Dyslexic forum for Education Minister
I think that a war is about to erupt. I wonder if Paul Henry will take up the issue as a journalist. If enough parents students contact him via TVNZ then he may realise how serious the problem is.
"The dyslexic student is just being ignored." dyslexia is a major concern within ADD/ADHD and beyond as well.
To say that there these children are screened as they come into school is just a hopeful wish.
I believe that technology is the only way to go, once all the basic phonlogical strategies have been implemented.
We have enough run off of the learning difficulties as it is in our high count of early school leavers, truents, drug and alcohol users(youth) crime in young people and those before them, and the highest being suicide - I would like to know where Mr Maharey gets off with the 1% rubbish more like 30-40% being real.
If I had the money to be the front person and gather all the parents together I would, what I am going to do is write an open letter online, and hope that
many respond.................Did you get the article that Steve did in 2002, well it looks like he is a liar there ???? maybe I should challenge him with people that are dyslexic and children of those parents that will be dyslexic - there are more in the ADD/ADHD area this is where the sharp end could come with identifying all the learning difficulties ???
I would be interested in your expressions on this.
Everyone is welcome to add to this forum - we need to take this on before our children/youth are the forgotten ones - they have a special talent that no-one can match, it is about time we hit the Ministry of Educaton where is hurts - the children-youth-parents of New Zealand I ask that you join with me to tackle this head - on.
All for one - and one for all - our Nations future - our Gems.
Moira Buchanan
Founding Trustee & Advocate
www.lbctnz.co.nz
"The dyslexic student is just being ignored." dyslexia is a major concern within ADD/ADHD and beyond as well.
To say that there these children are screened as they come into school is just a hopeful wish.
I believe that technology is the only way to go, once all the basic phonlogical strategies have been implemented.
We have enough run off of the learning difficulties as it is in our high count of early school leavers, truents, drug and alcohol users(youth) crime in young people and those before them, and the highest being suicide - I would like to know where Mr Maharey gets off with the 1% rubbish more like 30-40% being real.
If I had the money to be the front person and gather all the parents together I would, what I am going to do is write an open letter online, and hope that
many respond.................Did you get the article that Steve did in 2002, well it looks like he is a liar there ???? maybe I should challenge him with people that are dyslexic and children of those parents that will be dyslexic - there are more in the ADD/ADHD area this is where the sharp end could come with identifying all the learning difficulties ???
I would be interested in your expressions on this.
Everyone is welcome to add to this forum - we need to take this on before our children/youth are the forgotten ones - they have a special talent that no-one can match, it is about time we hit the Ministry of Educaton where is hurts - the children-youth-parents of New Zealand I ask that you join with me to tackle this head - on.
All for one - and one for all - our Nations future - our Gems.
Moira Buchanan
Founding Trustee & Advocate
www.lbctnz.co.nz
posted by George | 12:45 PM
22 Comments:
My emails below sent to TVNZ regarding the July 3rd Close Up article about Dyslexia;
Just wanted to follow up my last email now that the article has screened.
What a BRILLIANT job Paul Henry did - well done, great courage based on simple truth.
The article was factually 100% - and brilliantly executed. What a joke Steve Mahary made of himself - he is either ill informed or ignorant about the subject. He should be worried that thousands watched your show.
We are in contact at the coalface of the education system and they are YELLING for information and professional development that would go a long way to solving this simple puzzle.
We are at the coalface of hearing the very sad and compelling stories of everyday New Zealanders that are suffering because the education system does not recognise dyslexia and many within it do not know what to do about it..... most want to help, but "you don't know what you don't know".
We have stories of children who "are going to bed with a sick bucket because they are so anxious about school the next day"
You have presented the essence of the problem - well done.
We are sponsoring Ron Davis out to New Zealand next year - he is a recognised expert with a compelling personal story - a great follow up.
We have a scholarship program running presently that has committed over $100,000 in the last year "helping dyslexic kids discover their gift".... with amazing before and after feedback.
Just so you know - we are availble to support any follow up to this article - we have passion indeed for making a difference.
In any event your article is a huge help to the cause and you will have spoken directly to the hearts of half of New Zealanders - just about everyone is either related to, knows someone, or is dyslexic.
Regards
Guy Pope-Mayell
Managing Trustee
Cookie Munchers Charitable Trust
www.cookiemuncherstrust.org.nz
email sent before article went to air:
Hi there
I understand that you are doing an article about Dyslexia tonight - how common it is and how little is being done about it - even though it's actually very understood and there is much that can be done about it - if so, brilliant!!
