Voluntary Student Membership First Reading

Big News has a post about voluntary student membership, trying to argue it is not about membership.  Apparently the bill is about to get its first reading.

Being absolutely anti anything union, it is a subject dear to my heart.

Commenter Heine says it all.

'This debate is entirely about membership. It's discrimination to say that you can't get a degree unless you join the union.'

For those of us who have never darkened the doorstep of the varsity, or more recently a technical institute, the debate is entirely about forced union membership.

To take up and complete a tertiary course externally via correspondence I am compelled to join a student union delivering 'services' I will never use.  That I can actually complete the said course without setting foot on the campus or even holding a student ID confirms the issue for for me.  I will never get to listen to campus radio or read the student rag.

Big News argues that you are not compelled to join any union.  His line is 'if you do not want to join a union, do not study'.

Not studying because you have to join the union is a value worth pursuing to stop unions being funded directly through forced membership or alternatively via backdoor methods from the government for 'student services'.  It is indeed an ethic I have used, apart from where work has compelled me to do so, to actually not study because I would have to fund a union.

I do hope this bill passes, removing the forced membership and funding of unions from the taxpayers purse.  Also I look forward to being able to do courses of study without having to fund a union to which I do not wish to belong. 

And, incidentally, a corresponding drop in course fees.

Arse covering of the first magnitude

Over the weekend and yesterday we witnessed arse covering of the first magnitude by yet another NZ tertiary institution.  Again, after all the riots down south a week earlier.

Lincoln University has apologised for the Nazi-themed dress of first-year students celebrating Oktoberfest at a halls of residence-run party

Prof Field apologised for any offence caused by the students

All that was required was something along the lines of 'some young students had a pissup and made dickhead choices in their fancy dress'. Period.

many of the students who attended were first years and may not know have known what the "holocaust was all about"

Instead we get a full blown arse covering reacting to a few expressions of disgust.  While it was a disgusting choice of dress, students have to learn somewhere about making poor life choices.  They certainly wouldn't have got any life skills from their previous teachers in our high schools.  Halls of residence pissups will always happen and unfortunately some students will make dumb decisions.

Most of us would have been there, done that in different shades.  Even Prince Harry has been there.  A few papers sell, the sun still comes up tomorrow.

One day institutions might actually tell the story like it is, not spray weasel words covering their backsides.

Brief guide for education policy

Freeing Schools

• Underperforming schools will be taken out of local authority control: This will allow schools to flourish in the way that City Technology Colleges did - by "freeing them from the obsessive micromanagement of government and stifling local bureacracy";
• Freedom will be restored to the highest performing schools: As was the case with grant maintained status, but with the proviso that they have a partner school which is underperforming or failing - "liberating the strong to help the weak; helping the weak by empowering the strong".

Discipline

• Steps will be taken to protect teachers, who currently cannot restrain violent children or impose detentions;
• The teacher will be in charge: Mr Gove promised to "safeguard the rights of the majority, not defer to the human rights of the troublemakers";
• The head teacher's word will be final on exclusions;
• Disruptive children would get the care they need and "tough love" at an appropriate alternative school;
• The base of people brought into the teaching profession will be broadened, for example using those who have been in the services.

The man of the moment, UK shadow MP Michael Gove, lays out Tory policies for education.

Wonder when we will see such positive education here in NZ?

Universities to fast track degrees

The never ending dumbing down of education.

There is no compromising on standards, there is no reduction in entry requirements.

"HEC, one honorary Doctorate of Laws".

I rest my case.

'... for the betterment ...'

An insidious phrase straight from one wreaking their own deluded brand of social engineering on the young populace.

behaviour that verges on "coercive" and "potentially alienating"

Step locked with failed socialist ideologies this one thinks he is doing God's work by releasing confidential personal information.

The only 'betterment' required is a lynch mob.

Dilemmas with much hand wringing

Every man and his dog, after voting in the government that legalised the oldest profession along with men shagging men, is now having an attack of the morals accompanied by much hand wringing.

