Barb not aimed at teacher: schoolgirl

Anela Pritchard, Napier Girls' High School student, talks to the media in Clive after her speech sparked a storm. Photo / Duncan Brown

The 15-year-old schoolgirl at the centre of a storm over a provocative speech says she never had a problem with the teacher she delivered it to.

Anela Pritchard, a Year 10 student at Napier Girls' High School, made a school speech to her class that claimed her teachers needed to work harder rather than "sit around and do nothing".

She emailed teachers copies of the speech and posted it on her Facebook page, where it continues to gather thousands of likes and shares.

But Anela said yesterday it was not aimed at the classroom teacher, who took it personally and left the room "very sad".

"I have never had a problem with her before and I actually do like her," she said.

The speech was delivered last week, after which she was told she should stay at home "until such a time as I could have an interview with the headmistress".

This Friday was to be Anela's last day of school but she decided not to go back. She is moving to Sydney where she is enrolled in school and will live with her brother.

"I don't really think going back to school is the best thing right now. A lot of teachers and students now strongly dislike me and I didn't want to put myself in that situation, where it is everyone against me," she said.

Anela and her father Andrew Pritchard met principal Mary Nixon and the dean on Tuesday afternoon. They had hoped for an apology but were disappointed, Mr Pritchard said.

"We left the meeting a little dumbfounded."

But Ms Nixon said the matter was "resolved".

In a statement, she said Anela was never suspended from the school and she had met the schoolgirl and her father yesterday, at the earliest convenience for all involved.

"Colleagues and students in the wider school were shocked and upset [about the speech]," she said.

The teen's comments ignited debate over the merits and flaws of the education system. Many applauded her for speaking her mind and drawing attention to what they see as problems. Others defended the profession and pointed the finger at the wider issues, including teacher exhaustion, relatively poor pay, lack of resources and a limited pool of qualified candidates.

One student, who had the same English teacher as Anela, said she was one of the "kindest, most compassionate teachers I ever had".

Education Minister Hekia Parata said the school needed space to work out exactly what had happened and its response.

"I am aware of the story, and I understand that the ministry and the school are sorting out actually whether she was stood down or not. So that is a matter for them," she said.

In her speech, Anela criticised her teachers for making students feel useless and teaching them irrelevant information instead of how to survive in the real world.

"Like it's our fault that we don't understand the work."

Algebra pays off: ex-teacher

A former Hawke's Bay teacher dismisses Anela's claim that learning algebra is "pointless".

St John's College former teacher Tony Burns said algebra was a necessity for students.

"It's the basis of everything," he said.

Mr Burns, a mathematics teacher for 46 years, said much of today's actions were based on algebra, we just did not know it.

"Algebra is the basis of all logic. All the great mathematicians of the 14th, 15th and 16th century based intellect on algebra. It's the basis for any research and basis of any mathematical understanding. You can't carry out any research by quoting Shakespeare.

"Even if they can't see it benefiting them in the next three or four years, they should stay with it. The number of people who have said 'I wish I'd learned more algebra at school' is huge."