Support flows in for outspoken teen
There has been an outpouring of support for the teenage girl who was stood down for criticising her teachers in a school speech and told them they needed to work harder.In the speech Anela Pritchard, a Year 10 student at Napier Girls’ High School, criticised her teachers for making students feel useless and teaching them irrelevant information.
A 15 year old has a narrow view on education??? How utterly unsurprising, that this is a news headline at all says more about our low value of teachers than anything else.
I think it’s wonderful that Anela Pritchard spoke with passion and determination in her speech, thinking for ones self and being able to articulate that is exactly what our liberal public education system tries to teach, her conclusions however are the conclusions of a 15 year old and as such need to be taken within that context.
I had many narrow views when I was 15 too.
Our education system is one of the greatest things about NZ. It is designed to not only give young people the skills to think for themselves and critically analyse the world around them, it is there to also help build the citizens of a liberal democracy.
Anela claims…
I don’t believe most of the stuff taught there, is. Do I honestly need to know what a= 1+rn to the 2nd power is, go over the treaty Waitangi every year since I was literally 5 or memorize the periodic table in order to get somewhere in life? Do I honestly need to know the structure of a seed and how it works and whatnot? No, I don’t think so.
…well actually Anela, mathematics teaches important skills in logic, the Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of this country and not knowing it blinds us to the past, periodic tables help create a basic understanding of the scientific world you are being born into and basic biology helps you understand the physical world you live in.
That Anela can’t see the wider importance of these lessons isn’t surprising, her solution that she be taught how to pay my taxes, apply for jobs, mortgage my house, buy a car are important skills, but they aren’t structured education that teaches her to think.
What’s most telling is how her sentiments have been splashed all over the media. The horrible attitude so many in society have towards teachers and the teaching profession has bewildered me, because it’s so personal and deep seated. Teachers are our most important asset in helping shape the citizens of tomorrow and in helping students gain the skills to be as autonomous as their abilities can take them is vital for a democracy. That teachers are met with such venom says more about the people doing the hating than those being hated.
I think we all have had a bad teacher in our past who made us feel stupid and belittled and we hold onto those memories bitterly. There is always room to improve our teachers, but we rarely acknowledge those teachers who are doing incredible things with young people. I know so many teachers who do amazing work every day and to demonise them seems as counter productive as throwing shit at Ambulance workers.
The only news worthy part about this story – that the 15 year old student had been suspended from school didn’t even turn out to be true, so the veneer of news worthiness was pretty thin.
Anela’s passionate speech should get her an excellence for persuasion, and the fact she can articulate that is something her teachers should be proud of, but to use her narrow criticism as some sort of deeper insight into the education process would be a dreadful mistake.
What she said would have been pretty much what I would have said about my time at secondary school, if I had had the guts to do it as she did. My school had an uninterrupted bullying culture. Many (but not all) of my teachers were useless, poorly led and more interested in pointing out my failures than helping me to succeed. But that was around 40 years ago and schools have moved on a lot since then. The biggest shame in this whole thing is that the school missed all the signals about how she was feeling until they were presented with them in an in-your-face style.
Both parties will hopefully learn something from all this and will be the better for it.
Pretty much. If this student had been taught that the purpose of an education is to teach you how to think and express yourself and that everyone gets bad teachers she probably wouldn’t have written the speech.
Oh dear – 15 year olds,eh. Good on you MSM for running a non story, again! The line that she’d actually upset her teacher and it didn’t trigger any “Opps – may have over done it” really shows up the teen thing (remembered getting lectured by a 12 year old that my problem was I told my daughter what to do – though strangely my daughter didn’t have a problem with that, hmm).
I’m not surprised about the complains of high school – the whole NCEA system is inflexible, shallow and puts kids and teachers under too much pressure at the expense of learning and is failing too many kids who just have a shitty year for some reason.
