March 30, 2024 - The History of New Zealand through a Libertarian Anarchist lens. Please enjoy the ideas and let me know what you think.

2018: Teachers’ Teachers Demand More State Control

September 23, 2018

By AHNZ

Dr Richard Manning and Garrick Cooper of the University of Canterbury want a national curriculum change. Specifically they want the Maori Wars (New PC name: ‘The New Zealand Wars’) as a compulsory subject.

Now, being high-minded teachers of tomorrow’s teachers, what intellectual arguments do they use? What good reasons to they offer for why this is so important? Here’s what the news reports..

“the schooling system racist for not teaching New Zealand’s colonial history”

Oh how original! Do as we say or you’re racist. One magnificent year this word will finally run out of power…

“the government needs tools to audit schools.”

How about replacing marks with Reichsmarks?

it’s too hard and it’s too scary and it’s not this and it’s not that

Real lack of sophistication in your straw-manning of the other side there, Manning.

those teachers “wilfully blind” and unprofessional

Name-calling.

There is a “slew of policies that compel the teaching of New Zealand’s history.”

“There is already existing legislation that, if followed, we wouldn’t be talking about this. It would already be happening.”

So the slippery slope to fascism is already built and lubricated. Just takes a couple of jerks to set things in motion?

They want to stick with their Eurocentric curriculum

Slightly better straw-man there. Calling those who disagree ‘racists’ in a more subtle way that time.

For the government to say we don’t survey, well, that’s just disingenuous.. schools are audited on..literacy and numeracy. Why not history?”

Hell, why not have The State audit all the other humanities as well? Make sure we’ve got Right Think in the teaching staff as well we, as determined by the politicians? You two twits will reap the bonfire then just as soon as some conservative government emerges one day. What goes around comes around! That’s why we have separation of powers.

Really it’s no surprise that officers of a compulsory system generate scare tactics and demands for more use of force to have their way. Schools are no place to learn about negotiation or peaceful persuasion for mutual gains. See also this week the Hamilton Headmistress scolding and threatening children with bad consequences in order to get them to comply. Hardly surprising. Government workers don’t understand Attraction Marketing, only force.

Update: Sep 2019, Well, our compulsion-loving headmasters here will be getting drunk tonight! So will the Difficult Histories lobby group. Labour 6.0 has given the green light to forced history education for the kids.

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