SOLO-Youth Press Release: The Place of Principals

SOLO-Youth Press Release: The Place of Principals

July 7, 2009

As a consequence of the National Government’s policy to publicly display school performance data, hundreds of New Zealand Primary School Principals are threatening to boycott literacy and numeracy standards.

As a libertarian and Objectivist, of course I do not support state ownership of the education system. I do not support the governmental interference in matters that rightly belong to schools, teachers, students and parents. But as it stands we are stuck with government’s foot firmly in the door, and millions of taxpayer dollars go to fund primary schools.

As a result, those principals threatening to boycott the standards are public servants—the public has the right to know how good our schools are, as we are paying for them! The taxpayer is their benefactor, so principals have a duty to release information about school performance publicly. Of course, the information doesn't tell all details about every aspect of schooling, but the use of it should be at the discretion of parents, not principals.

In a free market for education, principals would reserve the right to release information about their schools. But in a competitive marketplace, it would be a wise decision to release information, to be better able to compete for students and the business they bring. Under the present state system, as parents are forced, through no choice of their own, to fund schooling whether they like it or not, they are at least entitled to know how those schools are performing.

Luckily, Education Minister Anne Tolley believes that parents do have a right to know how about school performance. But principals, in a taxpayer-funded education system, need to remember their place as servants of the public, not masters of their children.

Callum McPetrie: callummcpetrie@yahoo.co.nz

SOLO: SOLOPassion.com

ENDS

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