To Anela I’d say, this experience IS real world experience for you. My work is having a ‘catch-up’ meeting next month (I’m a community worker so we don’t see anyone but clients most of the time). I have some really big questions to ask – like how the after hours phone service we have to use is really rude, it’s getting almost impossible to contact the office at all and – the really scary one- are they paying the legal requirement for transferred public holiday hours? Now, I feel REALLY strongly about all these things but is it worth the possibility of upsetting my bosses and not getting any more hours?
on the face of it a snotty kid, though good on her for expressing herself BUT if the “story” got national coverage and apparently provoked some pointed “Farcebook” comments to Anela from fellow students, then some fact checking needs to be done
what is the context here? did this attack on teachers come from nowhere, or was it well planned, correct me if I’m wrong but her dad looks like a right aggro type, I am smelling a charter school supporter possibly or a tory at least, what is his role in the local community…
I used to get told by one teacher–“**** all you’re good for is growing hair–get out of my class” but used to surprise them with good marks despite my non compliance in other areas so yes I am being judgemental on the fathers photo but the Nats crave such public disparagement of teachers in their never ending efforts to bust the teacher unions
Anela will see the lesson she was taught: Don’t speak out, don’t think, we don’t want to hear, you’re a kid, less than us, your mental capacity isn’t up to it, you don’t know nuffin’. She’ll soon find out how much a lie that stuff is. Is it so hard for teachers to tell their students why they are being taught something? Would it be so disasterous? She would not be pushed to this stage had the environment been supportive to enquiry. That she wasn’t told exposes the continuing dysfunctional student/teacher relationship our country has always enjoyed.
The solution to what she is outlining shows how her personality works and how she can easily continue her education to suit her style of learning. That’s what’s most important now, not whether or not anyone can try to manipulate the personal frustration in her words into a wider pro/con National Party education policy. Yet apparently no one has yet told her. She needs to find a tertiary provider like AUT, Open Polytechnic or in her neck of the woods, EIT, I think, and do something she wants to do, to suit her style, and put all that passion and direction into forward motion. Having the kind of confidence she has at 15yo means she has got what it takes to really make an impact. With that in mind, who gives a fuck what the teachers feel about their cultural value or workload – learn from the student, take the cues from the student, not an narrow ideological curriculum. Look at this girl and celebrate that despite an unsuitable environment, she is still firing on all cylinders.
“Is it so hard for teachers to tell their students why they are being taught something?”
No. Is it difficult for children to understand and accept what they hear? Yes, often. Just like parents explaining to kids why they should eat their brussels sprouts.
First of all, we don’t know if she was advised to go to AUT etc, but since she is moving to Australia it’s possible that the teachers didn’t advise her on the New Zealand options.
Secondly, she has learnt a very valuable lesson. Be aware that when you copy and paste your brain dump onto facebook, others will pick it up and use it to their own ends. Because of this, when making your words publicly available, you should probably do a bit more research and maybe get other opinions. She’s perfectly at liberty to express herself, but if she really wants to make a difference in the world, she could be a bit more reflective before pasting it to facebook. Fortunately she’s young enough that she can make these mistakes before she has to face the real world when it really counts.
Of course, now it’s been plastered all over the media, it is in the real world. I suspect that wasn’t what she intended.
No teenage kids in your household, I gather, C?
Bloody good analogy Martyn,
“the fact she can articulate that is something her teachers should be proud of, but to use her narrow criticism as some sort of deeper insight into the education process would be a dreadful mistake.”
Yes C Harris has some good points but in my day we never had EIT. or money for University either.
The natZ are only interested in brainwashing these young students to become consumer savvy for their corporate mates.
In the 1950’s we had excellent role models for teachers, and they would always encourage us to think “Outside the square” and “imagination” was the key to a rich life when we could think out new ways to get there.
But todays MSM is turning us all into mesmerised blank minds, including our youth into brainwashes consumers and non thinkers.
An example is in the loss of our very intuitive investigative journalism specials & documentaries that produced such mind stimulation with their mind provoking episodes of others life experiences and events that shaped our future.
