Josh | writer, painter, tinkerer
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Discontent creator. Painting along with every Bob Ross episode and making video essays for some reason
🦉 Birds in Hats 🎩
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Subscribe to malarkey at https://tworuru.com
Discontent creator. Painting along with every Bob Ross episode and making video essays for some reason
🦉 Birds in Hats 🎩
👨🏻🎨 Commissions are OPEN.
Subscribe to malarkey at https://tworuru.com
Reposted by Josh | writer, painter, tinkerer
Do you know about the importance of hoplites?
Of course you do. Everyone knows the importance of hoplites.
Do you (be honest this time) know what hoplites *are?*
No, you probably didn’t. (1/25)
Of course you do. Everyone knows the importance of hoplites.
Do you (be honest this time) know what hoplites *are?*
No, you probably didn’t. (1/25)
November 26, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Do you know about the importance of hoplites?
Of course you do. Everyone knows the importance of hoplites.
Do you (be honest this time) know what hoplites *are?*
No, you probably didn’t. (1/25)
Of course you do. Everyone knows the importance of hoplites.
Do you (be honest this time) know what hoplites *are?*
No, you probably didn’t. (1/25)
Annoyingly I had to take out an Age of Empires reference so it would fit in the thread, but it still lives in the actual article
(I never played Civ tho)
(I never played Civ tho)
November 26, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Annoyingly I had to take out an Age of Empires reference so it would fit in the thread, but it still lives in the actual article
(I never played Civ tho)
(I never played Civ tho)
If you enjoyed this thread, you'll love the full article it's based on, at the Bad Newsletter - now enjoying its new home at Emily Writes Weekly: www.emilywrites.co.nz/what-the-hel...
#nzpol #kikorangi
#nzpol #kikorangi
What the HELL is happening with the new school curriculum?
Over and over again, I've had emails and messages from parents asking me about the new curriculum. I tried to get my head around it, but just had more questions than answers. So I teamed up with my fr...
www.emilywrites.co.nz
November 26, 2025 at 4:30 AM
If you enjoyed this thread, you'll love the full article it's based on, at the Bad Newsletter - now enjoying its new home at Emily Writes Weekly: www.emilywrites.co.nz/what-the-hel...
#nzpol #kikorangi
#nzpol #kikorangi
Q: So… do you mean to say that the new curriculum’s bizarre boner for teaching 8-year-olds the “Western” canon might be because it’s being cribbed from the pseudoscientific, religious Trivium Method, stealthed in by a guy who also sits on the board of a Trivium Method charter school?
A: Yes.
A: Yes.
November 26, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Q: So… do you mean to say that the new curriculum’s bizarre boner for teaching 8-year-olds the “Western” canon might be because it’s being cribbed from the pseudoscientific, religious Trivium Method, stealthed in by a guy who also sits on the board of a Trivium Method charter school?
A: Yes.
A: Yes.
There is, it may not surprise you to learn, no evidence to support this, and given that Sayers' book came out 78 years ago and the real trivium’s most recent heyday was the actual Middle Ages it is entirely possible that it’s not the best way to be teaching children.
November 26, 2025 at 4:28 AM
There is, it may not surprise you to learn, no evidence to support this, and given that Sayers' book came out 78 years ago and the real trivium’s most recent heyday was the actual Middle Ages it is entirely possible that it’s not the best way to be teaching children.
It would have been great if she’d stopped there, but sadly, she did not. The Trivium Method suggests the “trivium” (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) maps onto the developmental stages of children.
November 26, 2025 at 4:27 AM
It would have been great if she’d stopped there, but sadly, she did not. The Trivium Method suggests the “trivium” (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) maps onto the developmental stages of children.
Sayer’s book begins: "That I, whose experience of teaching is extremely limited, and whose life of recent years has been almost wholly out of touch with educational circles, should presume to discuss education is a matter, surely, that calls for no apology."
November 26, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Sayer’s book begins: "That I, whose experience of teaching is extremely limited, and whose life of recent years has been almost wholly out of touch with educational circles, should presume to discuss education is a matter, surely, that calls for no apology."
Say what?
