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After Fraser High School principal Virginia Crawford read her students the riot act about truancy, linking it to a host of social ills from criminal activity to being a victim of crime, and from illiteracy to unemployment, her offended students staged a walkout. It is easy to see why the students were offended. Read more

Students who skip school are more likely to experience adverse life outcomes. This is a fact. Read more

As every law student learns, a rescuer owes a duty of care to a victim not to worsen the victim’s plight. The same principle applies in medical ethics. Read more

Last month France celebrated the storming of the Bastille, an assault that became a flashpoint for the French Revolution. As a fortress and prison, the Bastille was emblematic of the French monarchy. Read more

It is not clear whether the increased visibility of vocational education and training in New Zealand is due to worsening skill shortages and/or to a change in government, but either way it is a discussion worth having. The focus has been on what’s in it for students, and fairly so, given years of praising university education while belittling vocational education. Read more

You should not compare apples with oranges. But what about schools? Read more

In The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, Psychologist Barry Schwartz argues that too much choice can hinder rather than support our decision making. That the validity of this theory has been challenged is beside the point. Read more

After 11 years as a cowboy in America’s wild west, Clark Stanley claimed to have created a medical cure-all from secrets learned from a Hopi medicine man. He began marketing his Snake Oil Liniment in the early 1900s. Read more

Last year Prince Harry interviewed Obama. The former president told the Prince that to improve things you have to find common ground between people. Read more

The counterrevolution started in Auckland last night. That is when the Initiative hosted British educator Katharine Birbalsingh for a dinner lecture in front of an audience of almost 300 teachers, school trustees, business leaders and politicians. Read more