Between the devil and deep blue sea it would seem. Teachers cannot work such a combination of jobs, in charge of our kids one moment and then servicing community needs in the next. So the moral police are afoot and putting their oar in.

A new teacher has taken up the challenge of a second job for whatever reason. Now her employers at the 'primary' job are discussing whether the secondary job fits their suddenly re-found distorted morals. Next thing her name will be outed and then we will have the parental lynch mob afoot.

Excuse me, the job is legal and not affecting her said primary work. Like most legal secondary jobs.

I suppose the teacher who in future needs to take an after hours job at the local shark and 'taties greasy spoon will suffer at the hands of the same employers because such food is not in keeping with food police ethics?

I say bugger off and find something to real to discuss with teaching. Like not teaching war dances but actually teaching real world things like the 3R's on a practical level.

UPDATE:

Herald is running a poll on subject (question reworded) Results are 50/50 at 1455 today.

Is it OK for a prostitute to moonlight as a primary school teacher?

Why isn't Mr Plod dealing with this?

At what point did school trustees become the arbiters of when a crime has been committed?

Isn't smoking dope still a crime in this country? And what about tampering with evidence?

Double standards in play as usual.

Editor needs a bomb

This serious article has serious spelling mistakes, just like a Mr Wang made in Q7 here.

One of these days the writer might learn not to rely on computer spell checkers.

Varsities no longer hotbed for student activism

campus life is in decline and changes need to be made if sporting, cultural and student organisations are to survive

Recently ditched Johnny H. rightly told the varsities to adopt a user-pays scheme back in 2005 and now they reckon they are short by AU$167M. Using the sport and cultural line that they are needed, truth is that it is more likely the unions bleating about having no pre-paid membership to work on. Any reduction in student activism can only be a good thing, after all students are there to learn.

The newly installed Kevni has been helping his union mates and recently called for an inquiry. 90% of submissions call for re-instatement of compulsory student union fees.

Any move to user-pays has to be good - if students want extra curricular support services, they should pay for it up front in fees, not in some rort fostering compulsory unionism.

I wonder how much of the NZ$10B student loans in NZ are to support the compulsory student unions we have in our tertiary establishments? Why are student unions still compulsory in NZ?

Stop your bitching

Bruce Simpson over at Aardvark offers sage advice for those bitching about the cost of living and other items when they earn heaps.

Seems he manages very well thank you on much less than the average wage and suggests the following points are good starters to get through the tough times.

It's time that Kiwis learned the difference between "wants" and "needs".

Yes, we all "want" the luxuries of life but we "need" the necessities.

If you can't pay your power-bill or petrol for the car then what the hell are you doing buying booze or ciggies?

If you're relying on the food bank to keep yourself alive then should you really be buying all those lotto tickets every week?

What ever happened to teaching people good, basic, sound financial management skills?

I have no LCD/Plasma TV, I have no Sky TV, I have a 20-year old ute rather than a nice comfy car with aircon. But I also have no HP payments, no debt, no leases and no other drains on my meager income -- except rent, power, phone, insurance, food and clothing.

Diesel has gone through the roof - so I *walk* the round trip of 5Kms to clear the mailbox in town every day. I make my own yogurt, I'm about to plant my own veges and my missus knows enough to turn a tray of sausages into a four-course meal with desert.

Perhaps I am the product of a generation-past when we were taught to think about what we are doing and the importance of self-reliance. Am I just a square peg in a round hole?

How are you coping with the seemingly endless increase in prices?

How much debt to you run?

Do you teach your kids (or have you been taught) the basics of sound fiscal management?

Is this another subject we ought to add to our school syllabus instead of some touch-feely cultural enlightenment course?

As he suggests, it is only a matter of getting your priorities sorted and separating 'wants' from 'needs'. And yes, it should be a core subject in schools right up there with the 3 R's.