I am the Managing Trustee of the Cookie Munchers Charitable Trust and we are primarily focussed on Dyslexia as a cause - focussed on helping kids in particular discover their (often hidden) gift.
We run a scholarship program that supports dyslexic children through the world renown Davis Dyslexia Correction Program. This one on one week long program has a 97% success rate but costs $2500. The scholarship program bridges the gap for families not able to afford this solution.
If you wanted to give this scholarship program a plug on your show tonight here are the essentially details;
Davis Dyslexia Correction Program
World renowned - 97% success rate
Week long program - One on one with highly trained Davis Facilitator
$2500 cost
For financial support go to www.cookiemuncherstrust.org.nz
For full details about the program go to www.ddapacific.co.nz
In any event - any exposure that Dyslexia gets in the media is something to celebrate - Thanks!!
Kind regards
Guy Pope-Mayell
Managing Trustee
Cookie Munchers Charitable Trust
www.cookiemuncherstrust.org.nz
Well Done Paul Henry!!
This seems the problem nationwide sadly. Too many people refuse to look into Dyslexia and fob it off as laziness.
Thanks to an uneducated educational system Far Too Many children are suffering.
In my case, my son was going to be sent to a Residential School due to the teasing that wouldn`t stop even when plans were made for him to "get away" from the teasing. The only option my son had left was running or attempting to run 9 km`s home to me. Not ideal for a primary school student!! I was also blamed for him running away from school and was the one notified to go and find him!!
Then came the calls to take my son home and to keep him out of school for a day or so. As the school didn`t wont to ex-spelled.
Mt son isn`t dumb or lazy. Infact he tries Extra Hard to understand but is still left behind.
Many teachers have told me its either help my son at the cost of all the other students or leave my son fall further behind.
Special Education agreed my son had Dyslexia but chose not to help him learn with it. Instead they chose to work on the side affect it has. Behavior issues. How can you tell a child not to misbehave or get frustrated when the problem is worsening!!
My son is a great sportsman. He enjoys the hands on learning and is normally in the top group!!
Just because Dyslexic`s learn differently, Why are they punished and WHY are you trying to push them throu a round hole when they are triangle shaped?? You can try and bend them, but they will not change, they ARE who they Are.
Look into Speld and All the hard work and effort they do to UNDO what your school system has done!!
Sadly your taking their hard work and saying these kids are not failing, look, some are achieving in school. Ignoring the private speld tuition.
Too me, a sign of a good school isn`t "we had the top student in the country with the 99.9% pass mark", "its how many kids have you raised their levels to a pass or above"
Incase you don`r fully understand dyslexia, imagine this ......
You can understand the spoken Maori language well. But then you are asked to fill in a questionnaire in Maori. you try to read it, you try and work it out and you get help from the coordinator but she soon gets sick of you not remembering and gets frustrated that you can not do the simple questionnaire, your spelling is hideous for what little you have written and your disrupting all around you who is quietly working. Which is understandable because you have no idea what your looking at, so how can you comply and complete!!
Imagine your whole day like that with different subjects in Maori!! ........
Welcome to the world of Dyslexia.
Bronwyn
mebc2000@hotmail.com
From a tertiary students' association point of view it is grossly unfair how "left behind" youth can be with dyslexia. We advocate strongly for a barrier-free education for all. Not giving those with dyslexia an equal oportunity to succeed, with appropriate support at primary and secondary school, pushes the dream of tertiary education that much further from those in need. I hope that this comment can go some way to removing this barrier.
Paul Falloon
President
Massey University Students' Association
How timely this is! My 11 year old daughter has just been diagnosed with dyslexia by her new teacher who has spent the last five years studying the Davis Method. It explains so much! But how come it took this long?? And what's even worse, we're going to spend $2,500 to have this addressed and hopefully rectified. We're lucky to have this teacher and we're lucky to be able to afford the tutoring but it shouldn't be this way AT ALL!! There are actually 7 children in my daughter's class this teacher has identified with dyslexia (that's 7 out of 25) and they've also picked up 8 of the 10 five year olds at our school displaying dyslexia indicators!!! It's real all right but we have to find it (and fund it) ourselves - how ridiculous!
How timely this is! Our 11 year old daughter has just been diagnosed with dyslexia by her new teacher who has spent the last 5 years studying the Davis Method. It explains so much! But how come it took this long??
