The lawless generations

How would you like your children
to enter University (in New Zealand) on the back of a
qualification that they earned while wielding a chainsaw,
operating a sewing machine or learning how to referee Rugby? That
is the sad state of things with the secondary school system here
at the present time.

Gone are the days when you learned
to read, write and do arithmetic. Now you can gain credits
towards your National Certificate of Educational Achievement
(NCEA) in subjects such as casino gambling and gun smithing
according to a NZPA article in the Marlborough Express
26/5/2003.

Quote “What do all these
qualifications mean?” Auckland Grammar headmaster John
Morris, who is also chairman of lobby group Education Forum,
asked.

“I just think we’re
short changing our kids by offering that sort of thing” he
said.

“A lot of them can do better
than that. I don’t see school as preparing kids for a job.
Schools are there to educate. Reading, writing and maths,
what’s happening is that these subjects are being demeaned
by how to operate a chainsaw.”

“Its play-way
education…..I honestly just cringe and worry about our
education system where everybody passes and everybody does
well”, End Quote.

My own father (not a Christian)
was a primary school teacher for a little over 40 years, teaching
mainly the 12 year olds in their final year of primary education
before starting secondary school. Towards the end of his career
he lamented the poor standards within the system, where he
had to pass students that once would have been held back a
year to ensure that they grasped the material they needed to have
learned sufficiently to be prepared and capable to take on the
next level of learning.

No one failed anymore, everyone
was patted on the back and told how well they were doing and
passed onto the following years class.

He also cringed when he saw
students going into the secondary school system (13 to 17 year
olds) who were, after all their years of primary schooling -
barely literate. He was aware that their skill levels were such
that they were not going to be able to cope or achieve at the
next level. And this wasn’t happening to those kids that
would have failed under the old systems anyway; this was
happening to children of average intelligence and learning
abilities. Now retired, this subject remains one of professional
embarrassment to my father.

According to Mr Lennox Education
Authority spokesman … “We need to ask ourselves what
national school qualifications are all about… our schools
are responding to the variety of pathways students can follow and
the diverse needs of New Zealand’s economy,” he said.
(What - gambling and chopping down trees?)

Because the Education Authorities
abandoned basic academic standards, obviously because they could
no longer enforce them, because we are no longer able to
discipline our kids in the schools (or at home), they are no
longer learning or achieving anywhere near the levels they should
be. As a result we have watered down our secondary schools to
compensate for their lack of ability and interest by introducing
nothing short of the ridiculous and bizarre into the school
curriculum.

Through my own employment in law
enforcement as a Youth Aid Officer I am in daily contact with
teenagers who they say “have fallen through the
cracks”. Hey – how can you not fall through the
gaping cracks that have been carefully ‘developed’.
Many of these teenagers are of average, and some times above
average intelligence – and can barely read or write? The
majority will not go on to re-offend or become career criminals.
However I sometimes despair myself when I see their lack of
ability, knowing that not only are they heading into a world in
which they lack the skills to cope let alone prosper, but also
because I keep hearing “these young people are the future
for our country.”

Satan, who has to be credited with
overall responsibility for what is happening in not only New
Zealand homes and schools but all over the world, has over time
slowly reduced all standards increasing the levels of
lawlessness and uneducated. This is spoken about in the
Scripture.

While mulling over this I flicked
through Barry Smith’s book “Warning” published
in 1978. On page 32 I was surprised to come across a section
where he foresaw this very situation nearly 30 years ago and I
quote. “The Education System, with its lax attitude to
juvenile criminals in the making, their slack disciplinary
standards with little or no corporal punishment, have unwittingly
prepared a generation of lawless youngsters who will readily
receive a man to run things, who is called in scripture
“The Lawless One.”