My most enduring memory of receiving my boost to my encouragement to explore my place in life came when my English teacher in my intermediate school in Napier Miss Strandbeck encouraged me and a small group to show how we could address the assembly hall of 700 with our own speech of our choosing and be a part of a discussion group of 11yr olds on a local radio station debate session also that later I had designs on being a radio DJ. with the way she taught me to talk “expressively”
That wonderful lady taught me to become engaged in life the way I still am today as we try to gibe our views on life events.
This is important for youth to become “engaged” as it our future we need to handle as good stewards of as we go forward so Martyn.
You are so very right , as it is those teachers who lay only the groundwork for us with their words of encouragement, and it is for us then to grasp the “candle” and go forward with it as Anela Prichard did in her way.
Anela’s education couldn’t be as bad as she thinks. After all, she managed to put together an essay that attracted a reaction from her school and nation-wide media coverage.
All in all, she must’ve picked up something from her decade long experience in the education system.
Or does she think her knowledge was absorbed, in utero, when her mother was reading school text-books?
The real problem here is that the school should not have reacted in the way it did. Instead, it could have been a valuable tool to further the girl’s education.
Firstly, her comments should have been used to spark debate and discussion of the role of teachers in our society. This could have really engaged kids in a major way.
Secondly, the difference between an engaged Citizen and a dumbed-down Consumer could have been touched upon. Filling out tax forms is not nearly as important as knowing why taxation is paid and how taxation pays for services New Zealanders take so much for granted.
And lastly, Anela’s education should have been broadened by having her run a few classes and experiencing first hand what it’s like to stand in front of thirty-plus teenagers who all share in common the belief that they know everything.
The old maxim, “Hire a teenager, while they know everything”, was born for good reason. (Check this out: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=hire+a+teenager+they+know+everything&safe=off&biw=1600&bih=742&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=VF-UVcWUBoTv8gXJqLiYDg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ )
I recall some of my views when I was 15, and I shudder at some of the comments I put into the public arena through my first letters-to-the-editor. Those horrendously naive polemics shall remain forever buried in the dusty vaults of Fairfax, I hope.
As for the media – I’m not surprised they seized on this as a “story”. It fits their dumbed-down, superficial news perfectly.
As for Anela – she’s a bright kid (from what I saw on TV1 last night) and she will go far.
But she has a massive amount of life-experience to get under her belt first before she gains wisdom to match her intellect.
Isn’t that what being a teen is about; the journey from naive childhood to wiser (hopefully) adult?
I have some experience of teaching and working with teens.
1. Anyone who works with teens deserves a gold medal (and a pay rise!). Anyone who has ever had teens as kids knows that too. Most parents I know are grateful that the school is keeping their kid off the streets and doing their best to drum some skills into them. Most parents I have met have a high opinion of the work that teachers do. Part of this girl’s problem, in my opinion, is her father’s attitude.
2. Teachers are facing criticism from sections of the media because they are one of the few groups that have strong unions. Elsewhere, teacher’s conditions have been destroyed (e.g. not getting paid for holidays, no tenure etc). There is a drive to break down the union and isolate teachers. Fortunately, most parents have their own experience and have a positive view of the teachers they meet.
3. This could be an opportunity to debate what we require from an education system. Do we want to return to a system of academic and non-academic where people like Anela learn how to use a keyboard in preparation for a job on the checkout at Countdown, or do we teach them broader skills such as critical thinking to enable them to become good citizens. Does she need to know how a seed is put together, or merely how to grow it. If she wants to go to university to study plants/agriculture it will be the former, if not, maybe the latter. Do you decide their future early on so that that they are not taught ‘useless’ information. Perhaps the teacher failed here by not having this debate in the classroom. That’s what I would have done anyway.
Nice.
I don’t know about Napier Girls High School, but it is pretty standard for schools in Christchurch to offer courses like employment studies that teach you how to write a cv, employment application letter, get a drivers/forklift license etc. That this “story” made the news is probably more a sad indictment on journalism than Anela, or her school
I see NZ engaging in one of it’s favourite pastimes this week, teacher bashing.
