Greater literacy and numeracy skills for teens? Sorted. We have a times table chart in the toilet. I am sure our daughter will thank us for that, once she is old enough to meet these new NCEA standards.
Back to basics for reading and maths, I say. Of course, not forgetting the digital, bicultural, wellbeing, etcetera, curriculum. My daughter loves to spend weekends sliding down hills on cardboard and dodging our cows and sheep, but she still rolls her eyes when I ask her to help in the garden and “play Minecraft in real life”. She knows that, even if she were to stay here in Taupō, a rural career nowadays is just as much about agricultural drones, algorithms, and livestock scanners as it is mucking out calf pens.
When my wife and I moved back to New Zealand in 2007, I was adamant Auckland was the smallest place I would ever choose to live in. But after three years on our lifestyle block, I have well and truly eaten my hat. Yes, in year one I somehow managed to crack a rib by falling uphill onto a spade, and our sheep love to walk straight through my otherwise impressive waratah fences, but we are a family that jumps with both feet.
I like to think I live up to my Facebook banner to “be brave enough to suck at something new.” I’m an adult, after all, and ostensibly the master of my own prefrontal cortex. I have big plans for my neurons. I want to learn Italian someday, or finally write that best-selling novel. I’m a professional. After mulling over strategic policy reports and demographic spreadsheets, I can’t blame myself if I begin to get a little dentist-chair chill when my growing daughter asks for help with her homework, can I? That’s thankfully a few years away for me, but it’s inevitable.
According to Kidspot, “children aged 11-12 are multiplying three and four digit numbers by one digit as well as long multiplication which is multiplying three digits by two digits.” A dutiful parent, I am planning a trip to Warehouse Stationary to find a corresponding piece of vibrant toilet décor. I seldom need to multiply under duress, but I know it’s our duty as citizens to be ready for that Stephen Colbert interview or bomb disposal incident if someone shouts “for god’s sake, quickly, multiply these three digits by two digits!”.
I’m sure I can brush up on creating “accurate nets for simple polyhedra and connecting three-dimensional solids with different two-dimensional representation”. Not only will it help if I’m ever challenged to efficiently pack Toblerones, it might stop me from screwing the plywood doors of her toy horse stable on backwards, like I did last weekend.
It’s educational for her to see we’re not perfect. That’s what I tell myself, anyway. “Look, if Daddy’s raised garden beds are wonky that’s absolutely not a problem.” “Yes, Daddy is the one sitting down at the finish line and looking like he’s going to vomit, but that’s because he thought the race was so much fun!”
The government is inviting feedback to the draft NZCA standards by 18th December. The draft standards are set at level 4 and 5 of the curriculum, which align with year 9-10 of schooling. That’s third and fourth form for us old fellas. I never got used to those new-fangled numbers.
Panningforink 