sagenz

Teachers say raise the bar on maths and literacy tests - Sunday Star-Times - National News

Outrageous!  Teachers say raise the bar on maths and literacy tests.  They are not wrong.  This selection of questions for 16 year olds in New Zealand is not as hard as the questions my 11 year olds answered in the UK 11+ examination to get into one of the few remaining Grammar schools here

Take the test Would you pass NCEA numeracy? Last year 52,000 students aged about 16 waltzed through by answering questions like these, without calculators:

1. 5 boys share a bag of 55 lollies. How many lollies does each boy get?

2. There were 60 cows inside a shed. 18 walked outside. How many cows were left inside the shed?

3. 38 x 6 = ?

4. David has 35 stamps. Bruce has 70 stamps. How many stamps do they have altogether?

The answers are supplied at the end.  I could accept a 1-2 year difference in difiiculty of questions.  But FIVE years.  It is obvious that New Zealand has serious problems in Education standards.

Its simple. Palin took on corruption in her own party

There has certainly been a huge amount of comment around the Palin pick. As I said over at No Minister.

I have certainly been entertaining myself over at hard news(we are over 500 comments & counting), so guilty as charged your honour.

I think the single thing that defines if is that Palin & the reason she is on the ticket took on corruption in her own party and won.

Obama would be an interesting but risky choice for the world. I dont like his 130 high indecision and I dont like his attitude to trade.

Insofar as how it impacts. We are all citizens of the world. I have ties to 3 countries, one of which was liberated from oppression by the US of A. I like what McCain has to say about improving democracy.