So many ignorant and stupid comments made by NZers about what goes on in schools today. Mostly by people who haven’t been in a classroom for more than 20 years.
Thinking skills are a core part of the curriculum. It is not true that kids are only taught by rote, and to not think.
Kids are exposed to a broad base of knowledge so that they can figure out where their strengths lie and what they’re interested in. Much of this stuff is very useful in the real world. I use math everyday in my job, including calculus. So do engineers, builders and electricians.
At age 15 its impossible to tell what you’ll end up doing for the rest of your life and so an exposure to a broad base of knowledge is essential. Teachers don’t have crystal balls, they can’t say which kid will go on to become a research scientist, engineer or labourer. So they all get the same exposure.
Social studies teaches us about our history, our electoral system (yes, it is explicitly taught!), democracy and geography. All very important ideas.
I want to live in a society which is not dumbed down, where citizens all have access to a good education and a wide range of knowledge. Where everyone is taught and encouraged to think. This is what our curriculum tries to do.
Lets face it, teachers are mostly not doing it for the money. The pay is rubbish. Those that are still teaching are there either because they love kids and are passionate about their subjects, or because they’re too old to retrain. Or maybe both.
As in any profession you’ll have individuals who are average and very good. But we seem to expect teaching to be different, although we can’t figure out how to identify the very good and excellent and how to remove the below average teachers.
This teacher bashing is anti intellectual. It’s common. It’s the reason why I’m no longer teaching science in NZ and would never do it again.
I recall a conversation with a parent about his son behaving disrespectfully in class. The father told me “you don’t teach anything useful in school anyway”. Yeah right. I looked out the window (this was the edge of South Auckland) at the cows grazing in the paddock and recalled a term of teaching my year 11 classes the science of dairy farming, how farmers manage feed throughout the year for example. Quite relevant and useful I thought. But the father’s attitude was set and he had passed it onto his son, and sent him into the classroom with a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder.
It’s got to stop. Or we shall keep pushing dedicated passionate individuals out of the teaching profession.
I’ll sit at home in my pyjamas earning 3X what I could earn as a teacher, without the disrespect thank you very much.
Nice post Martyn. Teachers have an unenviable job.
I do think a lot of learning is wasted on the young. It would be better if they were made to endure six hours a day of brutal full contact bull rush.
One other problem that teachers face is that the new exploratory methods used in the classroom today, and taught to student teachers, is not understood by parents who learned under the older chalk and talk methods. To them it may not look like teaching, but the kids are learning not only the topics but how to seek out new information and express it in different contexts (eg. giving a speech). They also learn things like team work and group participation.
In fact, standing at the front of the room talking to a bunch of kids sitting at desks is a damn sight easier than the more contextualised lessons that teachers are expected to deliver today which have to take into account all the different learning styles in the classroom.
Herald editorial today: It’s the school’s fault we printed a mundane story about dissatisfied teen who is leaving a school and had a pop at teachers on the way out.
I know neither Anela Pritchard nor the school involved.
Deja vu.
I feel concerned from the girl’s comments, as I had the same kind of experiences at school. Has nothing changed over the intervening years? I had my struggles, and when they became apparent, I was sent off to a “guidance counsellor” whose main concern was how to get me working up to the school’s expectations.
I’m not knocking teachers. There are many good ones out there, but still some, well, let’s just say ones that should not be teaching. But then, you get that in any industry/profession.
Maybe there is too much politics in the education system.
Maybe there is not enough parental involvement, or is that no longer permitted?
I could have done with someone telling me why I needed to go to school; why I needed to sit exams that proved to be of little to no worth in the real world; and why the marking on those same exams, merely compared me with the kids at my level in the rest of the country, rather than what progress I had made as an individual.
Oops, silly me. Sorry folks, I forgot. We’re not supposed to think for ourselves. It might run against the Establishment.
15 year old: “You’re Lazy, and it’s hard to understand why you do things the way you do. I don’t think it’s OK.”
The “Adults”: “NO WE’RE NOT, YOU ARE! How could you say that?”
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