David Hill: Our state schools most certainly do teach values

Bishop Richard Randerson was reported as saying over Easter that the number of parents wanting to enrol their children in church schools was rising so fast that many such schools could not cope with the demand.

The reason for the increased applications, he suggested, was that church schools taught values. The implication of this comment is that state schools do not.

I believe the bishop is one of life's Good Guys. But the technical term for the nature of his argument on this occasion is "piffle".

My job as a writer takes me into New Zealand schools pretty frequently. About three weeks back the Book Council, an organisation worth its weight in sapphires, arranged for me and two other writers to spend a week visiting schools in the Manawatu-Horowhenua area. They were all decile 1 or 2 schools, ones whose pupils come from poor, often disadvantaged backgrounds.

Three stories. On the first morning, I was on my way to a classroom when the teacher escorting me stopped a girl who wasn't wearing a uniform top. (The fact that this school has a uniform is, of course, an indication of values in itself.)

The teacher quietly checked why the girl didn't have the correct bit of uniform. Then she sent her straight off to get one from the Lost Property Office. "Everything at this school is about mana, remember?" she told the girl. "About pride."

A couple of days later, I began my afternoon by talking to a full assembly at another low-decile school. Before I started boring the kids, the principal stood and told them how the mother of Whiti in Room 6 had died after a long illness.

She asked the school to stand. "We're all going to spend a moment quietly thinking of Whiti and his family, and sending them our love," she said. More than 500 kids aged from 5 to 13 stood, and there wasn't a shuffle or a whisper in the hall.

And near the end of the week, I spent an hour reading and talking to another assembly hall of kids, in this case the Year 7s and 8s. For 45 minutes, they sat quietly on hard seats until I'd mumbled my way to the end. Then, without any prompting or awkwardness, they clapped me.

One of the teachers got them to stand for a stretch - and to sing to me. I stood, too, while surges of sound swept round me. When they'd finished, I clapped them, and they sat down smiling.

I asked if they had any questions. And for about 20 minutes, they asked me questions - sensible, apposite, carefully prepared questions. Each time I pointed to an upraised hand, its owner stood, said "Kia Ora, David Hill, my name is Jaydon/Janaya, and I'd like to know ... "

So by the end of that week, I'd seen examples of pride, compassion, industry, patience and courtesy that had been taught to these state-school children. I could mention other values I encountered in the same week - co-operation, generosity, loyalty.

Of course state schools teach values. Such qualities are specifically mentioned in syllabuses and curriculums. Anyway, values will inevitably arise whenever two or three are gathered together - and I'm sure Bishop Randerson will recognise the provenance of those words.

I'm sure the Bishop didn't mean to malign state schools. I'm sure he will agree that many of them do great things for children. I look forward to him saying so next Easter.

* Tapu Misa returns next week.