Tue, 30 Nov 2004

Greens' Bland and Dank Utopia? No Thanks!

"Green MP Metiria Turei makes some valid observations in regards to New Zealand's so called free education system but predictably she comes to some incredibly irrational conclusions," Said Peter Osborne, Libertarianz Spokesman For Education Deregulation today.

He agrees that New Zealand families are finding it more expensive to send their children to school, as Mrs Turei indicates. Schools are increasingly finding it harder to make ends meet, relying more on galas, fairs and door-to-door chocolate-selling by pupils in order to pay the bills. "Despite all this," notes Osborne, "Trevor Mallard and his bureaucrats are spending staggering amounts of tax-stolen money on the state's factory schools. The question must be asked, where is all this money going?"

"Mrs Turei's indignation that parents are expected to pay the 'optional school fees' is typical of a watermelon Green - green on the outside but red on the inside . Heaven forbid that parents should take even a slight part of the responsibility for their choice to have children. Give me a break!" says Osborne. "She would rather the tax-victim pick up the bill and that the State should make parent's decisions for them. This is exactly what we have now, and every New Zealand citizen is the unwitting victim of this dinosaur indoctrination system."

Mr Osborne continues, "Just to prove that she really did fall out of the pram as a child, her final conclusion is beyond belief." He quotes Mrs Turei: 'Labour,' she says, 'is clearly continuing to pursue the privatisation of education agenda set by previous governments.' "I wish!" replies Osborne. "Never in the history of New Zealand has education been so overpowered by state control! Mr Mallard has done nothing to allow parents to choose how their own children may be educated. Nor has he done anything to allow private education to flourish. Quite the opposite in fact."

"Mrs Turei's generous use of the words FREE EDUCATION must also be scrutinised. It is clearly not 'free' in the financial sense, as tax-victims are forced to pay for it whether they like it or not, and whether they use it or not. Nor is it 'free' in the practical sense, as parents have no choice over what or how their children shall be educated. Schools are certainly not free either, as they must comply with a curriculum that is forced upon them by the Ministry of Education. State-enforced education means distinstly UN-free education."

Mr Osborne concludes, "Libertarianz is under no illusion as to the devastation state education is having on New Zealand's young minds. We emphasise that each individual has sovereignty over his or her own life, including the responsibilities that this encompasses.

FREE education, unshackled by small-minded politicians and devoid of the burden to tax-payers is the key to free minds and a free society. Education must be free of all state intervention. Mrs Turei's wish list on the other hand would only force us all further into the mire of blandness, and of conformity to her dank utopia."

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>