NCEA Change Programme

Few parents are aware of the dire state of education in New Zealand. If they were, and if apathy were not so prevalent in our country, they would already be aware, there would be a general public outcry about what is being foisted upon our children. It is bordering on criminal the way we are short-changing our children of an academic education while brainwashing them with the latest degeneracy and inciting fear of an imminent environmental disaster.

Take for instance the NCEA Change Programme which a reader alerted me to. As if NCEA was not a farce already, our educational leaders and experts have decided to weaken it still further. How? Apparently, the aim is to “improve well-being, equity, coherence, pathways and credibility – for students and teachers alike.” The reality? A backward qualification that will lead us to Woketearoa.

So the first reason for change is to make NCEA more accessible. Apparently, the current assessment standards were not “designed with New Zealand’s diversity in mind, and don’t do enough to include students of all cultures, identities, disabilities, genders, and sexualities.” What does this even mean? How does belonging to the alphabet cult mean one is unable to access knowledge like everyone else?

But let’s leave the crazy alphabet cult for now and focus our time on the second of seven reasons for the change. The goal here is to ensure equal status for mātauranga Māori in NCEA. Mātauranga Māori means Maori knowledge. We are informed here that the changes are designed to “integrate te ao Māori (Maori worldview) and mātauranga Māori (Maori knowledge) into the new ‘graduate profile’ for NCEA, and into the design of achievement standards.”

Let me give you an example of what this nonsense looks like in terms of assessment. I took the following screenshot from here on June 28th.

You will note that in the proposed NCEA level 1 Chemistry and Biology Assessment standards for Chemistry and Biology, matauranga Maori (Maori knowledge) is put alongside Western science understandings. For those of you who have a Science background, you will no doubt be horrified by the broad and seemingly ill-defined body of knowledge that is being assessed.

A couple of questions are in order. What exactly is matauranga Maori with respect to chemical reactions and microorganisms? My New Zealand history might not be the best, but even I know that pre-colonisation, Maori were not exactly world leaders in Science. Sure their ancestors had impressive navigational skills, but their knowledge of chemical reactions and microorganisms was rudimentary to non-existent. To add the words ‘matauranga Maori’ to these assessment standards is pure tokenism or historical revisionism.

Now this is not to denigrate Maori. Geographical isolation was a good excuse for their lack of scientific know-how. They had not the advantage of learning from others which cultures of Europe had. Furthermore, their animistic beliefs were an obstacle to scientific knowledge. As Herbert Schlossberg puts it in Idols for Destruction, “Animist cultures…are not likely to produce large numbers of skilled engineers as long as they believe that physical objects have spirits.” Beliefs like not being able to step over cut flax because it contains the spirits of one’s ancestors, or that people should not stand on the top of mountains because they are tapu are examples of primitive animist fear which ultimately cripples learning and development of knowledge.

With the coming of Christianity, Maori were freed from this unfortunate and debilitating worldview. It seems our wokeocracy is trying to celebrate and reintroduce it again. Fortunately, as many of you are aware, a number of academics protested this in a letter to the Listener. They pointed out that maturangi Maori has no well defined or agreed-upon definition, that it is not science and they argued that “if mātauranga Māori is to be included so fully into the education system at all levels, then it needs to be subjected to full critical scrutiny – as do all science claims.” It should not surprise anyone that these brave souls were pilloried and ‘cancelled’ by the usual suspects – spineless cultural elites like the president and academy executive committee chair of the Royal Society as well as activist agitators. This only proves the point they were making. We are not dealing with a scientific view that can be critiqued and argued about. We are dealing with something more akin to a blind faith.

Now I don’t know if this is a coincidence or not, but when I relooked at the Assessment standards for Biology and Chemistry on August 8, they had been altered. The screenshot of these standards is below.

You’ll notice that the words matauranga Maori have been removed from each of these assessments. What we have is not a whole lot better though. The first assessment is, “Explore a microorganism within the mauri of the taiao.” Translated this means, “Explore a microorganism within the life force of the earth. This sounds rather pantheistic to me. I’m sure it won’t just be Christian families who oppose this approach to Science. I imagine materialists would be rather concerned also.

