10 in the NCEA for dummies
How did he think we’d swallow that?
By adding up the money we spend on education and health and police and saying ‘‘they’re all social services when you think about it actually. Can you believe how much we spend on people who probably don’t really deserve it?’’
Because he’s banking on people who don’t like paying taxes just nodding their head.
Because you can say anything these days and even if you get called on it, your loyal fans share it on social media and say it louder.
Question 5. Peace studies
The leader of a political party who is not all that fussy how he gets votes says he doesn’t want young people ‘‘sitting at home on the PlayStation and smoking pot’’, and he wants to stop gang members receiving income support unless they can prove their income is legitimate, and ‘‘the best route out of poverty is through the security of a regular pay cheque’’.’
Analyse this political message with reference to the maxim that the less you know about someone and the less you have to do with them, the easier it is to believe the worst about them.
Describe the role played by distrust and hostility in propping up talk radio and Facebook. Question 6. English
Describe a Kiwi mum and dad in a Maurice Gee novel. Describe the heroic role of the hardworking Kiwi mum and dad in contemporary political discourse. What do they have in common? Once you have written, ‘‘absolutely nothing’’, discuss the dark brooding subtext of resentment that simmers within the words ‘‘Hard-working Kiwi mums and dads’’.
Question 7. History
What was calamitous about the eugenics movement at the turn of the 20th Century? Discuss with reference to the concepts of free birth control, welfare dependence, the undeserving poor, talk radio and Facebook
Question 8. Maths, Geography, History, Statistics, Peace Studies
A couple in a large New Zealand city both earn the average wage. They want to buy a house. Why are they dreaming?
Analyse the relative burden welfare dependency and housing affordability impose upon the lives and hopes and dreams of an average hard working Kiwi mum and dad.
Where are the best places to buy investment properties in New Zealand right now?
Question 9. Peace Studies
Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw, writing this week about the politics of distrust and division, said she hoped politicians could find ways to bring us together, not divide us, and find practical ways that work to bring out the best in all people.
Describe a world in which this happens. How much of a chance would you give us of achieving it? Extra points for describing a world that acts on the climate crisis in time.