In actual fact this teacher has identified 7 other kids in my daughter's class with dyslexia.
We're lucky to have this teacher and we're lucky we can afford the $2,500 tutoring for our daughter to hopefully have this rectified... BUT this shouldn't be luck related it should surely be her right to have an education system whereby ALL learning difficulties are addressed and catered for... I wish!
This same teacher has also identified 8 out of the 10 five year olds at our school displaying signs of dyslexia!!
It's real all right... In actual fact after researching this condition, I have more dyslexic indicators than my daughter and this is the first I've heard about it!! Again, it explains so much.
Princess Beatrice 'has dyslexia'
The Duchess said Beatrice (left) was "proud" to talk about dyslexia
The Duchess of York has said Princess Beatrice struggles with her schoolwork because she is dyslexic.
The 16-year-old princess is due to take her GCSEs this summer and is receiving extra help with reading and writing.
The Duchess said she was also "a little bit" dyslexic and had had some problems at school.
She described her daughter's experiences during a visit to the London school attended by the murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor.
The Duchess is patron of a charity called Springboard for Children, which sends volunteers into inner city schools to help pupils who are behind in their reading and writing.
She said Princess Beatrice would probably continue to receive extra help in literacy "for the foreseeable future".
I had a problem at school, it took me ages to read
Duchess of York
"She loves history - coming from Queen Victoria and her family, she wanted to learn about history but she couldn't because she couldn't read.
"She is such a kind person. She didn't get frustrated. I would have," she said at Oliver Goldsmith School in Peckham, south London.
"I had a problem at school. I think I am fine now but I think I did because it took me ages to read and no-one listens."
The Duchess said Princess Beatrice was "very proud" that everyone should know of her literacy problem.
"She said 'Please tell everybody because it's very important'," the Duchess said.
She said that Beatrice, who receives help from the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre, was now catching up with her peers.
"She is very good at oral French, drama, numbers, just like her mother."
Basic skills
She said her daughter was one of the main reasons she supported the Springboard charity.
The charity works with children who are typically two years behind in their basic literacy skills.
It says that by the end of a programme, more than nine in 10 children will have caught up.
About one in 10 people are affected by dyslexia. Most have difficulty recognising, reading and spelling words.
My son is attending school for an additional 3 hours a day for the first week of the school holidays so that he can get some extra tuition for literacy. This is the worst school holidays ever for him. He is in year 8, and has struggled all the way through school thus far. Sadly, because we have been proactive with SPELD tuition, and because he is not "bottom of the heap", (and he attends a decile 10 school) the assistance from both primary and intermediate schools has been minimal, and mostly driven by me being a "pushy parent". Net result is that he only tolerates school for sports and social interaction, and is asking if he needs to be able to write to be a dustman. He seems to be trapped in the zone of "underachievement"
I would like to see some small classes in schools that teach these kids in the way they learn, and to run the class all day, every day, rather than just giving them an hour of teacher aide help once or twice a week. Maybe I need to send my son to a decile 1 school, perhaps then he will get a bit more help.
Here is the email sent to Close Up after the screening of the item.
Kia ora Close Up team
Congratulations on your excellent report tonight highlighting the lack of official recognition for dyslexia in New Zealand.
Your report illustrated well the frustrations of numerous parents in New Zealand who need to deal with educators. Based on the comments made by Minister Steve Maharey I doubt if he has needed to advocate for equality of educational opportunity for a dyslexic child.
The Ministry of Education claims it assists our children in the classroom setting. However, the experience of most members of our Dyslexia Parent Support Group is that our dyslexic children are not helped -- because they are not disruptive in the classroom, or they are are "only just below average" in their literacy progress.
A recent New Zealand thesis on experiences of children with dyslexia showed that they welcomed their diagnosis of dyslexia. The name allowed them to understand that they learnt differently, and it eased their frustrations. Why then is the Ministry of Education so reluctant to use the label dyslexia?
Dr Trevor K. Crosby
Dyslexia Parent Support Group
40 Monaghan Ave
Mt Albert, Auckland 1025
I ran across a fellow teacher with a dyslexic daughter about five years ago, and did a literature search for her, because she was almost cracking up from the stress of extra tuition together with her ordinary job.
It's pretty serious, it nearly cost her her job and her marriage, if she hadn't got some help it would have. And this was a professional woman with a good understanding of the problem. The general public have no chance.
A friend of mine was dyslexic, clever guy, very succesful now. It just took him 15 years to get through university...
