The Good Old Days

Finally, what is this good old system that Muldoon, Rowling, Gill and others have expressed such a yearning for? Forty years ago schools in New Zealand were ruled by terror. (Probably everyone reading this has come across a teacher who still believed that a little bit of fear went a long way.) Corporal punishment, often quite indiscriminately administered, was rife. And no soft flicks with the strap either. These kids were beaten.

Muldoon has remarked that fewer people entered secondary school unable to read or write. The fact is, proportionally fewer people entered secondary school at all. Many were held back until they were 14 or 15. Many couldn't afford a secondary education and had to leave. Until quite recently, most working claw children went to Technical High Schools (even now receiving praise from the back to basics leaden). But guess what? These schools had limited facilities, offered limited educational and employment prospects and effectively ruled out higher education for the mass of the people who attended them.