Entry 89, on 2004-11-23 at 14:51:47 (Rating 2, News)
There is some debate going on here at the moment regarding standards required for entry to University. The current plan is to require English at a sixth form level. The problem is that New Zealand has a lucrative education "industry" which takes fee paying foreign students into our schools and many of these want to continue into University. Despite their schooling here, many of these have poor English skills.
Whether these people are getting a good education in New Zealand or whether we are just a glorified baby sitting service is debatable. Supporters claim its a good scheme because it brings more money into schools and provides more input from other cultures, and this is undoubtedly true. Unfortunately, it also disrupts the normal teaching patterns in schools, and diverts resources away from the local students.
It also gives the government an excuse not to fund the schools fully because they have an alternative source of income. It has been estimated that some schools would be virtually bankrupt if the income from these students was lost.
I personally find this rather disturbing. I'm not a great fan of unbridled capitalism and talk of an "education market" is concerning. I think education is too important to trust to the free market. Actually, I would prefer that all markets were sensibly controlled and that the so-called "free" market (which isn't remotely free anyway) was a thing of the past.
If you disagree with me because of examples of poor market control in the past please note two things: one, I said "sensible" market controls, not just any control; and two, we are often reminded of the more ridiculous situations of the past and forget about the controls which worked well, so we tend to have a biased perception.
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