Cont'd

Read the Part 1 | Part 2-page 1



Educational well-being—8th worst. Combined score based on 1) Average school achievement in reading, mathematical and science literacy, 2) Percentage aged 15–19 remaining in education, 3) Percentage aged 15–19 not in education training or employment, 4) Percentage of 15-year-olds expecting to find low-skilled work.

1. New Zealand has the 6th-best educational achievement of 15-year-olds.
2. New Zealand has the worst percentage of 15–19 year-olds in education.
3. New Zealand did not provide data. Statistics NZ shows an unemployment figure of 6.7% of 15–19-year-olds as of September 2007.
4. New Zealand has the 9th best (highest) rate of aspiration for skilled jobs among 15-year-olds.

The gap between children on track for skilled jobs and those destined for unskilled labor is very visible, even stark. The main difference I notice is how early and openly this gap manifests itself. It bothers me to see how stark the separation is between the mid-teens of Christchurch: boys and girls in their pinstriped blazers on one hand, looking younger than their American counterparts, and the young unskilled workers, 15 years old and expected to take care of themselves (and sometimes their children). It reminds me of what I used to see in Brazil, rather than the U.S. or Canada.



Relationships—incomplete. Combined score based on 1) Percentage of children living in single-parent families, 2) Percentage of children living in stepfamilies, 3) Percentage of children who report eating the main meal of the day with parents more than once a week, 4) Percentage of children who report that parents spend time 'just talking' to them, 5) Percentage of 11, 13 and 15-year-olds who report finding their peers 'kind and helpful'.

1. New Zealand did not provide data
2. New Zealand did not provide data
   
   
3. New Zealand has the 2nd-worst percentage of children who eat regularly with a parent.
4. New Zealand has the 9th-worst percentage of parent-child communication.
5. New Zealand did not provide data

Behaviors and risks—incomplete. Combined score based on: 1) Health behaviors: Percentage of children who eat breakfast. 2) Percentage who eat fruit daily. 3) Percentage who are physically active. 4) Percentage who are overweight 5) Percentage of 15-year-olds who smoke 6) Percentage who have been drunk more than twice (see Note 5 below). 7) Percentage who use cannabis 8 ) Percentage having sex by age 15. 9) Percentage who use condoms 10) Teenage fertility rate. 11) Percentage of 11, 13 and 15-year-olds involved in fighting in last 12 months. 12) Percentage reporting being bullied in last 2 months.



New Zealand did not report data for any of these metrics except for 10, teenage fertility. For the sake of context, data was culled from other sources.

1. N/A
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. According to Statistics NZ, 31% of Kiwi children were overweight or obese (see Note 2 below) as of 2002.
5. According to the 2006 Tobacco Use Survey by the MInistry of Health, 26.8% of 15–19-year-olds smoke.
6. According to a June 2003 Alcohol Advisory Council study of 12–17-year-olds, 42% reported they had a drink at least once every two weeks (25% at least once every one week), and 58% had consumed five or more drinks on at least one occasion.
7. 10.2% of male students and 8.3% of female 15-year-old students reported using cannabis once a week or more. (see Note 3 below)
8. According to the Ministry of Youth Affairs, 10-30% of young New Zealanders have had sexual intercourse by the time they reach 15 years of age, and about half have had intercourse by the time they are 16 or 17 years old. (See Note 4)
9. According to a 2001 Adolescent Health Research Group survey of 13–17-year-old students, 76.5% of males and 68.8% of females who are sexually active reported condom use during their last sexual encounter.
10. The 2nd-worst (highest) teenage pregnancies in the OECD, or 30 births per every 1,000 women aged 15–19.
11. N/A
12. N/A

Subjective well-being—incomplete. Combined score based on 1) Percentage of young people rating their own health no more than 'fair' or 'poor', 2) Percentage of young people 'liking school a lot', 3) Percentage of children rating themselves above the mid-point of a 'Life Satisfaction Scale', 4) Percentage of children reporting a low sense of belonging at school. New Zealand did not provide data for any of these metrics except for 4, where it scored 11th-best.



SUMMARY

Bluntly put, New Zealand does not shine. The country ranked in the bottom half of the OECD in all 3 dimensions for which it provided enough data. Out of a total of 14 metrics provided, New Zealand ranked in the top third for only 2 metrics, the middle third for 5, and the bottom third in 7 areas (see Note 5 below). It scored the absolute worst of all developed countries in 2 areas that parents and economists should find worrisome: Death rate from accidents and violence under 19 and percentage of kids staying in school. Personally speaking, the 'job expectations at 15' metric breaks my heart. Despite the high rates of violent death, school drop-out and poverty around them, Kiwi kids still believe in a good future for themselves. Does the youth suicide rate represent a collision between that faith and reality? One can only surmise, but encouraging big dreams without providing the means to achieve it can take a heavy toll.



