KEY POINTS:
What will it take for the Government to pull its head out of the sand and stop denying this country's rising tide of social problems? First it was the underclass, now Education Minister Steve Maharey denies there's a problem over Maori male students - more than half of whom are leaving school without level one of NCEA.
We can imagine what Professor Russell Bishop of Waikato University is hinting at when he says these results will come back to haunt us.
And three cheers for Hato Paora principal Tihirau Shepherd who said parents must play a greater role in their children's education. Shepherd's school of 230 students in Feilding apparently has a strong success rate, and Shepherd emphasised that although poverty was a hindrance for many of his students, it didn't automatically prevent them from achieving. However, he stressed the importance of parents in helping their children do better at school.
But how can parents do this when choice of schools is limited to the wealthy? When the Education Ministry won't name schools that cheat and lie over students' NCEA results?
In 2003 I spent three months at Cambridge University (thanks, Qantas), researching parental choice and education in schools in the Netherlands and Sweden. (If anyone wants a free booklet of my research on the Dutch system, Let Parents Choose, email me using the link below.)
One day on the train I spied an advertisement for a supermarket chain. It pictured a small, grubby-faced boy, saying "I want the food I ordered. And a puppy. That plays football!" Underneath were the words: "You spend $4000 a year on supermarkets. Start making demands."
Imagine if our education minister ran a similar campaign, with a parent pictured saying, "I want my child to get an a bursary. And learn philosophy. In Te Reo" and underneath were the words: "You spend $4000 a year in taxes on education. Start making demands."
Politicians and bureaucrats think parents are too stupid to be involved in their kids' schooling, so they do everything to shut them out. Just weeks ago Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia expressed concern about Maori failure in education, and last week Pita Sharples called for more kura kaupapa, or Maori immersion schools.
I agree with Sharples, but why stop there? Are Maori political leaders the only ones who believe parents should have choice? Spurred by the boldness of Maori, National should pinch the education policy first promoted in New Zealand by Sir Roger Douglas. It's neither new nor radical, but first implemented in the Netherlands in 1917 when the state monopoly in education was terminated by the "schools to parents" movement so parents could choose whatever schools they wish for their children while the state paid.
Instead of education funding going to the top, then filtering down to a measly amount left for schools and students, the funding follows the child to whatever school the parent chooses - kura kaupapa, state-owned, private, Catholic, Protestant, Montessori. It's truly egalitarian because it offers choice to the poor.
In the USA, this voucher system was offered to failing students in parts of Milwaukee and Cleveland. Three quarters of the parents who received vouchers were single parents on low incomes, and a Harvard University study of the system found that after four years the test results showed an improvement of 11 per cent in maths and six per cent in reading.
Parents could pool their funding, form cooperatives, and open new schools, as happened in 1991 when Sweden - possibly the most socialist country in the developed world - adopted this policy.
We're allowed to choose our own family doctor, our house, our car, so why not that most precious right - our children's schooling?
When I was an MP and discussed this at a meeting in Ponsonby I was hissed at by white, middle-class teachers (just the sort of people we want teaching our young!). Schools, they argue, will cherry-pick the best students (an indictment on good teachers, surely). Failing schools will be forced to close. Fancy that.
In 2003 a Ngai Tahu representative at an education hui said the iwi did not support a national education body because, "we do not believe it can better represent our specific treaty interests. Instead we call for government resourcing of regional Taumata that are facilitated and managed by mana whenua. We believe this would allow each iwi to focus on what needs to be done at the ground level to address their unique educational needs."
I hope Maori charge ahead with their desire to take education away from the boffins and strident unionists who fail many New Zealand children. Let's see if teachers have the guts to hiss at Sharples, Turia or Hone Harawira come next election.
