Letters: Teaching resilience – students need learning that suits them; the lack of political accountability

Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O’Connor says "resilience" has become a cliche and students need to be taught to toughen up, including coming to class five days a week. Photo / Greg Bowker

OPINION

Students need learning that suits them

It is reality that learners and teachers in this modern world experience illness, due to the greater and wider chance of communicable interaction with international diseases, ranging from influenza, anxiety, to Mpox.

It is hypocrisy that the Auckland Grammar headmaster states that learners should be at school five days a week, when that school does not ring a caregiver when a concerning attendance pattern emerges with their learner. It is regarded as a parental role to monitor (NZ Herald, Sept 11).

Attendance issues are a key indicator of a need to make a learning adjustment for that student. Having an inflexibility of expectation ignores the need to recognise the need to tailor education delivery to ensure a learner with the potential to disengage, has the appropriate support from professional educators in our schools.

We must implement and normalise alternatives so that a young person can engage with a learning style that suits them and enables employment to contribute to a future safe, familial, and community life. Expectation is a great way to absolve the school from moral and ethical responsibility and does not require resilience.

The learner is the prime focus, not the institution’s convenience. Relief teaching is the intervention to minimise the impact of teacher absence in the classroom. The relief teacher must be experienced and adroit enough to adjust and negotiate the fluidity of various environments, diverse learners, and multi-curricula delivery.

This skill set should be enumerated using their position on the salary scale they have ascended to with their professional ability, established during their work history.

Richard Ghent, Freemans Bay.

Democratic overhaul

David Seymour objects to Council of Trade Unions economist Craig Renney’s modest $4 million estimate of the monetary cost of pursuing his doomed Treaty Principles Bill, saying “you can’t put a price on democracy”.

Seymour’s version of democracy prioritises his pet projects, those likely to appeal to an extremist core of his supporters in the hope that they will again vote for Act at the next election. His bill is shunned by his coalition partners, criticised for its divisiveness by Ministry of Justice officials and is condemned by Opposition parties, church leaders, and an apparent majority of New Zealand citizens.

If a party that represents so few of us – around 7% in a recent poll – is allowed to wield such disproportionate power, our democratic process needs an overhaul.

Andrea Dawe, Sandringham.

Political accountability

Kiwi billionaire co-founder of Mainfreight, Bruce Plested, has every right to be concerned about the possibility of money being raised through a wealth tax being squandered (NZ Herald, Sept 10).

This is despite the fact that he is in favour of the tax. He is not the only one, as us mere mortals who pay PAYE are just as concerned. Given the last Government’s spendathon, all of us have a right to live in fear and trepidation.

I am sure as a successful businessman that everyone appointed to key positions in Plested’s business have to be accountable to what they spend, otherwise they get fired quick-smart. It’s a pity this does not happen to politicians.

But it clearly does not as they tend to live another day. We have a former Prime Minister disappearing overseas to plum jobs at Harvard and fronting charities with Prince William. Then there is a former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister scooping a fat salary as vice-chancellor of Otago University.

Finally, there is Chris Hipkins, another former Labour PM, still smiling his way through his role as Leader of the Opposition supposedly oblivious to the fiscal carnage of his previous time in Government. Yes, Bruce and the rest of us have every right to be afraid, very afraid, as the word accountability does not appear to be in the lexicon of politicians.

Bernard Walker, Mount Maunganui.

Blind pursuit

Town planner John Dare warns that Auckland Transport, through Auckland Council’s Plan Change 79, is seeking to make unrealistic bike shed, driveway, and footpath rules for townhouse developments that will reduce the number of dwellings per development, increasing the costs of development substantially (NZ Herald, Sept 12).

While Mayor Wayne Brown may have been blindsided by NZ First introducing a bill into Parliament to disestablish Auckland Transport, he, like the citizens of Auckland, must be delighted that the out-of-control failed experiment of the unaccountable Auckland Transport will finally be eradicated.

Auckland Transport’s inane, blind pursuit to reduce motor vehicle use in Auckland by 30% has been its downfall. Hallelujah.

Please watch out for cyclists, there will be a lot of them taking a long bike ride.

Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.

Traffic management

Roadworks on the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Tuesday night had an impressive number of cones, lane and speed reductions from the tunnel to the Onewa Rd exit. No work going on except for a small patch of roading happening just before the Onewa Rd off-ramp. Numerous traffic management trucks and very few road workers/engineers.

Lane closures and cone placement should be relevant and not on a 3km stretch prior to the roadworks. The additional cost for excessive traffic management must make these road maintenance programmes unbelievably expensive.

Lesley Baillie, Milford.