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Ricardo Menendez March and teachers.\xa0

Let me join a couple of dots. And the glue for the dots are standards, or lack of them.\xa0

If you don\u2019t have standards you end up with teachers who can't pass NCEA Level 1, and you end up with people like March using the F-word in Parliament.\xa0

The F-word is not the end of the world, but it is indicative of the modern day outworkings of an institution that, despite whatever your political leanings, had an element of decorum and civility.\xa0

Now it's full of thieves, swear words and cowboy hats.\xa0

No standards.\xa0

When you suggest or infer anyone can teach, what you end up with is what we have got - a system everyone knows and accepts is broken and yet has done nothing about.\xa0

Our son was shown around some houses in London last week. The person who showed him was the same age, a young rental agent. They wore a suit and tie and were dressed for the job because in Britain you dress for the job. Because there is expectation. There are standards.\xa0

The agents we have dealt with here could be agents, or surfers, or just out of bed. Not all of them, but too many.\xa0

No standards.\xa0

Look at poor old David MacLeod last week. It was hardly the crime of the century and if the paperwork had been with the Greens he would have been given the week off on full pay and nothing would have happened. In National he got sacked.\xa0

Luxon is driven by standards. You set them high and keep them high. It leads to better performance, hard work, and it singles out the aspirants from the can't-be-bothered's.\xa0

What holds teaching back, what allows the Genter's, March's and others to behave the way they do, what stops crime dropping, what stops climate protesting kids staying in the classroom, is a lack of standards.\xa0

Dropping standards emboldens bad behaviour. It lets intent fall by the wayside and success become a scarce commodity. We hide by being average, ordinary and lazy amongst the crowd because the easy way out will always attract a crowd.\xa0

That\u2019s the value of leadership and what happens if you don\u2019t have enough of it. When you're surrounded by it, it's normal.\xa0

Otherwise you end up like we have.\xa0

So much of this country these days is what a lack of standards looks like. \xa0\xa0\xa0

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