It’s my birthday today and I have a wish list:
I wish all students had pencils, pens and work books.
I wish every child in every class had a decent, healthy lunch.
I wish people would stop punishing children for the perceived sins of the parents.
I wish National Library would reconsider its curated resources plans.
I wish all schools had a paid co-ordinator to co-ordinate community-based projects.
I wish that all schools had adequate funds to attend to all of their children’s educational needs.
I wish the focus on shonky National Standards would stop.
I wish teachers didn’t have to work so many hours over their paid hours just to stay afloat.
I wish people took more seriously the link between socio-economic status and educational achievement.
I wish there was a decile review taking place, to find a better system for funding schools.
I wish Christchurch school communities were given a fair hearing.
I wish people would look beyond politics and ideology and think critically about education policies.
You can keep the cake, keep the presents, and even the cards – let’s just be serious about helping all children achieve their potential.
+ 100%, and it isn’t even my birthday.
Many happy returns, Dianne.
In the very olden days, when my mother was at school, the pencils were issued and retrieved by class monitors. My mother came from a very low income community in Britain.
I know ‘it shouldn’t be’ but – do what we used to – buy spare pencils to issue to the kids with a chronic tendency to chew pencils to death, or lose them or, just like the kids in your classes, couldn’t afford them.
Having most kids in a class doing lessons on donated newsprint is nothing new. Personally I wish it was in the ‘long-past’.
Hope all your wishes come true -AND you got at least a slice of your favourite cake!
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