Shame on you Mr Maharey! It is so disconcerting to realise that the Minister has so little understanding of what is happening in the real world of people with learning difficulties - simple term - dyslexia! I am a facilitator of the Davis program, which offers very real help for dyslexics. A 97% success rate! Methods which could be so easily integrated into our schools. Our daughter is dyslexic, which is how I came across Ron's work and her life is so much different since her Davis program. I also, have many symptoms of dyslexia as does my husband and son. Before we discovered the Davis program, I was so upset, angry and bewildered that our education system was so willing to let our very talented and clever daughter slip through the cracks. Her self esteem was on the floor. What is so annoying is that 3 years ago, I wrote to Lianne Dalziel, who was the then, Associate Minister of Education, who appeared on television doing the same side stepping around the issues and what we call it!! Your government has done nothing to help these kids 9and adults)! Please look to the Icelandic government and the work that has been done there - another small, isolated island nation - with more independent thinking politicians than we have for sure!! What is so very, very sad is the absolute potential; picture thinking, creative, dyslexic people can offer to society if we don't allow our 'system' to wipe the floor with them.
To parents reading this, I urge you to read Ron Davis'book, The Gift of Dyslexia. Also check Guy Pope-Mayall's posting on this blog and the wonderful work that the Cookie Muncher's Trust does.
Also www.ddapacific.co.nz and www.cmct.org.nz
Advocate strongly for your children, write your comments here, write to Mr Maharey directly, write to your local MP.
As a teacher and a SPELDnz tutor, I know that the screening in schools nowhere near helps teachers to identify specific learning differences Learning differences are on the rise and it is an holistic appraoch which is needed for assessment.Provision for one on one tuition,training of teachers and funding for students whose right it is to be educated, in the way that they learn best. These children are out torch bearers. They light the path of change in attitudes and values which no longer serve us.Steve please face this issue without delay. To ignore it is to deny basic human rights. I would like to see the Government adopt the "No Child Left Behind" mantra.I wish you well in your research and will welcome your success in finding a way to provide for all those who have most certainly all ready been left behind and for those who are in dire need now and will be in the future.
With faith in your integrity
Helen Lorimer
Chairperson
Shallemer Trust
incorporating:
Individual Learning Techniques Ltd
Time Out Workshops
I heard the stories of those people who identified as having dyslexia on the TV item by Paul Henry. i was astounded, here they were telling my son's story, all of them!
My son's schooling has been a nightmare, he has been labelled lazy, disorganised, disruptive and been suspended for disobedience. He has now left the school system without qualification despite our best efforts, and the best effort of the occasional excellent teacher he has come across. He talks about his school experience as being a waste of time. We have been labelled as poor parents, despite having two other children who don't have dyslexia and cope well in the school system. We have spent money we could ill afford for help (from Speld).
I have to ask the school system, what did you do to fulfill your responsibility to educate my son? The answer seems that nothing was done and it is not a surprise when you see that at the head of the education system is a person who will not accept very common learning disabilities.
It is time that the minister was held to account for the lack of resources available for the many children who do not learn well in the current school system. I don't have any answers to what will work. I am not an educationalist, but I believe that educationalists had better stop blamming everyone but themselves for the failure that dyslexic people experience.
Hi I hope that this works
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_flash_skin/773367
If ther eis anyone that has not seen this ffrom CloseUp then i hope you go to this and listen.
Thanks to all that have posted so far and we are still looking for more.
Moira B
I was very disappointed in the July article about Dyslexia. I have two sons that have been diagnosed as dyslexia. One is 17, still at school but hugely struggling. The other is 14 years and can barely read. I have applied for a disability allowance as it costs $35 and $40 an extra lesson and I have been turned down. It costs me $110 a week and really need more tuition. They have been let down by the state and we have to struggle to find the money weekly.
Where do I start, the frustration I feel as a parent of a dyslexic child is overwhelming. My child's story is being repeated by other children day after day, which is surprising considering our government officials/education system are denying that it even exists. Lets take a moment and think about the children we are talking about. They are exceptional because of the way they see the world, these are the child of our future, these are the children that IF they are saved from coming out of our institutions (schools) feeling stupid, dumb and worthless (which is what we as parents hear our wonderful children saying to us on a daily basis) these are the children that will change our world by creating and inventing a new world for the next generation.
But if we as parents leave this up to the current education system to help and nurture these fantastic children they will be left and forgotten. I personally have had to remove my child from the mainstream education system and pay for the support that she requires, but what happens to the families that are unable financially to do this. We all know what happens to these children they struggle every day!