Download the original study in PDF here.



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2. For the sake of comparison, 34% of British, 26% of Canadian and 40% of American children are overweight or obese.



3. NZ also has the highest rate of adult cannabis use (22.23%) in the OECD.



4. According to a 2001 Adolescent Health Research Group survey of 13–17-year-old students, 16.8% of 13 year olds, 33.3% of 15 year olds, and 48.7% of 17 year olds reporting having had sexual intercourse.



5.

1. Top 3rd: Children reporting fewer than 10 books in the house and educational achievement at 15.
2. Middle 3rd: Report of less than 6 of educational possessions, low birth weight, parents 'just talking' to children, how optimistic 15-year-olds are about their future occupation and sense of belonging at school
3. Bottom third: Relative income, unemployed parents, infant mortality, vaccination, violent deaths, percentage of 15–19-year-olds in education, parents and children eating main meals together and teenage fertility

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Fear not, my next branding campaign will make everything all right.

Great website and very perceptive articles, it's taken NZ politicians 30 years to realise what you point out as a migrant in a few months.



The way we bring up our children is disgustingly backwards. My Dad has had to drag toddlers away who were playing on the side of the road, while the parents look on laughing many times.



By the way, New Zealnd Chinese kids, born here for several generations have to deal with the same publically acceptable racism. If you look at NZ history it's very deeply ingrained and still encouraged in many families. I've sat in living rooms when the kids say something racist, and the family all laughs along.



You're the grain of salt that new migrants should ALL look at as a priority especially from Asia, where NZ is getting a worsening reputation as a backwards country (that should sting Kiwis who think of China as backwards).



As far as I know there isn't any other place to get your kind of information, officially or unofficially. So thank you.

Capital punishment in China was estimated to have taken about 7,500 - 8,000 lives in the year 2006. This estimate was taken by Amnesty International and no one can tell if it is an accurate figure or not as China is not a transparent representational democracy like NZ is.



What are you lumping me in with all other Nz'ers when you accuse my country of being racist. Its not my fault that some of the other people in my country have racist beliefs. I should not be held accountable for the deeds and views of others. This , like racism , is a form of prejudice.

I'm sorry, Rabid. But your post in the following thread says otherwise:



http://www.expatexposed.com...pic.php?p=952#952

Dear Cam,



I was satirising the image that was being painted of the typical Christchurch resident. You should never make a judgement about someone until you have been there and met them. Christchurch may have a very small minority of racially intolerant people but I think by and large its population are very nice people.



This site intigues me for the fact that a lot of the dissidents think NZ is bigoted , racially intolerant and closed minded. They themselves by making sweeping generalisations about a population of 4,000,000 people are giving in to prejudice by making cultural generalisations and assumptions about New Zealand society as a whole.

Back to Wintersmith.



So what that our teenagers are using condoms , smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol. In fact I think it's something you should try , maybe you missed the 60's. It could loosen you up and you might even start enjoying yourself (heaven forbid.)



The reason NZ society has a few ills is because of political and economic events in the not-so-distant past.



NZ sold meat , wool and butter to the United Kingdom. This was a profitable affair and we had a market for our goods. Then Britain joined the EEC (European Economic Community) and decided they didn't want any more butter or meat. So NZ had all this meat and no one to buy it. We had to find a new person to buy our meat.



A guy called Robert Muldoon , who was Prime Minister at the time ,thought that if he invested heavily with money kindly lent to him by the world bank then things would work out. How wrong he was.



NZ owed lots of money and our economy was really screwed. The 1984 Labour Government went about selling all NZ's core assets to pay those people at the world bank. These assets had been built up by over 100 years of NZ working hard as a country. Steel , rail , telecommunications, forestry and others were all sold. This brand of neo-conservative economic reform were forced on us by a bad Prime Minister and a somewhat complicit world bank.



In turn NZ society suffered. In 1972 the New Zealand dollar was worth $1.73 US. In 2003 I think it was around 47 cents US. This is the reason NZ has societal ills. I find it strange that you have such a morbid fascination with my nations pain. Do you think if you quote some more statistics it might help?



For a reality check on what really happens in New Zealand go and take a drive down Hampshire Street in Aranui and see what is really going on.



