The 2011 Lagatum Prosperity Index ranked New Zealand education 2nd (out of 110 countries). Personally I didn't think our education system was that great and I still don't. But thanks to our govenment, who are only looking out for the top 10% of earners in the country, ps education is going to get much, much worse. http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/teachers-pushed-door-in-budget-shake-up-greens-4890124 I'm so glad we homeschool.
When my Ds was in public school here in rural IL for a short time, I volunteered in his 6th grade math class because the district thought his grade was too small to separate and had about 30 kids in one room for each class. If those politicians in NZ (or the board here in my town) could see what it is like for a teacher in front of the class to have them start an assignment on a new concept and see 20 of the thirty hands go up in the air for help, they'd see just what the real world implications of bigger class sizes are.
Interesting! My husband is from New Zealand and is always telling me how superior his education experience was from American education. Looks like things are going to be changing...
"Hmmm...we ranked 2nd out of a 100. This is not acceptable. We must lower our score as much as possible. Step one: Increase class sizes..."
When I was in high school there were 32 kids in my class and only 30 desks in each classroom :roll: Don't ya love how they talk about 17.3 pupils and 27.5 pupils? They can't even round up to the nearest whole pupil, stupid bureaucrats. They're reducing recess times, increasing class sizes, and introducing performance pay. Every child will get less attention and yet be expected to perform better on tests. Our govenment is telling us to get off our butts and get jobs but they're cutting the number of jobs available.
Coolness! We lived in Palmerston North while my husband attended Massey. Love the place. Then we moved to Papakowhai before heading back to the USA.