Additionally the kiwi dream of having our child in a local school, making neighbourhood friends, being able to walk to school is unfortunately not a reality under this current eduction system.
The thing that I can’t understand is that Steve Mahary made comments about children with reading and write disabilities (he just couldn’t bring himself to say the word dyslexia) end up in trouble and in our prison system, we all know how much prisons costs us as tax payers every year so how difficult would it be to help with funding for some of the fantastic programmes that are available for dyslexic children to avoid this vicious cycle. The children need to be assessed, not a difficult thing if the teachers are educated in this area, then a specific programme needs to be sourced for them.
Please someone needs to hear the voices of these often bright, gifted children who are being forgotten on our New Zealand schools.
Great to see the close up item on the web; I did not see this broadcast. I can't say that the teachers of our son were aware of the causes of his difficulties with reading and they admitted so. We had to go outside the education system at our own expense to get a diagnosis and for specialised teaching. For two terms now we have tried to get RTLB asistance, but they do not have sufficient resources, we were told, to cater for everyone who needs help. One of the biggest challenges we now face is that our son is constantly reminded of and focused on his 'weakness' instead of his strengths. Minister, please do some more homework and find a way to provide education taylored to every individual.
$9 million to help more children into early education
Funding of over $9 million will create and retain 500 places for children at 42 new and expanding early childhood education centres across the country.
---------------------------------
Funding of over $9 million will create and retain 500 places for children at 42 new and expanding early childhood education centres across the country, Education Minister Steve Maharey announced today.
"This investment reflects the government's commitment to make quality early childhood education accessible and affordable for all New Zealand families," Steve Maharey said.
"The funding will increase participation in quality early childhood services around the country, in particular for children from low socio-economic and isolated communities. As well as creating an additional 305 places, and allowing another 186 to be retained, it will support centres with their ongoing planning and operations.
"The investment will also support the roll-out of the government's policy of 20 hours free early childhood education for all three and four year-olds in teacher-led services from July 2007.
"Both national and international research tells us that quality early childhood education makes a significant difference to the way children develop and achieve later in life. We also know that access to quality early childhood education has the greatest benefits for children who are the least likely to participate."
The funding, which comes from the first round of the annual $16.2 million Discretionary Grants Scheme, provides planning and capital assistance to early childhood education centres in areas of need. It includes:
·$ 8.3 million in capital grants for 13 early childhood centres, to create 305 new places and retain 186 places
·$500,000 in grants to help cover planning costs for 28 early childhood services
·$240,000 for a health and safety project
Please note that the Minster of Education has not put anything in the KITTY for our Children/youth with a history of Specific Learning Difficulties in this budget round - Your comments to the Minister please !!!!
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NZ attitude to dyslexia stuns
22 July 2006
By ELEANOR WILSON
A British academic is "absolutely astounded" that dyslexia is not recognised as a condition in New Zealand.
Dyslexia expert and Edinburgh University senior lecturer Gavin Reid criticised comments by Education Minister Steve Maharey this month on TV One's Close Up.
Neither the Ministry of Health nor the Ministry of Education recognises dyslexia.
Reid, who was in Christchurch yesterday for a teachers' seminar, said the Government's attitude added to the stigma attached to the condition.
"It's a statement which absolutely astounds me. It's out of step with the whole of the world," he said.
Dyslexia took different forms, but as a condition it related to barriers in processing information and could be recognised in brain scans.
"If they're reluctant to use the term, it's going to add to confusion and to anger and anxiousness that children, teachers and parents will share," Reid said. "It's also important to inform children, particularly adolescents, what it is when they're wondering, `Why am I not learning as quickly as other people?"'
Maharey, in a television interview with presenter Paul Henry, said the learning difficulties associated with dyslexia were recognised by the ministry, but they were too broad to be described by one word.
Maharey was asked: "Do you accept dyslexia exists as a learning disability?" He replied: "No."
He later qualified the answer, saying, "You're looking at a range of behaviour which in some countries people have chosen to call dyslexia but in most countries has been difficult to categorise".
He said 1 per cent of young people had such "learning difficulties", compared with a figure of 5% provided by dyslexia charity Spelled.
Maharey yesterday told The Press that New Zealand's education system was responsive to, and resourced to deal with, dyslexia, even though it did not recognise the term.