{Wintersmith: I did in fact "maybe missed the 60's" because as my profile indicates, I was born in 1974. This, my dear rabidkiwi/honeypie/XXXX, is why pot should be enjoyed in moderation.}

Dear Rabid.



I am not buying the whole "don't generalise us" line. When such racism and intolerance is widespread throughout New Zealand, when the "why don't you go home?" questions pour in thick and fast, and hate mail fly in from all segments of society, the word "general" comes to mind. Need I remind you of what it means?



You can no longer claim "minority" status where racism and bigotry is concerned, not when many people have given anecdoctal evidence of widespread racism and bigotry. New Zealand is a land of 4 million people. Are you saying that we all met the same couple of guys?

Can this get back to the subject of children please because its turned into another tirade bout racism.



Hers some more stats on how great the UK is compared to everywhere else.



UK 'worst country for children' - and the most violent



The UK has the lowest level of child well-being among the world’s richest countries, and it is also the most violent country in the European Union according to two new international surveys, both of which highlight the role of alcohol in the problems they identify.



read it all here if you can bear to link



[* Edited by the moderator since the raw URL was pushing the layout out of whack. You can use url="LINK", btw.

Canterbrit you're kind of being weird. Why are you talking about England? This is a New Zealand site.



I downloaded the report and looked at it with my coworkers. It's interesting! Not at all a surprise to us Americans how horrible we treat so many of our kids. I think we should do a report for each county of the U.S. or at least state. Can't fix a problem until you have deliverables, you know?



What I took away from the report is that New Zealand is not a huge improvement for middle class American family that people think. And that they shouldn't move to England either! See, information. It's good.



And to the other person on this thread ranting about the use of 'worst' and'best': Um, you just split the number of countries in half and say "best' when you're in the top half and 'worst' when you're in the bottom half.



It's nice to see that countries who don't have this hyped-up reputation like the Czech Republic is getting some credit.

Because so many comparisons are being made by people with OTHER countries - nz 8th in world here, 16th there - basically i was providing information to compare the biased info on here with. Or isn't that allowed either?



Its seems okay to post any data that shows nz in a bad light but i'm trolling if i want to balance that with stats I've found that say otherwise?

Well, no duh! The ENTIRE REPORT is a comparison with other countries. That's what it is, honeybunch! It's a comparative report of all the rich countries.



(Shaking head...)

Saying "All New Zealanders are racist" is like saying "All black people are lazy". It is an absolute generalistaion and its accuracy is highly questionable.



What country do you come from cam? Is it a racist country? Does that mean your a racist too?



You are from malaysia Cam? Are you muslim? Do you eat lots of rice?



Not much fun when people make assumptions about your person based on your socio-cultural predicament?

Is it?

The very reason this site exsists and is flourishing is directly related to the sentiment out there. Migrants feel mistreated, and the ones that don't, shut up about it until they get their passports and bang (like so many of your countrymen) are off to different shores for a better life..If 40,000 Kiwis leave every year for the next 100 years then there will be no kiwis left, its simple maths, that why NZ immigration does everything possible to get those migrants in so your country will still function.

Last edited by appledragon on Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:28 pm

With the ensuing environmental and resource crisis the idea of fewer kiwis makes me happy.



Australia will become almost unlivable due to lack of fresh water and soil salinisation.



A man was killed in Australia for watering jis garden at midday - never heard of that happening in NZ.



Violent race riots? - never seen that in NZ.



The state of indigenous relations? - less said the better. NZ seems bad but a walk around Alice Springs would change anyones opinion.

LOL! And you knock the level of education here! What is 10 times 40 000? Priceless!

Another terrible generalisation. Shame on you. How about saying "a small proportion of migrants....." because remember you're in the minority. I guess that doesn't sound as sensationalist as you would like?

Keep up



I was asked







So I said





So.. i shall say it sllowwwwwly, I was adding more data to the debate, this time data which DIDN'T show nz in a bad light - i call it balance. And all you can do as a response, instead of saying "look, here's some data that shows nz education might not be that bad afterall, lets include that or we'll looked like we're being selective in what data we chose to use " you pick on my wording and resort to a condescending tone.

Edited and done...too much typing..thats 40,000 times 100 years...

Enough statistically for Immigration NZ to have the rules changed to increase the total time to obtaining a passport from residency to pr to citizenship to around 9 years in total from 4 years previously...

I thought was raised from 3 yrs to 5 yrs myself? to stop NZ being another back door in to Oz. Makes sense. No country wants to be used as a stepping stone, what good would that do?



Oh, but you're going to say its because people get here and then leave to Oz cos it's less racist, aren't you?