22 June 2005

A 'whiff of Orwell' hangs over NZ schools

"News that children will be receiving a course teaching them right from wrong from an organisation that understands neither is wrong on its face," says Libertarianz Hamilton East Candidate, Robin Thomsen. "There is more than a whiff of Orwell about it all."

Thomsen notes that the announced programme for New Zealand's state-run schools is to focus on the themes of: Honesty, Respect, Rules and Laws, Consequences, Right and Wrong. "Great values," he says, "but none are evident in the government inflicting this course on impressionable children. Would you send your children to learn morality in a course designed by thieves, con-artists and alleyway thugs? The same argument applies here," he says. "Children spot hypocrisy when they see it. Voters and parents might learn from them in that regard."

Libertarianz calls for a complete separation of school and state. "We would completely remove the state from all aspects of education," confirms Thomsen, "and return schools to the communities. Parents would be able to teach their children as they wish, and if they choose to educate their children in morality they would be free to pick a more reliable source than 'do what I say, not do what I do' Labour Party cronies."

ENDS

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