Yeah. The Trivium Method is a pseudoscientific nonsense non-curriculum favoured by conservatives and Christian schools the world over. It originates in a speech — later compiled into a 1947 book — by one Dorothy L. Sayers, titled The Lost Tools of Learning.
Yeah. The Trivium Method is a pseudoscientific nonsense non-curriculum favoured by conservatives and Christian schools the world over. It originates in a speech — later compiled into a 1947 book — by one Dorothy L. Sayers, titled The Lost Tools of Learning.
November 26, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Say what?
Yeah. The Trivium Method is a pseudoscientific nonsense non-curriculum favoured by conservatives and Christian schools the world over. It originates in a speech — later compiled into a 1947 book — by one Dorothy L. Sayers, titled The Lost Tools of Learning.
Yeah. The Trivium Method is a pseudoscientific nonsense non-curriculum favoured by conservatives and Christian schools the world over. It originates in a speech — later compiled into a 1947 book — by one Dorothy L. Sayers, titled The Lost Tools of Learning.
"In the early years (Grammar stage) students learn facts through recitation and repetition, and by asking ‘what’. In the middle years (Logic stage) students learn to ask ‘how’ and ‘why’. In the high school years (Rhetoric stage) students will learn to persuade others that facts are true."
November 26, 2025 at 4:26 AM
"In the early years (Grammar stage) students learn facts through recitation and repetition, and by asking ‘what’. In the middle years (Logic stage) students learn to ask ‘how’ and ‘why’. In the high school years (Rhetoric stage) students will learn to persuade others that facts are true."
We will let David Seymour’s press release do the talking: Students will be taught how to learn and thinkbased [sic] on the Trivium method. The method identifies a three-stage natural development of a students’ education; grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
November 26, 2025 at 4:26 AM
We will let David Seymour’s press release do the talking: Students will be taught how to learn and thinkbased [sic] on the Trivium method. The method identifies a three-stage natural development of a students’ education; grammar, logic, and rhetoric.
Why, it’s new curriculum architect Dr Michael Johnston.
And what “knowledge-rich” curriculum will the Altum Academy use? It will be teaching the “Trivium Method. ”
What is that?
And what “knowledge-rich” curriculum will the Altum Academy use? It will be teaching the “Trivium Method. ”
What is that?
November 26, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Why, it’s new curriculum architect Dr Michael Johnston.
And what “knowledge-rich” curriculum will the Altum Academy use? It will be teaching the “Trivium Method. ”
What is that?
And what “knowledge-rich” curriculum will the Altum Academy use? It will be teaching the “Trivium Method. ”
What is that?
"The Trust also seeks to elevate and grow good character within a supportive and nurturing environment based on traditional Christian values and principles"
And who is the Chair of the Trust that’s backing this new traditional Christian values and principles-based charter school?
And who is the Chair of the Trust that’s backing this new traditional Christian values and principles-based charter school?
November 26, 2025 at 4:25 AM
"The Trust also seeks to elevate and grow good character within a supportive and nurturing environment based on traditional Christian values and principles"
And who is the Chair of the Trust that’s backing this new traditional Christian values and principles-based charter school?
And who is the Chair of the Trust that’s backing this new traditional Christian values and principles-based charter school?
The Altum Academic Trust has been established to support the development of academic excellence for students via a knowledge rich, prescribed, explicitly taught curriculum.
November 26, 2025 at 4:25 AM
The Altum Academic Trust has been established to support the development of academic excellence for students via a knowledge rich, prescribed, explicitly taught curriculum.
The charter school is backed by Altum Academic Charitable Trust. Here’s their statement of purpose from the Charities Services website:
November 26, 2025 at 4:25 AM
The charter school is backed by Altum Academic Charitable Trust. Here’s their statement of purpose from the Charities Services website:
A: Jonathan Ayling, the former Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union, is setting up a Wellington charter school called the Altum Academy, which will teach students to “remember the virtue of civilisation that has come from the West.
November 26, 2025 at 4:24 AM
A: Jonathan Ayling, the former Chief Executive of the Free Speech Union, is setting up a Wellington charter school called the Altum Academy, which will teach students to “remember the virtue of civilisation that has come from the West.
