Schools dispute ‘lazy kids’ tag
If New Zealand’s young people really are too lazy to work on farms, schools say they are not to blame.
Work-experience programmes, pilot agri-science courses and instilling good old-fashioned work ethic are what schools reckon will prepare their pupils for a future in primary industries.
Young New Zealanders’ attitudes and alleged drug habits have been blamed by some as the reason migrants are brought in to work on farms.
Prime Minister Bill English infamously told a Federated Farmers meeting in Feilding in 2016 there was a ‘‘cohort of Kiwis’’, specifically ‘‘young males’’, who couldn’t get a licence because they were illiterate, would not turn up to work and did not stay when offered a job.
This year, English said overseas workers were needed because young Kiwis could not pass drug tests.
At the Central Districts Field Days on Thursday, schools were out in force to promote themselves to parents wondering where to send their children, with most putting a big focus on their boarding departments.
Feilding High School assistant principal Philip Jeffreys said the school provided multiple pathways for those wanting to get into primary industries.
The school was part of a nationwide pilot that had schools teaching specialised agri-business and agri-science classes, preparing pupils for universitylevel study.
Then there was practical work on the school’s two farms, he said.
‘‘We are trying to put together a package, whether they are academic students or not as academically-minded students, to help them forward into a career.’’
Jeffreys was aware of the perception of young people, but found he did not have that issue.
‘‘We find a lot of our Feilding students are more than happy to help with the jobs on the land.
‘‘That’s where they come from and that’s where they want to be.’’
Nga Tawa Diocesan School board member Stephanie Rollinson, who also runs a market garden business, said a lot of the Marton girls’ school’s pupils ended up going to Lincoln and Massey universities to study rural business.
‘‘We are preparing them, not really for the manual labour jobs, but more for the business management end.’’
However, the school had a big focus on teaching strong work ethic, something Rollinson said was important, no matter what.
It was easy to see which pupils did have that ethic, because they were always on time and happy to put in a big shift at her business, she said.
‘‘We have got to build tough girls.’’
Whanganui Girls’ College principal Tania King said the key thing was for schools to have multiple ways to get pupils to learn.
Gateway work experience programmes, where pupils spend one day a week in a workplace, were a great example, she said.
‘‘That is the ‘try before you buy’ stage.’’
Her pupils took part in work experience on farms, dairying courses and other agricultural teaching programmes to get experience, she said.
There were plenty of options for pupils.
‘‘The options are there, but it’s just if the students want to do it.
‘‘Maybe there can be pressure from home to take over the family farm, but maybe they want to experience the big city first and then come back.
‘‘Whatever industry we go into, it’s got to be something we enjoy.’’