NZ Centre for Political Research

Brainwashing Kids OK in New Zealand Schools

The decision (below) of the Education and Science Select Committee to ignore the call for the teaching of political propaganda in New Zealand schools to be against the law, is a huge blow to children and parents, the New Zealand Centre for Political Research’s Dr Muriel Newman said today.

“Our petition to Parliament called for safeguards similar to those in the British Education Act that make it against the law to advance political propaganda in schools. Clause 406 of the British Education Act forbids ‘the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school’ and Clause 407 requires that if political matters are raised ‘children are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views’. These laws meant that Al Gore’s film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, which was found to contain serious errors by a High Court Judge, was banned from being shown in UK schools unless the errors were pointed out to children and the alternative view that climate change is natural not man-made was presented.

“No such provisions exist in New Zealand so when Al Gore’s film was shown in schools, children were exposed to the full force of the false propaganda. Surely New Zealand children deserve better than to be brainwashed by their school?

“An examination of our education curriculum reveals many cases of political influence including an excessive bias towards environmentalism and the Maori world view, and against business. Our kids deserve better than to be subjected to this sort of blatant political indoctrination.

“The Ministry of Education told the Select Committee that sufficient safeguards for New Zealand children already exist, but that is not credible. Their so-called ‘solutions’ rely on parents being able to choose the school they send their children to (which presupposes that zoning laws don’t apply and that parents know in advance what their children are going to be taught - which of course they don’t) or laying a complaint against a teacher (which most parents would be loathe to do for fear of repercussions against their children).

“The Ministry also made a big play on the fact that they haven’t received letters of complaint about the curriculum from parents – but who can blame parents for ‘suffering in silence’ when most parents would assume that writing to the Ministry would be a waste of time, as the Ministry’s response to this petition shows only too clearly.

“The Select Committee’s reaction to our petition is very disappointing. The fact the New Zealand children are being brainwashed in schools to suit political agendas is clearly not a priority issue for them. Yet the curriculum desperately needs proper scrutiny. I had hoped the Select Committee would undertake an inquiry and it is a blow to children and parents that they have relied on the advice of the Ministry rather than investigating for themselves”, Dr Newman said.

For further information:
Dr Muriel Newman
New Zealand Centre for Political Research
http://www.nzcpr.com

Petition 2008/25 of Dr Muriel Newman
Report of the Education and Science Committee

Contents

Recommendation 2
Introduction 2
Background 2
Submission on the petition 3
Ministry of Education response 3
Appendix 4

Petition 2008/25 of Dr Muriel Newman

Recommendation
The Education and Science Committee has considered Petition 2008/25 of Dr Muriel Newman, and recommends that the House take note of its report.

Introduction
We have received and considered the petition of Dr Muriel Newman requesting that the House of Representatives
note that 250 people have signed a petition asking that New Zealand school children be protected from political indoctrination by inserting into the Education Act provisions similar to those found in clause 406 of the British Education Act which forbids “the promotion of partisan political views in the teaching of any subject in the school” and clause 407 which requires that if political matters are raised, children “are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views.”

Background
Sections 406 and 407 of the United Kingdom’s Education Act 1996 require that schools forbid the promotion of partisan political views in the course of teaching, and that where political issues are brought to the attention of pupils that they are offered a balanced presentation of opposing views.

In 2007, the Department of Education and Skills announced that a copy of Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth would form part of a climate change resource pack to be sent to every state secondary school in England. Stuart Dimmock, in Dimmock v Secretary of State for Education & Skills, contended that distributing the film to schools as part of this resource pack was a breach of sections 406 and 407.

Justice Burton found in Dimmock that nine statements in the film were inaccurate representations of mainstream scientific opinion (particularly as reported in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and that distributing the film in the climate change resource pack without guidance as to what mainstream scientific opinion was on these points would result in a breach of the Act. An amended guidance note was approved in the course of the judgement to enable the film to be distributed to schools without breaching sections 406 and 407. The new guidance note included the following passage:

Teaching staff will be aware that a minority of scientists disagree with the central thesis that climate change over the past half-century is mainly attributable to man-made greenhouse gases. However, the High Court has made clear the law does not require teaching staff to adopt a position of neutrality between views which accord with the great majority of scientific opinion and those which do not.

Submission on the petition
We heard from the petitioner that An Inconvenient Truth had been shown in a number of primary and secondary schools in New Zealand, that some parents were concerned that students were not being made aware of either the nine points where the film differs from mainstream scientific opinion or the fact that some scientists disagree with the film as a whole, and that this amounted to the promotion of partisan political views.

The petitioner argues that if similar provisions to sections 406 and 407 were included in New Zealand education law, such situations would be less likely to arise.

Ministry of Education response
The Ministry of Education considers that there are sufficient safeguards in the New Zealand education system to avoid the promotion of partisan political views or to deal with it if it arises, and that addressing the problem through legislation would not be desirable or effective. It includes among these safeguards the code of ethics for registered teachers, provisions in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, and the degree of parental involvement in New Zealand schools. The Ministry responds to any complaints it receives, but has received no complaints of schools promoting partisan political views.

The Ministry considers that excessive regulation runs contrary to the high-trust operating environment desired for schools, and that adding a potentially litigious element to the school system would increase the cost of running schools; and it notes that the existence of sections 406 and 407 in the United Kingdom did not prevent the initial screening in schools of An Inconvenient Truth.

Appendix
Committee procedure
We received written submissions from Dr Muriel Newman and the Ministry of Education, and heard evidence from them on 21 April 2010.

Committee members
Allan Peachey (Chairperson)
Catherine Delahunty
Hon Sir Roger Douglas
Jo Goodhew
Colin King
Hon Trevor Mallard
Sue Moroney
David Shearer
Louise Upston