Dame Lisa Carrington celebrates her eighth Olympic gold medal. Photo / Photosport
Who is our greatest Olympian?
It really is hard to argue with Michael Burgess’ comment (HoS, Aug 11) that Lisa Carrington is our greatest Olympian of all time.
Her gold medal haul is indisputable. Her dedication to the sport is irrefutable and her legacy will be incomparable as others will be inspired to reach the heights she has attained for many years to come.
Burgess quite fairly states it was always hard to look beyond Peter Snell and his triumphs over 800m in Rome 1960 and the 800m/1500m double in Tokyo 1964 in these two highly competitive events. But now, he states, we have to.
However, what needs to be taken into account when comparing these two is that Peter Snell had a short but intense career as an amateur. Once he got back from the Olympics, he had to get the bus to go to work shortly afterwards.
Lisa Carrington’s sustained dominance in kayaking, and her ability to succeed across multiple events over a longer period, was probably helped considerably by the fact that she competed in the professional era. Both are icons in their own right, representing excellence in different eras and disciplines.
It is probably not necessary to compare but to feel satisfied New Zealand has produced two extraordinary sportspeople who we have every reason to be proud of.
Bernard Walker, Mount Maunganui
Expanding assisted dying
Regarding Isaac Davison’s article on the End of Life Choice Act, assisted dying should be a fundamental right for everyone.
If you don’t want an assisted death (AD), don’t have one, but don’t try to restrict the rights of others. It is clear that opponents of AD have lost the debate, resorting to tactics of delaying and confusion in an attempt to restrict access to AD.
In my opinion, it is only a matter of time before our existing legislation expands to include those suffering horrendously, but who currently don’t qualify. Ask yourself, who benefits from forcing people to suffer?
Possibly shareholders of care facilities, maybe certain churches clinging to medieval dogmas. Surely not people of sound mind faced with a degenerative disease.
Worldwide there is increasing support for allowing greater autonomy regarding this issue. Not before time should individuals have the right, in our country, to make pragmatic, compassionate and sane decisions regarding their passing.
David Seymour advises he’s unsure of an appetite for change within Parliament. There should be — 65% of the electorate voted for change in 2020. Would another referendum be held to decide this issue?
MPs represent their electorate? Humbug.
John Watson, Ōtaki
Teacher skill sets
Wow, Steve Russell’s scorn for primary school teachers came through loud and clear in his letter “Banana maths and the minister” (HoS, Aug 11).
I absolutely agree that maths teaching in primary schools needs a radical overhaul to lift students’ achievement, and this must include intensive professional development for teachers. But to suggest there is “a public disdain for teachers” and to call primary teachers “mathematical monkeys” are insulting.
Russell asks many questions in his letter, but one, “Why can they [primary teachers] be paid the same as highly qualified secondary teachers?”, shows he has no idea what being a primary teacher entails. The majority of primary school teachers don’t specialise in one subject area like secondary teachers do. A secondary maths teacher is just that, although occasionally one may pick up another subject.
In a primary school there are seven core subjects: English language, mathematics, science, technology, social sciences, the arts and health and physical education, and each one has a number of components that must be covered.
So, to answer Russell’s question re pay, when does a “highly qualified secondary teacher” specialising in one subject, consistently teach every curriculum area in a secondary school?
Teachers are teachers, but have different skill sets according to the age level they teach. Pay parity reflects this.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth
Ugly policies
The Government’s harsh attitude to the vulnerable has again been demonstrated, this time by Minister for Social Development Louise Upston who this week unabashedly claimed ignorance of (and appeared uninterested in) the suffering of children whose parents were among 1500 beneficiaries sanctioned in the past three months.
Two days later, without stakeholder consultation, Upston announced the shifting of disability support services from Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People, to MSD, an organisation well known for insensitivity and poor decision-making in its responsibilities towards beneficiaries.
The National-led Government never looked likely to improve the inequities and injustices that plague New Zealand, but the violence and ugliness of its policies are breathtaking.
Andrea Dawe, Sandringham
Sanctions not a solution
On the surface, increasing sanctions for miscreant beneficiaries seems the right thing to do.
Whether it will work is a moot point and ensuring children will not bear the brunt of these actions has to be carefully considered. One of the mistakes often made by legislators is that they do not take into consideration the actuality of the situation.
What has to be understood is they are dealing with people who, because of their life circumstances, think differently from the norm. As a result, sanctions will be regarded as unfair.
Rather than taking punitive action, we need to get alongside these people and help them take steps to a better life. Sanctions are always a temporary fix, they will never solve a long-term problem.
Reg Dempster, Albany
Too many holidays
Now that there is an OCR drop and this will boost the economy, can we also revisit the high number of public holidays.
If we could reduce the number, by say two, then there would be great benefits to the New Zealand economy. More patients would see doctors earlier, education would improve, houses would get built faster, even roads rebuilt in less time.
Company overheads would reduce and New Zealand would be slightly more competitive.
Bruce Clements, Taupō
