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Having had a bunch of kids go through NCEA in the past couple of years, I can tell you it's not my way of education.
I could see when it was introduced it offered the seed of a decent idea. It offered more choice, it offered a more varied pathway through school, but it came unquestionably at the expense of quality.
It is too easy to get. It doesn't deal, despite its options and choices, in any great way with the real world, work, and future work available. It is soft in its approach with its merit, achieved, and excellence grades.
It lets you off, if you want to be let off with complete choice by year 13. The libertarian side of me thinks is no bad thing until, of course, it is a bad thing given it's kids making those choices and half the time no matter how bright they are, they still don't have a clue about life and the big picture.
So, all in all, NCEA has weakened education, weakened the kids experience, increased the gap between high school and university, and generally been based on lowering standards so more people are perceived to have got through.
Now, and yes, it's an unusual year, but they are literally making it up as they go along. We have yet another adjustment for Covid.
They had one during the first lockdown, they’ve added another for the second. Once again, like NCEA itself, you get the logic. But what about the outcome? One credit free for every five, unless you're in Auckland where it's one free for every four credits.
It's not steak knives, it's education, it’s a qualification. For employers and universities, these will be known as the Covid numbers. It will be the year in which everyone will know that whatever your mark, it's not really merit based, it's government based.
The fact they are already letting kids into university with no University Entrance should be worrying enough, but now they're handing out freebies for being stuck at home.
Here's a lesson in life, we've all been stuck at home to a greater or lesser degree, and we've all had to get on with it. Two of our kids have spent the better part of their university year at home. One is in another country, working online but getting on with it. Labs went by the wayside, but they still got on with it. They still sat exams, and they still had to pass.
Covid and it's many inconveniences can't be a scapegoat for slackness, laziness, and excuses. It can't be a reason to be second best.
And yet, in a country of increasing mediocrity, mediocrity gets an achieved, if not a merit.