What to do? Get your children out of public schools. The power in our public system is in the hands of people who support this approach. If you want your children to have a decent education, you are almost certainly going to have to make a financial sacrifice. Put them in an independent school that teaches an internationally recognised curriculum like Cambridge. The good news is that this should pay dividends because children brought up on this nonsense are going to be no match for children who have been given an actual education.

The Parlous State of Media in New Zealand

Recently in a short post entitled Department of Truth, we noted that more and more, the mainstream media seems to be transforming into a department of government: the Department of Propaganda Truth. Karl du Fresne has written an excellent article highlighting this, and in this post we will pick out some of the important points he makes.

He notes that of the $55 million ‘Public Interest Journalism Fund’ more than $2.4 million is being spent in the training and development and training of 25 cadet Maori, Pasifika and “diverse” journalists. As du Fresne points out, the “latter category will presumably include those who identify as transgender or non-binary and other aggrieved minorities that we haven’t got names for yet.” Then there is the ominous $300,000 given to Stuff to produce a cultural competency course which is promised to “to fundamentally shift representation in NZ media”

What benefit is there to the public in any of this? As du Fresne rightly points out, “our money will end up being spent on advocacy journalism.” In applying for this public money, “media organisations must commit to a set of requirements that include, among other things, actively promoting the Maori language and ‘the principles of Partnership, Participation and Protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi’“. Our mainstream media have been bought with our money like tacky whores with no principles. What is our answer to this? Stop consuming their products. Stop subscribing to them! Turn to other sources of news that are not being bought off by the government to be their propaganda wing.

Barbarians or Idiots

Whatever is good about democracy rests upon a simple assumption. It is that ordinary people are capable of managing their ordinary affairs, as individuals, as families, as members of a neighbourhood or a parish, as local businesses, and as citizens of a village or town. If they are not permitted to do so, they have been reduced to what the Greeks called barbarism. If they are unwilling to do so, they have reduced themselves to what the Greeks called idiocy.

Anthony Esolen in Out of the Ashes

Shepherds! Protect the Lambs

One of the most frustrating things I have found in over two decades of working with youth in both a church and Christian school context has been the response of Christian pastors to Christian education. It ranges from apathy to antipathy. Few have the courage to call their congregations to obedience to Christ in this area. This despite the very real danger state education presents to the little lambs in their flock.

My experience has been that many young adults from Christian homes are either incapacitated and rendered impotent by the secular worldview they imbibe during their 17-year secular discipleship programme, or they leave the faith. And a lot of them do leave the faith.

Just this week, I was chatting with a friend who spoke of two young people he knew, both attending secular schools. One no longer attends youth group or church and has decided he is not a Christian any longer. The other, a young woman, has been so indoctrinated by feminism and humanism that she looks up to feminist icons who are responsible for the liberalisation of abortion.

Can pastors continue to look the other way? A pastor is a shepherd. When a lion or a bear came to attack and kill David’s sheep, he would seize them by the hair and kill them ( I Samuel 17:35). That takes manly courage and the ability to face risk and danger. This is the need of our hour. We need pastors who are willing to be courageous men. They must stand between the lambs and the wild animals out to devour them.

Jesus himself warned of the danger posed to little ones. After calling a child to himself and showing his disciples that they must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven, he gave one of his starkest warnings. He said, with this little child and perhaps others next to him, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

We know, without a shadow of a doubt that the 17-year anti-Christian state discipleship programme is in a large part responsible for many little lambs being torn to pieces. Any Christian leader worth their salt should be aware of this. Teaching a child that God is irrelevant to the world he has made by never mentioning him in 17 years of education is likely to cause him to stumble. Teaching a child that Christ is Lord of his heart, but that he isn’t too interested in the rest of life is causing our children to stumble. Flawed teaching on gender and sexuality is causing our children to sin.

So about that millstone…Does it belong to our secular officials who desire to control the future by discipling our children into their faith? Does it belong to the teachers who abuse their positions to poison the minds of children with depravity? Does it belong to parents who fail to follow God’s law to impress God’s laws on their children day and night (Deuteronomy 6:6-9), or does it belong to the shepherds who see the children in their flock falling away from the faith but say nothing?

