The extremely “politically correct” National Certificate of Educational Achievement qualification system, has been widely criticised for lowering standards in education.
This attack came from someone who knew a lot about educational standards.
From the obituary of NZ born, Professor Alan MacDiarmid (Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 2000) in today’s Christchurch Press.
MacDiarmid criticised the low regard he saw for science in New Zealand.
The NCEA qualification system had done “a great disservice to the country” he said in 2005.
“New Zealand needs, for its national security in the future, to encourage scientific education and this (NCEA) is going to put kids off“.
“We could be left behind with this ‘she’ll be right’ attitude, in my opinion. We can either be leaders or followers-if we want to be leaders we have to have a scientifically literate population. Science education is the most important investment the country could make for the future.”
