The education of Anne Tolley

18 comments on “The education of Anne Tolley ”

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1. Lew 1

   2 July 2010 at 12:34 pm

   What fun it will be to do a before-and-after comparison when it is republished.

   L
2. mickysavage 2

   2 July 2010 at 12:34 pm

   Tolley is the modern equivalent of a book burner.

   This is really appalling and the sort of behaviour that fascist regimes engage in.
   • Mark M 2.1

     2 July 2010 at 4:19 pm

     You obviously werent very close to the Clarke regime then Michael
   • Craig Glen Eden 2.2

     2 July 2010 at 7:14 pm

     I think she is worse than that Mickey she is a out right Facist and a dumb one at that.
3. Peter Martin 3

   2 July 2010 at 12:36 pm

   Or third and probable future…nothing more is said or happens .
   • Bright Red 3.1

     2 July 2010 at 2:06 pm

     you don’t think the paper will never be republished do you? Where did you hear that from?
     • Peter Martin 3.1.1

       2 July 2010 at 3:35 pm

       Parliament is on a two week recess. I don’t think this is ‘juicy’ enough for the media to pick up and run with it. National plays fast and free with plenty of parliamentry proceedure and it never finds airtime outside of comments on blogs.
       This will wither. *shrug*
       • Rex Widerstrom 3.1.1.1

         2 July 2010 at 4:03 pm

         Yeah, that’d be my bet too, though I make it with a mix of sadness and anger. The media aren’t capable of seeing anything as more important than anything else… of detecting when a fundamental principle is at stake (as it is here) or when it’s a juicier-seeming but fundamentally less important story (some idiot having a wank in a hotel bedroom).

         Trevor did exactly the right thing in baiting her, thus stretching the story out over more than a day. But no way will he (or anyone else) be able to keep the media focused on this for two weeks or more. They’ll have found a dozen shiny baubles by that time, and this one will be forgotten.
4. ASA 4

   2 July 2010 at 12:55 pm

   Too late – it is out in the wild for all to see..ha
5. Draco T Bastard 5

   2 July 2010 at 1:16 pm

   When is our education minister going to learn?

   Never. She’s already got all the answers in her faith in the capitalist socio-economic paradigm which basically tells her that she (and the rest of NACT) knows best – no matter what the facts show.
6. ianmac 6

   2 July 2010 at 1:49 pm

   Folley Tolley spent a short time at the Southland Principlas’ Conference today. She reminded them that they were Public Servants and therefore they had to follow her instructions without criticsm especially to the media.
   Actually they are employed by the BOT and are answerable to them.
   Teachers are a bit different in that they have a direct responsibility to the children. First do no harm.

   If the Minister of Health started telling doctors how to treat their patients there would be hell to pay.

   Anne Tolley has been steadfast but only in refusing to listen to concerns.
   • Bright Red 6.1

     2 July 2010 at 2:08 pm

     yep. principals, teachers, doctors, nurses etc aren’t core public service and aren’t subject to the code of conduct. they’re free to criticise govt policy. and so they should be.
   • frog 6.2

     2 July 2010 at 2:20 pm

     And she is making not so subtle threats to remove their right to criticise Government policy. ToTolleytarianism!
7. Carol 7

   2 July 2010 at 7:23 pm

   Tolley looks to me like a teacher who has lost control of a significant section of her class, and is resorting to ineffectual authoritarian bluster to try to regain control. But it’s the sort of strategy that just escalates the lack of control.
   • Mac1 7.1

     2 July 2010 at 8:16 pm

     Some teachers have dreams like that……….thanks for the image….pleasant dreams…….one day I’ll have Bruiser Brownlee and Intolerant Tolley and Crusher Collins and Machiavellian Murray and Soprano Ryall and Cardinal English and Benito Bennett all in my class from Hell…….

     Almost makes me feel pity for John Key as cabinet chairman, actually.
   • Lew 7.2

     2 July 2010 at 10:39 pm

     “Tolley looks to me like a teacher who has lost control of a significant section of her class, and is resorting to ineffectual authoritarian bluster to try to regain control. But it’s the sort of strategy that just escalates the lack of control.”

     This is spot on. I’ve been there, as a teacher. The trouble is that while you’ll sometimes get away with it when dealing with students, you can’t bluff teachers (much less principals) in this way. They’ve all been there as well, and they know it’s empty bullshit. They also know exactly how to respond. Especially when it’s clear to anyone with eyes to see that the minister actually has no power to force the issue. What’s she going to do? Suspend all of Auckland’s Boards of Trustees? Place Southland’s education system in administration?

     L
8. Dan 8

   2 July 2010 at 7:37 pm

   The Prime Of Anne Tolley

   “She thinks she is Providence, thought Sandy, she thinks she is the God of Calvin.”[8] In some ways she is: in her prime she draws her chosen few to herself, much as Calvinists understand God to draw the elect to their salvation. With regard to religion, Ms Tolley “was not in any doubt, she let everyone know she was in no doubt, that God was on her side whatever her course, and so she experienced no difficulty or sense of hypocrisy in worship while at the same time she went to bed with the singing master.”[9] Feeling herself fated one way or another, Ms Tolley acts as if she transcends morality.”

   How insightful!

   While the name of Jean Brodie may be taken from a real person (see Jean Brodie), the character of Miss Brodie was based in part on Christina Kay, a teacher of Spark’s for two years at James Gillespie’s School for Girls. Spark would later write of her: “What filled our minds with wonder and made Christina Kay so memorable was the personal drama and poetry within which everything in her classroom happened.”[12] Miss Kay was the basis for the good parts of Brodie’s character, but also some of the more bizarre; for example, Miss Kay did hang posters of Renaissance paintings on the wall, but also of Mussolini and Italian fascists marching.[13] Spark grew up in heavily Presbyterian Edinburgh, while Franco’s supporters were almost unanimously Roman Catholic. Christina Kay looked after her widowed mother, not the music teacher who was in love with her. She encouraged the young Muriel Spark to become a writer. Spark, like Sandy, converted to Roman Catholicism.

   More insightfulness, considering Blinglish’s predilection to Mother Mary.

   Suitable acknowledgement to Wikipedia

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1. The Standard: posted on 2 July 2010 at 12:08 am

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