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, 

president of the Freie Universität Berlin 1994,

 "began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770" 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education#History "

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, 

"A little learning is a dang'rous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierian_Spring

and unfortunately

 "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Santayana

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.

League Tables

League Tables

My apologies to people who are unable to see.

We call that blindness.

I used the word in my last poem, with scant disregard for people who are unable to see.

It is politicians who are the three wise monkeys here...

See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.

The politicians have no problem

sending the academic status of the students 

to the journalists of the press,

who have no problem using

their right to the freedom of the press.

The people will have no problem making 

their own assumptions about the information 

they find presented to them.

The students themselves have no say in the matter...

who looks after their interests????

politicians?

journalists?

the public?

Lawyers?

No, it is teachers, educators.

Trained, experienced, educated in the ways of children. People who understand the delicate nature of students and the learning they undertake.

Ignore the teachers at your peril.

 “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” 

― George Santayana, The Life of Reason: Introduction, and Reason in Common Sense

So why is the New Zealand education system adopting league tables based on "The Nation Standards" in the same week that the USA is broadening it's curriculum and assessing on "more than one test"?

New Zealand gets it wrong again.

This is bad for students education and teachers...and parents, grandparents, and wider society...even bad for the people who think they are doing "the right thing"

Tell all of your colleagues.

Rain. Rein. Reign.

Outside.

Trees, grass, sky.

Even forest nearby.

Movement. Falling.

Drops of rain. 

Tiny, hardly a noise ...

Whispers on your skin.

You, riding.

Across the open meadow

in the rain.

Raindrops glint as sunlight

breaks through and splits each droplet attaching itself to you both.

Ecstacy as light refracts.

Rein it in.

You stop. Another movement enters your consciousness.

Him.

Me.

Reins already gathered.

Eyes met and held.

Smiles

Riding

Reigning.