, 13th in maths, and 7th in science. Mexico on the other hand
places 50th in reading, 53rd in maths, and 55th in science.
The PISA study is often used to rank countries in this way, but it is also a rich data source for thinking about how to
improve education systems. And one of the strongest stories that has emerged from PISA so far is that spending has very
little bearing on performance.
In a TED talk, OECD’s Andreas Schleicher provides an elegant illustration on the relationship between education spending and
students’ abilities. Success is defined by the average reading ability of 15-year-olds, and importantly, the disparity
of reading ability between rich and poor. Our graph of the week shows spending has little bearing on success. “Spending per student explains less than 20% of the variation among
countries,” Mr Schleicher says in his talk.
It’s not how much that is spent that matters; it’s how the money is spent. Perhaps next week when he arrives in New
Zealand, Mr Schleicher will remind our ministers that pouring money into education is not something to be proud of.
Money doesn’t necessarily build better schools.
________________________________________
R.I.P. Kenneth Minogue
Luke Malpass | Research Fellow | luke.malpass@nzinitiative.org.nz
One of the great, yet little known Kiwi academic giants has passed away. Professor Kenneth Robert Minogue, a New
Zealander by birth, Australian by upbringing, and Englishman in his working life, has died at 83.
Minogue spent the past 50 years as a professor of political science at the London School of Economics (LSE). His
intellectual reach went far beyond the lecture halls of the LSE. And like many expats, he made his fame and reputation
abroad.
In particular, Professor Minogue’s most recent and greatest contribution to political thought was his book, The Servile Mind: How Democracy Erodes the Moral Life (2010).
Despite the title, Minogue’s thesis was not that democracy was bad per se, but that a class of self-loathing
intellectuals are constantly denigrating the Western world as a place of inequality and oppression. According to this
worldview, society’s Foucaultian superstructure grinds people down into living desperate lives of consumerism and
ordinariness.
Minogue argued that before the fall of the Soviet Union, there was within the academia a sentimentalist longing for, and
pseudo-intellectual cover given to, totalitarian socialist regimes. These were states that people tried to escape from,
at great risk, if given half the chance. Think Cambodia, Poland, East Germany, the Soviet Union.
But why was there such longing for vile regimes to succeed?
It is because, Minogue said, there is a great addiction in the Western world to the idea of creating the perfect
society, as since the mid-nineteenth century the old idea of improvement was replaced by progress. Improvement is about
the modest betterment of one’s situation or society, and progress implies pursuit of a goal. In this sense, progress is
the antithesis of what made Western societies attractive, that is, the freedom to choose one’s own version of the good
life.
Minogue saw this political idealism as leading to a ‘politico-moral’ public sphere where people only need to give lip
service to politically correct views on poverty, taxes or, environmental causes without being required to consider the
moral consequences of their own actions.
Professor Minogue’s passing should be mourned in New Zealand. He made a substantial contribution to the world of ideas,
modern liberal thought, and thought deeply about how governments should interact with their citizens.
________________________________________
In terms of badly used English
Dr Oliver Hartwich | Executive Director | oliver.hartwich@nzinitiative.org.nz
A few years ago, my pet hates in the English language were narrowly defined. They were the handful of words and phrases
football star David Beckham typically uttered when reporters courageously interviewed him. ‘You know’, ‘like’ and my
personal favourite, ‘like, you know’ were chief among them.
While such sloppy use of language was annoying, at least no one could have scolded Mr Beckham for using pompous language
to elevate himself to an intellectual or a moral high ground.
Nowadays, the most annoying phrases in English come across as pompous and meaningful – but they are just as void and
superfluous.
The main culprit in this category is the ubiquitous expression ‘in terms of’. It is one of those phrases you may not
have thought about much – but once you do, you will see and hear it everywhere. And it becomes a little more maddening
each time.
There are very few occasions that genuinely warrant the use of ‘in terms of’. You may use it to express a thought in an
academic discipline (if you are inclined to use jargon), or to indicate the measurements you are using.
In all other cases, please do yourself and your audience a favour and avoid the phrase!
“New Zealand is ranked sixth globally in terms of gender equality” (Stuff.co.nz) would read better as “New Zealand is ranked sixth globally in gender equality”.
Or take this example from an interview in The New Zealand Herald: “Books of course are, in terms of attention, competing with movies, music videos, online games and all the rest of it”. Shouldn’t this simply be
rewritten with ‘competing for attention’?
‘In terms of’ may sound elaborate and educated, however, it is just careless. It is the sophisticated person’s
equivalent of ‘like, you know’.
There is only one thing worse ‘in terms of’ annoyance potential: ‘to be honest.’
Anyone who deems it necessary to preface every second thought with a seemingly disarming ‘to be honest’ immediately
arouses my suspicion. If someone believes it is necessary to stress their moments of candour, I’d rather not imagine
what they really mean at other times. Be honest or leave it – but don’t go adding the qualifier every time you say
something.
I would have never thought I would say it, but the current trends of abusing the beautiful English language almost make
me yearn for David Beckham interviews.
PS: While we are at it, ‘impact’ is a noun, not a verb.
All things considered ...
• Graph of the Week: Courtesy of the Andreas Schleicher at the OECD. It turns out that the amount of money spent
on the education system does not have much bearing on the outcomes.
• R.I.P. Professor Ken Minogue, who died at a Mont Pelerin Society Meeting, aged 83. Here is a great example of
his writing in The Spectator: ‘The Law is a Chatterbox.’
• “Prediction is dangerous: but ‘The Hobbit’ may well prove a classic.” C.S. Lewis in 1937, writing a review of a
new book by J.R.R. Tolkien.
• “Run from the law and your benefit will be stopped.” The government states its position pretty clearly as it
prepares to roll out the second phase of welfare reform.
• Apparently Mongolian neo-Nazis are going Green – charging around the nation checking the mining permits of
‘foreign polluters’. Brings new meaning to the term enviro-Nazis!
• Around the world in 40 sweater vests. Well, sort of. This teacher has staying power: He has worn the same
sweater vest and shirt combo in every yearbook photo over his entire teaching career. Note: the changeable photo
backgrounds and spectacles are also a highlight.
• The Queen is dead, long live the King! Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd faces his first in-depth interview,
and he is as irritating as ever. The presidential office style of interview really is a bit twee.
• Nicolle Flint says anti-GM campaigners are akin to Green imperialists.
• British health and safety fetishism strikes again: The parish of St Michael and All Angels must not wind back its clock!
On the record
•The man who ruined a government, Dr Oliver Hartwich, The National Business Review, 5 July 2013
•Young and restless: Europe's lost generation, Dr Oliver Hartwich, Business Spectator, 4 July 2013
ends