New Zealand Listener Issue 16, 2022

Mathematics teaching and learning in primary schools are in crisis. Providers of early-childhood education are doing well. And to be fair, most primary schools are doing their best while working under a leaky umbrella of inefficiency and a lack of support. But 20 years ago, New Zealand primary schools ranked near the peak worldwide. Not now. Unfortunately, our Ministry of Education wrongly adopted flawed programmes from other countries. This, combined with input from some academics who may have had little or no experience teaching in a primary classroom and ministry staff who had taught only secondary levels, meant the “revised” curriculum programmes were fraught with problems. The ministry’s Numeracy Development Projects have been critiqued as a cause of NZ primary schools’ alarming decline internationally. The ministry has indicated that a five-year plan is…

Like many New Zealand children, I grew up with the stories of Anzac Day and Gallipoli: Simpson and his donkey, Freyberg swimming ashore to set the flares, and so on (“Right of Return”, April 2). The occasional query as to why we were commemorating such a comprehensive defeat was met with answers basically summed up as “New Zealand came of age on those shores”. Fast-forward a few years and I came to realise that at Gallipoli, we invaded a foreign sovereign country, with whom we had no quarrel. Our glorious fight was against soldiers who were prepared to give everything to defend their homeland. Yet each year, we expect to go to Gallipoli to commemorate that event. How would we feel if, say, in 1942, the Japanese had staged an unsuccessful invasion of…

WINNING CAPTION Bernard Harris, Palmerston North FINALISTS Venus Williams: “Her forehand is stronger than my backhand.” – Niels Jonker, Wellington Williams: “Maybe direct a tennis movie next. The Power of the Lob.” – Paul Kelly, Palmerston North Jane Campion: “And this, Venus, is the Power of the Hug.” – Kate Highfield, Hastings Campion: “We’ve both got to have balls to survive in our businesses, sweetie.” – Helen Carver, Dannevirke Caption: Stars back in alignment. – Marie Curran, Dunedin Caption: Venus Williams forgives umpire who made a bad call. – Vic Evans, Nelson Williams: “Hang in there, Jane, I got your back.” – John Smythe, Wellington…

“He taught me that a mind is a weapon, but that it must be kept sharp with compassion and a deep respect for the mana of all people.”– Leonie Hayden on Moana Jackson“My love life is like a piece of Swiss cheese. Most of it’s missing, and what’s there stinks.”– Joan Rivers“Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson“No one would’ve predicted the most controversial movie of 2022 would be GI Jane.”– Jimmy Kimmel“Selling my degree. Still in good condition. Never been used.” – Seen on Twitter“Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.”– Saint Augustine“The best gossip you will ever get is from your friend about the people at their job that you don’t…

1. Which of these places takes its name from the Scottish Gaelic name for the city of Edinburgh? ❑ Blenheim ❑ Mosgiel ❑ Balclutha ❑ Dunedin 2. What is the only state to have built nuclear weapons but later dismantled them and shut down its own programme? ❑ Brazil ❑ South Africa ❑ Italy ❑ South Korea 3. Where are the endangered Hector’s dolphins generally found? ❑ Hauraki Gulf ❑ South Island coast ❑ Stewart Island/Rakiura coast ❑ North Island coast 4. Which of these is NOT a fiction novel or story collection by Edgar Rice Burroughs? ❑ Conan the Barbarian ❑ Tarzan of the Apes ❑ The Land that Time Forgot ❑ John Carter of Mars 5. Which play includes the lines: ‘All the world’s a stage/And all the men and women merely players’? ❑ Hamlet ❑ A Streetcar Named Desire ❑ Waiting for Godot ❑ As You Like It 6. Which rocker once…

There’s a nerdy game we used to play here. Some of my fellow players were horror-movie fans, others were ecological activists worried environmental collapse was nigh. We would ask one another, if the apocalypse – zombie or otherwise – happened tomorrow, what would you do? Are you prepared? Where will you go? Like I said, nerdy. One time, the game even sent a group of would-be preppers into the woods near Berlin, where we attempted to forage for potential snacks in the wild. While some native weeds can be added to a salad, it turns out we’re better off stacking tins of beans in the cellar. Over the past couple of weeks, though, this game hasn’t been as much fun. For one thing, those once-hypothetical questions are now being asked for real,…