"Setting-the-world-to-rights" session today. We got close. (Sorry everyone, I know you'll be disappointed that we didn't make it!) Also, forgot to set a date for the next session. Now wonder what will happen if no one remembers to do this ever again. ? Any answers? Anyone?
We did figure out that politics has no place in education (sorry politicians, I guess this may come as a bit of a shock to you.) To be able to have a useful part in education, first a person would need to spend a few weeks in a classroom (no, many classrooms, reading with groups of children, talking to them about their counting, art, ideas, lost shoes, no food, "they're mean to me", sticker charts and the rest), listen to what people (teachers (yes teachers are people (and often parents) too)) say and be prepared to change your mind. And say "ok I'm wrong."
If you want the above in plain language, then National Standards is 19th Century thinking in the 21st century.
The education minister has set a higher arbitrary standard for the country. Fine, but it is based on what her government want for the economy since 2008, not on what 5 thousand years of educators have learnt about children and the learning of children.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026
First Kiss
First Kiss
A kiss
caresses a curve.
A tinge of pink blush spreads
over the cheeks
of the mountains (Kahurangi), shadowed blue.
Morning arrives in the Bay.
With that first kiss of light,
colour creeps into the dawn
sky and lightens my world.
I move towards the curve of the horizon.
I gladly seek out this new day.
It will mean conversation,
something I struggle with at the best of times,
but 7:00 AM?
I do
speak,
and the words are heard by the world for the first time
I speak of death
And Hades
Dragging us all,
on our own Roller Coaster ride of life,
down to cross the river
and be with Persephone.
So,where is the treasure then?
Hades is the mythical Greek god of treasure, after all
…as well as the darkness.
We are…all of us …the treasure.
So, live.
Kiss.
Understand.
Tihe Mauri Ora.
The Ghost on Dead Bird Run
I rise,
silent,
in the dark
and peer out
at the wind, strong but not impossible.
Nothing is impossible.
I lace
up
silently
and don a vest
for safety.
I step out on
Bird Road,
keeping silent still.
In step,
maintaining pace,
inhale the morning air,
asthmatic lungs rhythmic.
This run
has
landmarks
a dead bird
right here,
squashed.
A dead Pukeko
saddens me.
silent,
in the dark
and peer out
at the wind, strong but not impossible.
Nothing is impossible.
I lace
up
silently
and don a vest
for safety.
I step out on
Bird Road,
keeping silent still.
In step,
maintaining pace,
inhale the morning air,
asthmatic lungs rhythmic.
This run
has
landmarks
a dead bird
right here,
squashed.
A dead Pukeko
saddens me.
Going Forward and Going Backward
February 2026
A very Strange time in the world. And in my little world.
The other day was "the Superbowl".
Benito was amazing ... I learnt who Bad Bunny is.
"America" was reclaimed to become The Americas.
Trump exists ... and so do the Epstein Files.
I have people from my old life ( from before 2022 ) that I'd like to know what they think about Trump today. I can't and won't go there.
And I wonder what they will think about him in the future, and more importantly, what they will think of themselves.......
Ukraine is forced into war with Russia because of Vladimir Putin, for four years now.
Palestine is being "raised to the ground" by Netanyahu since October 2023
USA is being trampled on by Trump. Minneapolis is attacked by ICE.
Trump may be the worst child-harming monster in the world.
Dictators and Nazi leaders. "The Right" seems to have the upper hand.
I post and repost on "Threads".
I stay away from thinking about all this by playing World of Tanks.
Some of me thinks into the future ..... and I miss .....
Some of me thinks backward . ... to the past .... and I want ....
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Gold
Gold
This place is gold.
People come.
They like it.
The sand,
the sky,
the sun.
The golden light here, mixes with the greens of the forest
and there is a transformation.
The light is no longer just the light
and the forest is no longer just the forest.
Beautiful.
Some came to this place for real gold
years ago.
Now I head south
to the autumn in Arrowtown.
To remember ancesters.
Gold, red and yellow
in the trees.
The old timers
went there for gold too.
Mined the rivers
for the bright yellow metal.
Fortunes
won
and lost.
And this winter
I fly to the gold Coast
in Australia.
My family
is worth
more
than
gold
to me.
Quiz Night
Quiz Night
Quiz evening.
Anticipation mounts.
Teams of 6 gather together,
head to the school hall and cram on in.
A buzz of conversation
emanating.
Laughter from one table already,
the social groups already firing,
some with wine,
some with beer.
All have a platter to snack from.
Each table has a collection of minds,
some keen on sport,
others are competitive general knowledge buffs.
I like geography.
Organisers flit about, ferrying information to and fro, ant like.
Markers waiting watching, the praying mantis of the quiz night.
MC approaches the microphone,
the rules are set out:-
no smart phone use,
put your group name on the paper,
it's a fundraiser so spend your money!
The questions begin
and I am at a loss tonight.
I don't know that or that.
Wrong on easy ones,
my team eyes
the bottom of the table
with acceptance and hilarity.
We develop a devil may care
attitude, it is of no help and
we produce some scores and
neither stay on the bottom rung
for the booby prize
nor climb far enough for a place
We all have a fun night out anyway.
Can they be so blind?
Can they be so blind?
"Education, according to Dieter Lenzen,
"began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770"
So, my friends
which camp do you sit in?
Education has moved from the metaphysical to the physical.
We could have talked about it as a way, a means,
we might have discussed it from a philosophical point of view.
We might have talked about learning style
or teaching theory
or by curriculum
for, we are all teachers
and for that matter, learners too,
well some of us anyway.
but now education has become a 'good', it has currency,
a country can adjust it, have more of it or less of it.
However,
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"
has our current government thought about this?
They seem not to have remembered the past,
or even the present!
Can they be so blind that they only see
everything from their own perspective?
We deal not with things, objects
nor with outputs.
It is not even brains,
it is with minds that we work,
with people
Why would you want less for your people?
When you could have more?
NZ National Government begins again...aiming for 1770.
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