The Great Escape

Right, I'm off for a long weekend.  Blogging at Every Tiny Straw will be intermittent to non-existent, depending mostly on (a) how motivated I feel and (b) how dumb various politicians are.  I'll be back on Wednesday.
Thanks to all my visitors this month, I've never had so many, nor have I written so many posts or received so many comments.

UPDATE - I'm extending my absence until Monday next week.  By way of explanation, I'm of the view that clarity begins at home*, and as I am still unwell and unable to think clearly, I'm staying at home and away from blogging until I have recovered.  Back on form and online on Monday, I hope.

*A post crediting this phrase and explaining further is now required.

The Chills - Kaleidescope World, 1986

School Is No Good For You

Behind all the fuss around teacher ratios that is  burning more and more of National's political capital (which is, ultimately, a one seat majority in parliament), is the proposed changes to special schools.
Today, CCS Disability Action came out in favour of the proposal to have fewer special schools.  And I thought to myself that CCS Disability Action's spokesperson, David Matthews, should consider being careful what he wishes for.  His press release says:

Currently, there are a number of Residential Special Schools where a small number of students with special needs can attend for up to two years. While these schools provide significant support, they also take students away from their families, homes, and communities and are expensive to run.

Many of the students at special schools are dysfunctional or from a disadvantaged background, rather than disabled.  The intensive intervention provided by a special school attempts to address this, and is quite different to the wrap-around community care model proposed by the Minister.  The difference is that special schools address acute issues, whereas wrap-around care manages chronic issues.  It is apparent she has a particularly poor grasp of her portfolio.

Able Tasmans - Somebody Ate My Planet, 1992

Do You Love Me Now?

Once again Puddleglum has come up with a thoughtful, well researched and referenced post.  This time it's on the topical issue of teenage pregnancy, contraception and benefits.  All tied together with the usual eloquence and understated style that typifies Puddleglum's writing.
Please go and read it.
Here is the link.

The Breeders - Last Splash, 1993

Fire, Water, Burn

 Someone had a fire up the valley from Nelson.  The smoke came down the valley, spread out across the city and the bay.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Bloodhound Gang - One Fierce Beer Coaster, 1996

Here Come The Cars

The proposal to require drivers on restricted licences to display an R-plate doesn't bother me much.  In essence, it is an extension of the learner L-plate requirement.
It has occurred to me to ask, without knowing the answer, if the solution we have is not backwards, and the opposite would work much better.  Rather than requiring learner and restricted drivers to display information on their licence status for all to see, the privilege of having a full licence could be displayed would transfer scrutiny on to cars without plates.  I'm thinking something electronic might be required to prevent plates being borrowed.  Just a thought.


David Kilgour - Here Come The Cars, 1991

Something's Gotta Give

Education is a touchstone issue, because it is another of the fundamentals of our society.
Unlike democracy, which I've blogged about a lot of late c/o Mr Banks, education looms large in our lives.  We vote, on average, once every eighteen months, and that's if we vote in local body elections. If not, it's once every three years, and again that's if we can be bothered.  Voting takes a couple of minutes.  Compare it to education, where most people were legally required to spend ten years of their lives, six hours a day, being educated.  Education is something we are all intimately acquainted with, and we all value.
The government mess with it at their peril.  And mess with it they have.  You can just sense the media's glee.
Nanaia Mahuta had a go in Question 8 this afternoon:

8. Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Labour—Hauraki-Waikato) to the Minister of Education: What is the estimated reduction in teaching positions at intermediate and middle schools in each of the next 4 years as a result of the new teacher to student funding ratios in Budget 2012?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education) : Talofa lava, Mr Speaker. Kia ora tātou. The Government funds full-time teacher equivalents, not positions—that is a matter for each board. What we have always said is that about 90 percent of schools will have a net loss or gain of up to one full-time teacher equivalent. 

The 90% meme is interesting, partially because I have children at school, so this affects them directly, and partially because I'm a statistics nerd and know a little about distribution curves.  Mrs Parata repeated the 90% meme for the Herald.

[Education Minister Hekia Parata] said 90 per cent of schools would gain or have a net loss of less than one FTTE as a result of the combined effect of the ratio changes and projected roll growth.

This "gain or loss of less than one FTTE" is bullshit.  What I want to know is:

• what percentage of schools will gain at least part of an FTTE?  And, completely separately,
• what percentage of schools will lose at least part of an FTTE?

For the purposes of clarity, "at least part" means 0.1 FTTE or more.

I don't care that 90% of schools are somewhere between +1 and -1 teachers, because that is meaningless.  I want to know how many schools have >0 FTTE's lost.  This is, after all, my children's education that is affected.  It's not some abstract formula, and that's irrespective of how the Minister sees it.

Beastie Boys - Root Down [EP], 1995

Tool and Die

Sentencing for the Urewera Four was covered quite well by Robert Winter.  Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara have been sentenced to prison terms, sentencing for Urs Signer and Emily Bailey has been delayed.
There's something about firearms, and Mr Winter's post, that has me pondering the rights and wrongs of the situation.  I think it is this - if the Urewera Four had held licences for the firearms they possessed, the charges would have failed.  Utterly failed.
And then there is this:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

That's the famous Second Amendment to the Constitution of the USA, or as an ex-pat colleague of mine referred to it, tongue-in-cheek, the right to arm bears.
Setting out where I stand, which may reveal some hypocrisy - I own several firearms, including some of types that the media refer to as "high-powered" and "semi-automatic".  I also believe in the need for strong regulation of firearm ownership and its strict enforcement.  The lax approach taken to gun control in the USA is a festering  embarrassment and an ongoing and terrible waste of life
So, is it OK to do what the Urewera Four did?  Mr Winter asks the same question:

I ask my confreres this. Do we condone armed insurrection (or the armed play-acting thereof) by anyone in NZ?

He provides the binary answers you would expect - yes, and no.  I wonder if it is a more subtle issue than that. Could it be possible that a mature government would allow for the possibility of armed insurrection, as per the Second Amendment, and then take all reasonable steps to ensure the need for armed insurrection never arose through the implementation of fair and decent policy?

Consolidated - Play More Music, 1992