First they came….

• Guest post
• 14 years ago
• Categories: education, national/act government, same old national

This guest post quotes the statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller in Germany after World War II about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power. The comparison to NACT policies towards the education sector is striking.

THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me

and by that time no one was left to speak up.

In education in New Zealand we had them coming for the teachers, then the principals, then the Boards. All the while the Ministry of Education, our countries worst performing Ministry, sided with the Minister and against the many experts and commentators that were and continue to argue that National Standards are fundamentally flawed.

Now they are coming for the Ministry – it is hard to feel sorry for any of the people there who will be joining John and Bill’s dole queue.