Columns

Despite the ACT Party receiving almost no support in the last elections, it got an MP and four portfolios paid for by a cup of tea. The famous tea tapes that Key didn’t want to talk about are now online under “Two Johns one cup”. Listen to them; the two politicians show utter contempt for their own voters. They will tell us that they know better than us. One thing voters don’t want is charter schools. ACT does, and by now we should know that whatever ACT wants goes against the people’s interests.

Charter schools have failed everywhere they’ve been trialled. Even then we’d have to pay for them … Moreover, business and religious organisations will be able to throw in more money and devise their own curriculum. These schools, which have a success rate of 17 per hundred, will serve to indoctrinate children. Both ACT and National believe a five-year-old is training just to be another brick in the wall, and that schools have no purpose but to serve business. Charter schools certainly will give a couple of jobs; they will provide a job for former ACT party President Catherine Isaac. It is often said that there is a revolving door between political legislators and those implementing the new regulations. There is no revolving door here; it is a tax-paid highway. The government says the appointment isn’t politically motivated, even if she has close connections to John Key and no experience in the job. Isaac’s appointment is pure nepotism. Meanwhile we will have businesses running our schools, churning out a profit and frying our brains.

New Zealand will not benefit from charter schools, though John Key and his cronies might. Instead of subsidising schools run for elites, or by religious institutions, why don’t we invest in the education system we already have? If there are problems with it, allowing some kids to avoid them isn’t the solution; all kids should. The first step is to improve teachers’ salaries; then we can start asking them, not the politicians, what we should do to improve our education system. The teachers work at school at least five days a week, they’re the ones who know what can be improved on. National forgets democracy is about having more of a say. It’s common sense to have those who actually know have a say.

–Red and Starry Eyed