Dilworth to play money game

Mike Moore

School pupils from low-income families will play the markets using a slice of a former Prime Minister's fortune, topped up with money raised by one of the Kennedy dynasty.

The catch is that the pupils must use the money to help worse-off students overseas.

And there is one other small matter - before they can start giving, the students must work out how to invest the money for profit.

Dilworth School old boy Mike Moore would not say yesterday how much he had given his former school, only saying it was a "useful" amount.

He has recruited a high-powered list of helpers to add to the nest egg - beginning with environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy junior, the nephew of former US President John and son of Senator Robert senior.

Bobby Kennedy will speak at a glitzy Auckland fundraiser next month, followed by a charity auction.

From such high-powered beginnings, the fund will be turned over to students to decide who gets any profits they make.

Mr Moore, a former Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, said it would be a "good lesson" for the pupils if the fund made no money, or if the money was stolen before it reached its goal.

He would give them a list of suggestions of worthy projects but did not expect them to stick to it.

"Personally I'm very attracted to [the idea of] Books in Schools ... but that is for the kids to decide."

Speaking from the Middle East, Mr Moore said there would be two boards overseeing the fund - a pupils' board and an adults' board - in order to meet New Zealand investment rules.

The pupils' board would mimic and work with the adults' board to make investment and donation decisions, although he was still working with the school on the final structure.

He said students at Dilworth would learn about markets and investment - topics Mr Moore believes are missing from the mainstream curriculum. AUT University, which is sponsoring the Kennedy event, is considering extending the concept to other schools.

Mr Moore was not deterred by the fact that his own years at Dilworth were fairly miserable. "I have a debt of honour [to the school]. You see things a bit differently when you are 60 as opposed to eight."

He believed it would go down well with wealthy donors: "Business people ... like the idea of teaching New Zealand kids about markets."