Brainwashing Kids Has to Stop

An opinion by Teddy Roostervelt
There’s a lot of interesting columnists on the internet. One of the more interesting ones is Amy Brooke of Nelson. She writes in provocative style and dares to raise issues others fear to discuss. 
Recently she asked “Shouldn’t we target the sheer hypocrisy, the pretence that constantly frightening youngsters with prophecies of doom – now the case for several decades – is not contributing to the growing incidence of suicide among our young?”
Then she – an ex-school teacher – asserts that New Zealand’s education system, is virtually waging war upon our children. 
Moreover New Zealand —- has been at the forefront of implementing damaging and dumbing-down initiatives – some of which were later rejected elsewhere, but not here. Many incidents of this are in her book The 100 Days – Claiming back New Zealand.
It is true and it has been going on for decades. I recall my daughter coming home from primary school and telling me her teacher – a devout Forest and Bird disciple by the way – was telling the class wild deer were gobbling up the forest and were intolerable pests.  My reaction was to ask her, “Well you’ve been in the hills with me deerstalking. Are the trees disappearing under the gobbling of deer/“
Just last year I was told that the Department of Conservation employed officers to go around schools – in this case- Taupo-Turangi area telling youngsters about the evil predators and the need to use 1080 poison.
Amy Brooke in her essay said that state school teachers have long inappropriately unloaded even on primary school children the kind of worries adults need to address. 
“And so we have letters to the editor ostensibly written by 9, 10, or 11-year-olds from various schools concerned about so many issues of the day we should not be imposing on children. Childhood should belong to them.”
She recalled in the 1980s her son’s third form class at Nelson College were told they would be going to a film about the supposedly coming ice age. Reportedly many children were traumatised, with one 13-year-old girl taking to bed for three weeks and refusing to get up. There were instances in the 1980s of students deciding not to undertake university studies or trade courses, asking what’s the use as the world was going to end.
“Shouldn’t we target the sheer hypocrisy, the pretence that constantly frightening youngsters with prophecies of doom – now the case for several decades – is not contributing to the growing incidence of suicide among our young?” asked Amy Brooke.
Footnote: Amy Brooke <a-m@amybrooke.co.nz>









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