IQ in New Zealand

A friend of a friend was venting a work. The discourse went that New Zealanders are stupid people because we attempt to educate people who are possessed of a low Intelligence Quotient. Singapore was cited as an example of country where low intelligence quotient is not accepted in their society. I was not aware that this was the case but being an Asian country it doesn’t surprise me.

I would have to say that in this day and age this is a moot point. Asians are in my experience not more intelligent than people of different ethnicity. They are however, highly motivated to study and work hard as a people. In Education the focus in Asia is on discipline, self discipline, performance and individual comparison. Low grades are simply not tolerated.

Although, New Zealand does not share that academic philosophy in 2024. It attained to a similar standard up until half a century ago in the early 1970’s. At the time we were genuinely among the top ten nations for academic attainment in the World. In 2024 we are now ranked 27^th in OECD¹. The education system is now in crisis and in need of a complete renovation.

How it has gotten this bad is a subject of considerable contention. Many would point to the disaster that was Tomorrows Schools in the 1990’s. Later the Numeracy Project of the early 2000’s was an equally disastrous intervention that destroyed mathematics teaching at the primary level for the foreseeable future. The trend toward digital devices instead of books through the Twenty Teens has impacted on handwriting, language acquisition and effectively turned the minds of students to mush. Attempts to make the Curriculum Documents of the 1990’s easier to use had debased the curriculum leaving a wake of learning strategies and concepts that are not fit for purpose and the list goes on.

The only way to fix this catastrophe is Back to the Future. The wise mentors of Education from Post War Era New Zealand understood that education has to be fit for purpose. They weren’t producing Einstein’s, they were matching needs for people to have careers and vocations and for the economy to have trades-staff and professional people. In short producing graduates to fill the positions that were actually available.

To achieve this, they used behaviourist text books and techniques like wrote learning to ensure that the fifteen year old entering the work force could read to at least a 12 year old level, could perform addition – subjection – multiplication to 6 digits, perform short division and knew their times tables by heart to 12 times. Could write a decent letter of application for a job and had a legible handwriting style. If you have this knowledge you can get a start in life, even in 2024. If you decide to attend university as an adult you can do it with determination and hard work.

Secondary education needs to toss NCEA in the bin. Put a system in place which is based on the World renowned Cambridge system or is the Cambridge System. For those needing an intermediate qualification one could be instituted at Year 11. We used to have one that was externally assessed called School Certificate. Just saying.

However, one would be remiss if it was not mentioned that student attitude and self discipline are an integral part of learning acquisition and academic achievement. It would also be pertinent to mention that this crisis of Education is not unique to New Zealand nor is it unintentional. Liberal Activists have steadily infiltrated the student bodies and the faculties of many universities unleashing a flood of secular socialism which has corresponded to the decline in the Education System over the last five decades.

Hence, corporal punishment was removed from the schools and eventually criminalised even in the home environment. At the same time beginning with the revision of the Health Syllabus in 1985, an emphasis on student and child self esteem was begun within the education system in New Zealand. The impacts of this emphasis combined with a liberal shift away from self discipline have profoundly impacted how student behaviour and academic achievement are managed in educational settings in this country.

Add to this sea-change in student teacher relationship and the changes mentioned earlier in relation to how maths and literacy are taught in primary schools and to some extent in secondary schools as well. Then, it is not in anyway surprising to find that we are in a catastrophic downward slide of student achievement, nationally and internationally, on compared assessment tools and achievement standards.

Other Factors,

Just before the implementation of Tomorrow’s Schools in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the Lange Labour Government under wisdom of then finance minister Roger Douglas implemented a financial policy for New Zealand that became know as Rogernomics. Globally known as Neo-liberal Economics or possibly Top – Down Economics. In basis it held that the resources of production should be held in the hands of a few and this should be achieved through corporate centralisation.

An example would be the food industry where super market chains like Woolworths and Food Stuffs have massive super markets which have all but destroyed small business franchises like the 4 Square branded local stores. The corner dairy actually buys the majority of their goods from the shelves of the supermarkets and with small mark up sells them to their customers.

The idea is that these huge stores are responsible for 100 percent of grocery sales and all of the profits go to their owners who have no serious competitors. The result is a pyramid structure of wealth accumulation where the wealth goes from the majority to an elite minority. Over a period of time those at the bottom levels of the pyramid become increasingly impoverished. The result ultimately is the destruction of the middle class as small business is eliminated and white collar workers are reduced in numbers. You end up with the haves and have nots.

Combined with liberalism the secular attack on Christianity and the nuclear family this has led to catastrophic social change. This is reflected in the replacement of family supervision of many at risk children and the intervention of state controlled services. Increasingly the state is making social policies and attempting to educate citizens in their version of social morality in place of Christian morality. An example would be the current campaign by the New Zealand Teachers council called “Unteach Racism.” A CRT initiative without doubt. Is there any limit to where this madness will appear. One wonders what business it is of the Teachers Council to take the lead in such an emotive issue. Surely this would be the domain of a political party and subsequently the job of the Ministry of Education should it be decided it was necessary.

So, reviewing the conversation that led to the writing of this opinion piece. New Zealanders are not stupid for not ensuring that our citizens have a certain level of intelligence quotient. We are stupid for allowing the political elites to secularise our society and sabotage out education system. It we had retained out Christian moral values continued to push back against liberalism as the liberals are pushing against Christianity now. Then our society would still have a strong emphasis on the family, moral decency, self discipline and common sense. Our education system would likely still be one of the finest in the World.

Reference List

1Once world-class, NZ’s education system is now a disaster. How do we fix it?

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/opinion/once-world-class-nzs-education-system-is-now-a-disaster-how-do-we-fix-it/ Hartwich Dr Oliver, NZ Herald, 9 November, 2022