“Labour’s decision to play politics with the curriculum six weeks before an election after stuffing it with ideological garbage for six years is disgraceful,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.

“Labour has been stripping knowledge out of the curriculum for six years by pursuing an ideological agenda rather than transferring the academic knowledge that students require to navigate the future.

“The draft curriculum is a woke word salad. According to the overview, it ‘is designed to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to be inclusive of all ākonga’ rather than give effect to learning.

“It merges and minimises time spent on key topics such as chemistry and biology, guts the math curriculum to almost entirely remove algebra, and prioritises social engineering and Treaty politics ahead of learning key skills.

“The draft science curriculum says that there are ‘multiple ways to observe and interpret phenomena and events in the natural world.’ No, there are not. There is science and there is myth.

“The technology curriculum pushes a post-capitalist agenda. Year 13 students will be taught that ‘design for equity and inclusion prioritises benefits like sustainability, accessibility, equity, and social justice over the speed of development and manufacture, following trends, and profitability to create outcomes that strengthen kotahitanga (collective benefit) and social cohesion.’

“The maths curriculum says, ‘The interface between mātauranga Māori and mātauranga mathematics and statistics offers opportunities for insights that uphold the integrity of each knowledge system.’ Core aspects such as calculus, algebra, arithmetic are at a second stage.

“The refreshed English curriculum overview begins ‘Language is my identity; language is my uniqueness; language is life.’ There is nothing on spelling or grammar.

“Children have one shot to learn the knowledge they need to navigate the world.

“But Labour has simplified and run down NCEA to the point where schools like St Cuthbert’s are losing confidence in it and are opting out.

“Now, right before an election, Labour are saying they’ll get back to basics.

“That Labour would so blatantly play politics with the education system is disgraceful.

“Education shouldn’t be this hard. Humans have been doing it for millennia. Let’s get back to the essentials.”

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