Jake's+Opinion+Writing

Maori shouldn’t be allowed into University without qualifications
Should Maori be allowed in to University without any qualifications? I am kind of sitting on the fence with this topic, but if I had to pick a side of it, I would choose against it. Not that I am fully against it and not for it, but here are some of my thoughts to why I’m against it.

First of all I think Maoris shouldn’t be allowed to do that because if they don’t have qualifications, they probably won’t even know of what people are talking about at a university. They won’t have any work habits for anything and they won’t want to work or go to university, so in the end they probably won’t pass anything. They would probably think they could drop out of school early and have fun until they can have another go at it with a free ride to University. Plus it will make it a bit unfair on Pakehas because of this.

My second reason is that they will probably slow classes down because of their lack of knowledge of a particular topic. They also might get annoyed and hurt someone because they might realise that University isn’t the place for them. They will probably start fights. That’s because it will make it unfair on white people so that will happen.

On the other hand I think it will make Maoris future a lot brighter and they will actually have a future. Research shows that 51% of Maori that attend College drop out before they finish their years of school. If they are allowed to go through free to University, it will mean that there will be less unemployed people on the side of the streets, and more Maori will be educated than normal. There will be more employed people and less gangs and violence. It leaves Maori with a choice. ‘Should I go to University and get a job ?’, or ‘Should I stay here and leave my life as it is?’

According to Pita Sharples, in 2007, only 63% of Maori men, and 69% of Maori women got through school with full years, but they only finished on NCEA level one, that’s lower than my brother and he’s only fourteen! The odds are way against the Maori when it comes to getting through school without dropping out. Maori should be allowed to go to university without qualifications because there will be more employed people. They will get money and be able to have a good life. It will make New Zealand look a lot brighter and cleaner because of this. There will be more education involved in New Zealand because Maori will actually have a second chance to do what they should of at college when they had the chance.

I’m not saying that Maoris are dumb and have a mucked up life, but the majority of them that get through to University isn’t that great. In conclusion I think that Maori shouldn’t be allowed to go straight through to University without qualifications because of the reasons listed above. I am not too much against it but I would be against it if I was anything to do with it.

Smacking Law
I disagree with the Anti-Smacking law and all of this debating about whether smacking is good or bad. The law was enforced by Sue Bradford (Green MP) and has been around since June 2007 but it is starting to wear off some people and they want smacking back. Police had said that in the six months between April and October 2008 they had seen nine smacking cases and forty nine minor cases of acts of physical discipline. There were four prosecutions of minor acts of physical discipline. Three resulted in convictions. All over the country reporters are questioning people about this controversial topic. Every news show I have seen has at least ten minutes on their show asking people whether they are for or against smacking.Some people have said some interesting things...

According to One News 75% of New Zealanders are disgusted with the idea of allowing smacking back in to New Zealand. 20% of us Kiwis want it back and 5% of us are sitting on the fence. I go with the 20% of people who voted it back. My first reason is because if there are some cheeky little kids who don’t listen to their parents, how else are they going to get disciplined? Some parents think that smacking is the only way to get their child to listen to them.

Smacking is a suitable way of disciplining your child to get them to listen to you. If you smack them they won’t want to disobey you again unless they are ready for the consequence. Some people have gone to court for hitting their child, I mean, it probably didn’t even hurt them that much. Most of the time reported child abuse isn’t even that bad. It’s just a simple smack on the bottom that disciplines the child. Even though some people still hit their kids, it’s not like they’re going to go to jail or anything so it doesn’t matter if it’s only light. Some of New Zealand has taken this law in very hard, but some just don’t even care. Those people will have their say soon enough.

I think smacking should be reintroduced to New Zealand because I reckon if it doesn’t, New Zealand will turn soft. Every one needs a little smack once in a while, because if they don’t they will be very shocked when they get hit the softest. Like if you hadn’t been disciplined for a while, when you do, it will be a major shock and you will want to tell someone to get the person who hit you into trouble. In addition you would want to hit that person back but then it would just go on and on for ages. It is alright to be smacked every once in a while, but if you get smacked regularly it shows that you are really annoying your parents and you don’t listen to them so you need to be disciplined. You might be really moody and grumpy so they need a way of calming you down or sending you to your room because you don’t listen.

To sum up my opinion, I think smacking is a good way to get your child to listen to you. But you should only use reasonable force, not too hard. If your child is a quiet calm kid there should be no smacking, but if they are loud and noisy be my guest to lightly hit them. Parents should be able to choose whether they want to hit their child or not because their kids can be little angels or little devils and if they are devils, they would be allowed to discipline their child whenever they are naughty. In conclusion I think if the Anti Smacking law stays, New Zealand will turn as soft as a marshmallow.