Roger Partridge writes:Education Minister Erica Stanford stands accused of compressing a generation of reform into two years. Her programme is “radical,” “ideological,” and risks turning children into guinea pigs. Auckland University’s Professor Peter O’Connor calls it neoliberal “shock-and-awe.”These are serious charges. In the ninth century, he rashly insisted that monks learn to read and write properly. Within a century, German children could read, calculate, and think systematically.

Source: New Zealand Herald March 03, 2026 06:19 UTC