What will it take for Christian leaders to wake up, grab their weapons and start protecting the flock? When will we hear a sermon about the importance of training our children in the Christian faith and protecting them from the evil one? When will we hear our pastors calling all families to remove their children from the perils of secular education?

Will the recent news of the proposed Conversion Therapy ban wake our pastors up from their slumber? Will pulpits throughout the land warn parents that they are in danger of losing their children? Kris Faafoi on Newstalk ZB was asked whether it was ‘cool with him’ for parents to tell their children they can’t go on hormone blockers. He said, “No it’s not.” Of this law, Family First writes, “Shockingly, parents would be criminalised and potentially liable up to five years in jail simply for affirming that their sons are boys and their daughters are girls. These bans will lock children into transgenderism.” As a teacher with knowledge of the school system in New Zealand, I can assure my readers that this degeneracy is already being promoted by many schools and teachers. Too many naive parents think secular schools are only there to teach Maths and English. Unfortunately, that is about the only thing they are not getting. These must make way for the all-important secular indoctrination programme you see. A law like this is only going to make things worse. Godless teachers will turn children against parents and make them aware of their ‘rights’. The only protection will be removing our children from these godless pagans. Will pastors protect their sheep by saying this? That remains to be seen. If not, God help us.

The Directory for Private (Family) Worship #10

In recent months, I had a young man come to our house and we got talking on some of the spiritual disciplines that took place in our household. I mentioned to him that our family eats breakfast together and there I read the Word to our children and pray as we begin our daily labours. In the evening, after dinner, while we are still at the dinner table we do the same thing. He was surprised at this activity. Despite growing up in a Christian family, this had never been a habit in his family. Today’s direction from the directory for private worship is helpful in this regard.

X. These exercises ought to be performed in great sincerity, without delay, laying aside all exercises of worldly business or hinderances, not withstanding the mockings of atheists and profane men; in respect of the great mercies of God to this land, and of his severe corrections wherewith lately he hath exercised us. And, to this effect, persons of eminency (and all elders of the kirk) not only ought to stir up themselves and families to diligence herein, but also to concur effectually, that in all other families, where they have power and charge, the said exercises be conscionably performed.

In simple English, we are charged to regularly perform the duties expressed in the previous directions and ensure that the day to day busyness of life nor the mocking of those who do not love God do not put us off from fulfilling these duties. The writers of the directory mention both the mercy of God, and recent corrections from God as factors highlighting the importance of private worship. They complete this direction by arguing for the elders or spiritual leaders of the church to ensure they are diligent in exercising themselves in the fulfilment of the rules previously cited, and additionally that they encourage other families to perform them too.

Of great encouragement to me is the fact that in visiting a church recently the pastor made a big deal about the importance of family worship and even provided free books for families seeking to develop in this discipline. Let us encourage each other as brothers and sisters to be faithful in this all important spiritual discipline.

A Culture of Life vs A Culture of Death

One of the fascinating but predictable things about rebellion against the true and living God is the way it always devolves into lies and death. Since Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning, this should not surprise us. We see the rebellion of our father Adam was founded on Satan’s lies and ultimately caused the slow murder of Adam and all his progeny. Those in Satan’s kingdom employ his methods. Thus very early on we have Cain murdering his brother in envy and Lamech murdering a young man for insulting him. Yet Satan’s influence is not limited to individuals. Cultures that embrace rebellion against the living God grow more and more like their father the devil. They too embrace lies and death. The Pharaoh of Moses’ day embraced the lie of his own divinity and murdered countless young Hebrew boys. The Canaanites embraced Molech and sacrificed their own children to their ultimate ruin.

Our secular culture in its haste towards the abyss more and more manifests its diabolical nature. Its language is full of lies. We have transwomen, marriage equality, antiracism, gender affirmation, social justice and economic equality. A transwoman is a man. Marriage equality? A homosexual union can never be a true marriage. Anti-racism is actual racism. Gender affirmation is the attempted destruction of the image of God in an individual as male or female. Social justice is injustice. Economic equality is stealing. You get the idea. Our secular culture only lies when it speaks.

