Monday, August 10, 2009

Cringe

A stunning pair of headlines from education reporter Jacqueline Smith today (although presumably written by a subeditor). First up we have:
"Rap classes make school cool"
Anyone else under 30 cringing right now? Up next:
"Students must do hard stuff: academic"
Presumably such as working on their vocabulary.

-----------------------------

Speaking of (cultural) cringe, if you want to feel a little bit more depressed about yourself and the country then you could do worse than head over to Your Views:
"Has New Zealand become a country that tolerates failure?"
Oh dear. Apparently some rugby team lost.

When the All Blacks, the country's global ambassador embodying all the values New Zealanders hold dear [???], continually implode when the eyes of the world [???] are watching, it hints at there being some kind of fragility in the national psyche.

Has New Zealand become a nation of nice people [???] who not only tolerate failure, but have also learned how to revel in mediocrity?

Do New Zealanders see success on the world stage as beyond them, something best left to the Australians with their over-confidence and go-get-them attitude?

Or does New Zealand, in fact, have much to celebrate, but doesn't know where to look?

What do you think?

I think an overseas holiday sounds like a good idea.

9 comments:

  1. Bleh. Just when I thought maybe we, as a nation, were becoming too mature to feel the need for a mass circle-jerk when the ABs win and a wife-beating festival when they lose...

    ReplyDelete
  2. To be fair, the "hard stuff" one is a direct quote. That said, it would read more betterer if they had put a "the" in there.

    But dear god, that rap class headline has a great "down with the kids" ring to it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. They still haven't posted my view that with questions like that, the only part of NZ revelling in mediocrity is the Herald.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gazzaj: it's there. Front page right now, or maybe second by the time you read this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations - you're a peer-reviewed, published author now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I could've been quoted in an article if I'd sent it in as a press release with a catchy lobby group name.. as it stands I've been relegated to the dustbins of the website. Damn.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Man, rap classes are old news. I remember we wrote anti-smoking raps in Mrs Adams's class 20 years ago.

    "Kick it, kick it, kick it in the butt!"

    Though it wasn't a core subject, which was a shame.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Not the herald - but apparently oldies can still still, erm, be kickin' it wiv da yout'

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2742124/An-oldie-but-a-goodie-for-hoodie-day

    ReplyDelete
  9. James, you're under 30? You show wisdom beyond your years...

    ReplyDelete