Those
among us who lean politically more to the Left than to the Right seem to be
able to convince themselves of almost anything. I am constantly surprised by this attitude but
must admit it is a remarkably convenient one.
Generally
speaking I am at a disadvantage when in discussion with those who hold strong
political views of any kind. I am not
particularly political and therefore remarkably poor at coming up with good arguments
or pulling statistics from the dusty recesses of memory at the drop of a
hat. You could say that my memory for
political beliefs and principles of any Party is poor and the counter arguments
I dream up are feeble and rely more on instinct than facts and figures.
So
it was a strange conversation I had this week when discussing the State Of
Education Today with a decidedly Left Wing Friend who is also a recently
retired senior high school teacher (and a very good one it has to be admitted).
It
was the National Party she maintained who first developed the scourge of Mainstreaming in our schools. She was vague as to when this happened but
adamant that bright students in particular, were much better off educationally
when classes were streamed - and on that point I could only agree with
her and did not remind her that it was not always her belief.
It
was the National Party who ensured that no funding was made available for the
development of Special Programmes for High Ability Students. That didn’t sound right to me either but I
could only rely on her knowledge which should have been a lot more reliable
than my own.
However,
I did say, `Are you quite sure about that?’
and she said she was.
It
was the National Party who had been responsible for getting rid of uniforms
too.
She
had heard that in England `They’ had
also been responsible for getting rid of the 11 plus examination and the introduction
of Comprehensive Schools but on this
matter I had inside knowledge.
`Oh
no, no – no,’ I said excitedly, `You’re quite wrong there – Comprehensives were introduced by Labour. I
know, I was there!’ I was triumphant.
She
simply shrugged, `You may think that but the idea itself was first mooted by
the Toffs – you can be sure of it. They have
a vested interest in the ruin of education.’
As
I said, the Left can convince themselves of almost anything.
Later
the husband said gently that he had read somewhere that Eton was a Comprehensive
School but I wasn’t really listening because I was examining the truth behind
the allegation that Andrew Little was said to be blaming the Chinese for the
rise in house prices.
Andrew
Little? Really? Surely it was Winston Peters!
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