Then we have secular culture’s embrace of death. Abortion is our euphemistic term for child sacrifice. In New Zealand, 18% of known pregnancies in 2019 ended in an abortion. We’ve also introduced euthanasia. And our suicide rate amongst youth is horrendous, but surely given the culture of death celebrated, and our nihilistic outlook, unsurprising. Secular culture is killing itself off. They see children as a threat to the environment. Recently Meghan and Harry won an award for their decision to have only two children. Environment worshipping secularists even promise to have no children for the sake of the planet. In this, the secularists plant the seeds of their own destruction.

The secularist trumpets their rebellion with slogans such as ‘a woman’s right to choose’, and ‘I was born in the wrong body’, but their embrace of this culture of lies and death is actually evidence of God handing them over to wrath and judgment. They will not be fruitful. Their culture will dwindle and decline. In contrast, this world will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. Fruitfulness and blessing come to those who love the Lord their God. They will inherit the earth. Those who love God, for whom Christ is king produce a culture of life. Having children for us is part of the calling to dominion under Christ. That is why faithful Christians tend to have more children than nihilistic secularists. We are hopeful. This world belongs to our Lord. It will be restored and we will reign with him over his creation.

Wasted Potential

Recently I read an article by Don Brash on benefit numbers. The numbers were shocking. As of June 2021, there were 354,744 receiving a main benefit from the government. This represents 11.3% of the working-age population. Part of this (2.1%) is made up of people receiving sole-parent support. A massive 6.1% are people receiving jobseeker support. These are people (supposedly) looking for work, or temporarily unable to work due to a health condition or injury. There are just over 190,000 or 6.1% of the working-age population in this category. As Brash rightly points out, this number has not reduced in any significant way despite the fact that employers are screaming out for even unskilled workers. He writes, “Clearly having more than a third of a million adults dependent on a benefit at a time when employers are desperate for staff shows that there is something fundamentally wrong.“

Brash goes on to make some interesting points, and I’d encourage you to read the full article. What I wanted to do was reflect very briefly on the way that the religion of Statism gets things wrong. Forcibly taking other people’s money and giving it to unproductive members of society might seem like a nice thing to do. After all, none of us wants another person to starve. Yet the problem is that in providing assistance like this, and then in the creation of perverse incentives not to work (like minimum wage laws), the State actually causes a percentage of the population to be unable or unwilling to work. This is not good for them, and it is not good for society. Once again we see that the mercies of the wicked are cruel. For a country to have a full 6.1% of people who could work not working is an incredible waste of a society’s potential. Furthermore, the encouragement of family breakup through rampant sexual immorality has led to more sole-parent (i.e. economically unviable) family structures that require government (read unwilling other people) to support.

Paul’s rule with the Thessalonians was “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” It’s a good rule, and if charity was more personalised, it would force those who should be working to actually work to their own benefit, and the benefit of the community around them. God’s law is good and brings blessing to society. Statism pretends kindness but causes a spiral of societal degeneracy and destruction, which it then uses to argue for more of its ‘kindness’. Stop voting for it.

The Dignity of Unpaid Work

But where does it say that the dignity of work depends upon being paid for it? If that were the case, then a whore selling her wares on a seedy street corner would claim greater dignity than my grandmother could who stretched a poor income to clothe and feed and in innumerable unnamed ways to bless my parents and their fourteen siblings between them. That makes no sense.

Anthony Esolein in Out of the Ashes

Egalitarian Nonsense Meets the Real World

In our egalitarian world, we like to think men and women are exact replicas of each other, performing the same functions equally well. This is patently not true but is a lie we have been fed from childhood in our schools and popular culture. Girls can do anything boys can do!

And so we get to the stage where we have a police force that has frontline women officers. What happens when things get rough? This. A male policeman is overpowered and pushed to the ground by a violent young man. What does his female partner do? Does she get stuck in and help out? No. Instead she ‘could be heard repeatedly yelling “stop it” to the man attacking her colleague.’ Who could blame a woman for this reaction when faced with such an aggressive and strong man? We don’t expect our women to have to stand up to this sort of thing. But imagine if that police officer’s partner had been a 6 ft male. We might have seen a slightly different ending to that video.

Now I know, I’ve heard the argument before that women officers are helpful in a domestic violence situation. Fine. Maybe that’s true. But in frontline work, we’d be better off with men – and big strong ones at that. Men that crims are going to think twice before taking on.