"The Ministry of Education provides specialist support for children identified as having learning difficulties," he said. "Their advice is that there isn't a specific medical diagnosis for dyslexia."
The ministry's operational policy manager in the Special Education Group, Sally Jackson, said teachers were taught to recognise children having difficulties with reading, writing and spelling, who were then provided with assessments and specialist support.
"Dyslexia is a term that is often used to describe children experiencing a wide range of difficulties with reading, writing and spelling," she said.
"Internationally, there is considerable debate and uncertainty in defining this group of children because it does not appear to be a single `condition' or a specific learning difficulty."
Spelled Canterbury president Laura Cary said she believed greater teacher education was needed so problems were found earlier.
I spoke with Gavin in Wellington, he was really disappointed with the Minister Steve Maharey as Gavin was with us in 2002 when Steve Maharey said that Dyslexia needed eary intervention at the opening of the "Red Rose Receipe for Success" a school that was developed in England and brought to NZ in 2002, Gavin thought then we would see the retrun of a full phonics programme for school entrants and early screening as well.
As we see folks, we have been duped again - IS IT OUR TURN NOW !!!!!
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_windows_skin/788179?bandwidth=128k
This is the link to the second progamme on Dyslexia that Close Up ran
please put many posts on.
I am a busy mum with a young family, we own a business which my dyslexic husband and i run. I work 2 days a week and luckily we have a great team and patient office lady that help my husband through day to day reading and writing in our service industry business. My husband has also seen it all before when watching the close up article and has been down every path as a boy and then young teenager with daily extra tuition his parents had to drive him after school 35 mins to a tutor while his piers all got to play after school, hence he left school at 14. My husband has never been shy about his ability to read or write and often jokes about it in large groups and amongst friends. However it is not my husband i am concerned for, my eldest boy about to turn 7 has shown signs of learning disabilites and after finding out over time how i can minipulate the school system to get what i needed out of them and meetings with the principles and head junior teacher i have realised that i had to become the squeeky wheel. we are currently involved in the dore programme for my son and excersises that have to be carried out morning and night with a stroppy 6 year old quikly became to much for me, i talked to the rtlb, junior teacher and principle of the school - giving my case i said i have invested a lot of money in this programme and ask the school invest in my sons excersises 4 x days of the week during school time. to which thankfully they agreed. our school is decile 10 and has virtually no funding or resources. His teacher said he was also using avoidance tachtics with tidying areas of the classroom and going to the toilet a lot. we tried speld during this time and found it was to much for him and had to pull out. My next challenge is for my twin boys turning five soon and i have started to feel worried for them and if this condition has also been passed to one or both of them through the gene pool, i can seriously say i dont look forward to the next 10 years of our education system. I have read the comments on the forum and see there is another programme that has a high success rate which i am excited about and will investigate.
Message for Charm
Can you pleae contact
Moira at
lbctnz@slingshot.co.nz
would like to help you.
regards
Moira
Dyslexia, as with other learning difficulties can be helped and there are simple non-drug and non-labelling methods to do this....however how can the Ministry of Education deny help by refusing to make available DICTIONARIES for our children? Oh, it can be argues that a dyslexic or toherwise disadvantaged child cannot use a dictionary anyway...which is spoken in ignorance of the very process of learning itself! There are some 159 psychologists employed by the Ministry of Education and what do they know except the Karl Marx textbooks they read to obtain the certificate that by government's own statistics is worthless. The statistics I refer to are the yearly increase in spending on repairs to vandalism on schools...an uptrending graph that has reached some $6 million per year and is still climbing. There are many other graphs that demonstrtae the same point. Do they USE these statistics to discover what is working or not working? Obviously not! ASo how come there is not a dictionary on every students desk? How come it is NOT the policy of the Ministry to ensure that every child knows how to define the words they read? How can they claim literacy in NZ when they do not teach per the definition of literacy (ability to read and write; read means to study AND UNDERSTAND). It is not even possible to hide behind the excuse that there is no need to use dictionaries when the kids have computers...they don't; I know of one school that with taxpayers money a computer system was installed that is capable of running 300 computers. How many computers are connected...2, but the kids don't use them. And even with computers a student still needs to know how to define a word! As a NZ citizen I don't agree with this....hey I pay enough tax. Listen to me, don't label or drug our children, don't deny them the book which has all the meanings in it....Get the psychologists OUT and get real human beings who have feelings and common sense back into the education system hierarchy so the kids can have a future. Have a look at my website at www.educatenz.vze.com
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