New Zealand Listener Issue 24, 2022

As previous writers have pointed out in the Listener, the takeover of teacher training by the universities has deprived teachers of the hands-on wisdom of practitioners. A proliferation of educational theories, programmes and approaches and, at the centre, a failure of leadership to determine what is most important have compounded the issue. Critical decision makers in education ministries over the years are operating at ever-increasing distances from the people they claim to serve – a gap that has compromised their vision and negatively impacted language learning and support. Our text-based education system mistakenly equates language development with literacy skills, which in turn contributes to a cultural bias against Māori and Pasifika languages that have strong oral traditions. It means that low literacy levels (generally measured in English rather than te reo…

WINNING CAPTION Jim Primrose, Hamilton FINALISTS Woman (thinking): “All I asked him was whether the books would balance.” – Niels Jonker, Wellington Grant Robertson: “Jacinda said the key words are ‘balance’ and ‘surplus’. So I grabbed a lettuce leaf and tripled the bacon!” – Kate Highfield, Hastings Robertson (thinking): “No, no, no. I must try to keep a straight face when I tell them that everything’s going to be all right.” – Bob Richardson, Christchurch Caption: Finance Minister caught scoffing at budget breakfast. – Marie Curran, Dunedin Woman: “But Nicola is outstanding in her field.” Robertson: “So’s a scarecrow!” – Conal Atkins, Nelson Woman: “Roll up, roll up. Ping-pong balls $1 a throw!” – Alan Belcher, Christchurch Woman: “Careful, Grant, you might end up in the Listener’s caption competition.” – Doug Hannan, Mount Maunganui Caption Competition {listenercaption@aremedia.co.nz} TO ENTER Send your captions for the photo at right…

Thank you for a thought-provoking piece by Ani O’Brien highlighting the potential minefield of sexual politics (“In defence of men,” May 28). I have participated in what have been described as the second and third waves of feminism from the 1970s-1990s, and since then the fourth wave, focused on sexual harassment and sexual violence. To illustrate the complexity of the matters raised is to refer to the 2012 multiple-perpetrator rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey in India. Academic analysis of this horrific crime has noted that lower-caste women in India have faced sexual violence and deaths without expressions of public concern for decades, which highlights the role of social status in relation to sexual violence. In a past life as a social worker at Christchurch Women’s Prison, I worked with women…

“The album is the pinnacle of what I’ve aimed for as a musician. It’s the novel to us musicians.”– Antonie Tonnon, winner of the 2022 Taite Music Prize“What we do as individuals in these spaces matters, too … we are the richer for our difference, and poorer for our division.”– Jacinda Ardern’s 2022 Harvard Commencement Speech“Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.”– Will Rogers“It is both salutary and depressing to realise how much of the global economy is dedicated to activities and products that would be superfluous if we felt we could trust each other.”– Attributed to Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal“This is really the moment when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world.” – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky“Time and memory are true artists;…

1. What did the phrase “Keystone Cops” originally refer to? ❑ Radio dramas❑ Silent-era films❑ Pantomime productions❑ Real-life police squad 2. In the United Kingdom, which measurement is used to display speed limits on road signs? ❑ Kilometres per hour❑ Miles per hour 3. Which of these best defines a bacchanal? ❑ Drunken celebration❑ Backgammon referee❑ Harsh punishment❑ Desert wind 4. I can be found in prison but I never appear in court, unless there’s more than one. What am I? 5. What is a common name for the generation of people born from the early 1900s to the mid-1920s? ❑ Generation Alpha❑ Lost Generation❑ Silent Generation❑ Greatest Generation 6. What alternative to the Olympic Games was created by CNN founder Ted Turner, and ran from 1986 to 2001? ❑ X Games❑ Goodwill Games❑ Invictus Games❑ World Games 7. The 1993…

Global food prices hit an all-time high in March, and in Europe, as elsewhere, everything – from bread to bananas – got more expensive. Happily, when it comes to grocery shopping here in Germany, many of us have the “supermarket caste system” to fall back on. When you first arrive in Berlin, as an impoverished Kiwi with grand dreams of artistic freedom, lashings of beer and cheap rent, you usually have no idea how this system works. Due to the two companies that dominate New Zealand groceries – Foodstuffs and Woolworths – the same kind of supermarket hierarchy isn’t so obvious in Aotearoa. Often, it’s not until you accidentally spend your last €20 (NZ$32) on five good-looking tomatoes at a Berlin eco-supermarket that you figure that out. It turns out the many environmentally…