High-decile schools are struggling with misbehaving students, and receive less support than low-decile schools:
NZEI vice-president Ian Leckie said extreme misbehaviour crossed class boundaries.
“You’ve only got to look at the child who is very spoiled and from a very well-to-do background whose mother won’t buy them the lollies in the supermarket,” Leckie said.
“What that indicates, too, is that some of these behaviours even manifest before they start school,” he said.
Well, what do you expect in a country where smacking is illegal, and the government focuses on the rights of children rather than on families. This situation is only going to get worse.
The best behaved children I have ever seen were in a village in Fiji. They had nothing, and played with sticks in the dirt. They loved clapping games, which have been almost completely forgotten in NZ. They weren’t sad until we gave them balloons and they had something to fight over.
Then we got on a plane to come home and had to put up with whining rich kids fighting over who got to use the GameBoy… You can’t tell me social problems are primarily caused by poverty.
Samuel Dennis 
October 2, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I think its a bit simplistic to imply that smacking and poverty would lead to better behaviour. I think one of the causes of misbehaviour is too much pressure on parents to make ends meet financially. I know when, as a teacher, I am told the backgrounds of kids who misbehave there is a mix of poor and rich kids, but often the common factor is no-one around to parent because of long work hours. Parenting takes time and effort and that needs to be valued more. I know myself that I’ve used the tele or playstation as a babysitter for my own kids when work demands have left me drained. And I’m parenting with the support of a spouse and wider family nearby! Fijian’s have a great sense of community and its the old adage that it takes a village to raise a child.
October 2, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Absolutely Jack. It is a shame that many families are forced to have both parents working for financial reasons, and we hope to ease the strain on families to allow one parent to stay at home if they desire.
October 2, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Hope is a wonderful thing 🙂
That’s a big pledge – would have to reduce mortgages and food bills by a massive chunk…
October 3, 2008 at 7:09 am
I doubt we could in one term fix the situation for every family! But we will be introducing income splitting for tax purposes, removing GST from basic foods, household electricity, rates and some other items, and working towards a lower, flatter tax structure. These could well tip the balance for quite a few families.
October 3, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Mr Dennis – is this your solution for New Zealand children – let them have nothing, have them play with sticks in the dirt and encourage them to love clapping games? Is this your utopian dream? Are voters aware of your desires for their children?