Letters to the editor: Bethlehem College sets standards based on beliefs, should we leave them alone?

The Bethlehem Campus. Photo / John Borren

OPINION

Bethlehem College has a fantastic reputation, which is why many parents want to send their children there.

This has been achieved fundamentally because the school has set standards based on Christian beliefs. Clearly, it intends to maintain these standards.

There is no compulsion for children to go there. There are many alternatives. The children I have met who have been educated at Bethlehem College have all been well-adjusted and vibrant kids. Without a doubt, they will become well-rounded citizens and a credit to this school and possibly their country.

So perhaps we should leave Bethlehem College alone and allow it to get on with what it is doing so excellently, giving young people a great start to life.

Peter Brown
Hairini

Painful lessons from a mathematics class

I was saddened to read of Jamie Phillips' experience with maths and his attitude to the subject (Opinion, June 10).

I was even more saddened that it was printed because for some people it will reinforce the feeling that it's OK to hate maths.

Maths is fundamental to so many other subjects.

Like many subjects learned at school, we do not necessarily use all the skills and information gained in our education, but you may be surprised how many times something learned many years ago will spring to mind and be useful.

I have experienced this many times in my 76 years.

If in years to come Jamie has to work out how many rolls of wallpaper or litres of paint to buy when decorating his home, complete his tax returns, amend a recipe to serve a different number of people, keep his score in golf etc, he may have to use some of the skills learned in maths.

All learning, whether we find it easy or difficult, is useful and the discipline it takes to stick with it is character-building.

Iris Jillett
Pāpāmoa

Anti-social behaviour ramps up

Sonya Bateson's article (Friday 10 June) highlights a disturbing trend in New Zealand.

While the rift between the haves and the have-nots grows, those at the bottom end of the scale will understandably resort to more desperate, often criminal, measures to ease their plight.

Giving handouts to lift the impoverished to a better standard of living seems like the obvious solution.

While I agree that such assistance should be available temporarily in an emergency to those who are in such a state through no fault of their own, it shouldn't necessarily be that easy.

Rather, offering opportunities to help themselves should be the priority, starting with a good, sound education.

If they spurn any such opportunity, either for themselves or their children, then that is their choice and they have to bear the consequences.

Ian Young
Pāpāmoa Beach

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