In my 40 years’ teaching experience, I know the foremost cause of truancy is poverty — not a lack of parental concern or teacher-only days. Many parents are forced to prioritise spending on food, electricity or transport.
Instead of fining them, a more effective solution would be providing minibuses to bring students to school. Every parent I’ve met wants a good education for their children.
Merilyn McAuslin, Mt Eden
Seconds thoughts
The Minister of Transport’s obsession with raising speed limits continues and, as usual, he claims travel times will be reduced.
In Auckland, aside from the motorways, there are few stretches of road where it is possible to drive more than about a kilometre without coming to a set of traffic lights or an intersection — so, even if the speed limit were doubled, there would be little effect on travel times.
As the population increases, the number of cars on the roads will increase and there will be even more congestion and longer travel times. An efficient public transport system might be a solution, but this Government shows little interest.
On a personal note, I regularly drive along a short stretch of road where the speed limit is 30km/h. Can Simeon Brown tell me how I can profitably use the extra few seconds I will save when I can drive at 50km/h?
Greg Cave, Sunnyvale
Law and order crackdown
It’s good to finally see the beginnings of a tightening up on law and order that is certainly required.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to me was far too much in the pocket of the previous Government, which after all gave him the top job (HoS, Sept 29).
But why not continue on the path to tightening some of the laws? For example, if you attack and injure a police dog, there’s a very strong deterrent for doing that. But using a cellphone while driving attracts virtually no deterrent.
So let’s get real for once and build and enforce a legal system that does what it is supposed to do.
Paul Beck, West Harbour
‘Ordinary’ Kiwis
Our Government regularly reminds us it is focused on improving the lives of “ordinary” and “hard-working” New Zealanders. Who are these lucky people?
Policies to date suggest they are gun-toting, vape-smoking owners of a fleet of trucks servicing the mining industry. Provided they do not need to cross Cook Strait. They can’t be anyone in the public sector unless they are employees of pet departments like MFAT and the Ministry for Regulation.
Young Kiwis will inherit a country with significantly less productive land as we abandon emissions reduction targets in favour of unlimited tree planting. Businesses hoping for encouragement to invest in low-emission technologies are out of luck after the closure of the DIDI fund. The 34% of us Kiwis who rent now face the uncertainty of shorter notice periods, and two weeks’ extra rent for owning a pet. The residential construction sector is down 20%. Many owners and workers in the retail industry, along with other Kiwis with inflexible working hours such as teachers and nurses, are to be burdened with congestion charges, tolls and RUC during their daily commute. Fair Pay Agreements and income insurance have gone the way of bright-line tests, but 90-day trials are back.
Does that mean hard-working and ordinary Kiwis are residential property investors, preferably highly indebted?
Eric Skilling, Milford
Class act
I had a chuckle reading Liz Schollum’s letter “Teaching a lesson” (HoS, Sept 29). Contrary to what Schollum writes, I think David Seymour would absolutely last a week in a classroom and he’d probably survive a term — albeit he’d be a bit frazzled by then, just like any teacher.
The first few days he’d be a novelty, and the pupils would suss him out to see what they could get away with. They’d soon realise he wouldn’t take any nonsense, there was work to be done and attendance each day was non-negotiable.
Working long hours, preparing work and so on wouldn’t faze him, and as for parent-teacher interviews, they’d go down a treat.
Should his stint in the classroom coincide with the school’s disco, he’d be a hit, having perfected his moves on Dancing with the Stars.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth
Bodging history
Correspondent Gary Hollis may wish to wax lyrical and nostalgic about the movie actors and actresses of the 1950s and 60s and their influence on the youth of those times (HoS, Sept 29).
However, my contention is that the Bodgies and Widgies of the 1950s and the Mods and Rockers of the 1960s would have behaved just the same as the youth of today if they had access to the same modern technology and life choices.
The sentiments of the Bob Dylan song The Times They Are A–Changin’ didn’t end with the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
John Capener, Kawerau
Politicians aren’t celebrities
It is good that Carmel Sepuloni, deputy leader of the Labour Party, has been eliminated from Celebrity Treasure Island.
Since when were politicians celebrities anyway? They are public servants. Even if she was going to donate her salary to charity whilst on the show, her focus should always have been on serving her constituency of Kelston.
In any case, politicians seem to acquire a puffed-up sense of their own importance after going on shows like these. Look at David Seymour after his foray into a similar escapade such as Dancing with the Stars. Hopefully, we will be spared this from Sepuloni.
Bernard Walker, Mount Maunganui