Q: What has Dr Michael Johnstone — who’s done so much lobbying about the public school curriculum and who’s now doing so much to write a new one — got to do with the Free Speech Union guy’s new charter school?
November 26, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Q: What has Dr Michael Johnstone — who’s done so much lobbying about the public school curriculum and who’s now doing so much to write a new one — got to do with the Free Speech Union guy’s new charter school?
Q: What does “knowledge-rich” actually mean?
A: We don’t know.
(Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum. The Education Ministry said the new curriculum was "consistent with knowledge-rich design principles" but failed to provide a definition, despite being asked)
A: We don’t know.
(Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum. The Education Ministry said the new curriculum was "consistent with knowledge-rich design principles" but failed to provide a definition, despite being asked)
November 26, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Q: What does “knowledge-rich” actually mean?
A: We don’t know.
(Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum. The Education Ministry said the new curriculum was "consistent with knowledge-rich design principles" but failed to provide a definition, despite being asked)
A: We don’t know.
(Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum. The Education Ministry said the new curriculum was "consistent with knowledge-rich design principles" but failed to provide a definition, despite being asked)
Q: What does “knowledge-rich” actually mean?
A: We don’t know.
Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum.
A: We don’t know.
Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum.
November 26, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Q: What does “knowledge-rich” actually mean?
A: We don’t know.
Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum.
A: We don’t know.
Neither do the people who are writing the “knowledge-rich” curriculum.
“It changed everything. I made my Secretary of Education read it. I made my staff read it. I am now implementing huge reform in New Zealand based on your book . . . We have a knowledge-rich curriculum. ”
November 26, 2025 at 4:22 AM
“It changed everything. I made my Secretary of Education read it. I made my staff read it. I am now implementing huge reform in New Zealand based on your book . . . We have a knowledge-rich curriculum. ”
Which is probably why Stanford went to the Core Knowledge Foundation’s conference in June to rub shoulders with Atlas Network think-tankers: When Stanford addressed Hirsch on stage, she explained the profound impact his 1996 book The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them had on her.
November 26, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Which is probably why Stanford went to the Core Knowledge Foundation’s conference in June to rub shoulders with Atlas Network think-tankers: When Stanford addressed Hirsch on stage, she explained the profound impact his 1996 book The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them had on her.
In turn, Stanford and the curriculum advisory group are following a blueprint set out by the Core Knowledge Foundation — founded by controversial figure E D Hirsch — which is also enthusiastically backed by Atlas Network members like the Heritage Institute (authors of Project 2025).
November 26, 2025 at 4:21 AM
In turn, Stanford and the curriculum advisory group are following a blueprint set out by the Core Knowledge Foundation — founded by controversial figure E D Hirsch — which is also enthusiastically backed by Atlas Network members like the Heritage Institute (authors of Project 2025).
... and, of course, Atlas Network member. Erica Stanford appointed Elizabeth Rata (Pākehā), who wrote the foreword to Save our Schools, and Dr Michael Johnston, a senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, to the ministerial advisory group that is spearheading curriculum development.
November 26, 2025 at 4:21 AM
... and, of course, Atlas Network member. Erica Stanford appointed Elizabeth Rata (Pākehā), who wrote the foreword to Save our Schools, and Dr Michael Johnston, a senior fellow at the New Zealand Initiative, to the ministerial advisory group that is spearheading curriculum development.
As well as being championed by David Seymour, who spent nearly his entire pre-Parliamentary career working for Atlas Network think tanks, the curriculum reset is profoundly influenced by recommendations in the Save our Schools paper by the New Zealand Initiative, a neoliberal think tank...
November 26, 2025 at 4:20 AM
As well as being championed by David Seymour, who spent nearly his entire pre-Parliamentary career working for Atlas Network think tanks, the curriculum reset is profoundly influenced by recommendations in the Save our Schools paper by the New Zealand Initiative, a neoliberal think tank...
In fact, you might say the Atlas Network has everything to do with the new curriculum!
November 26, 2025 at 4:20 AM
In fact, you might say the Atlas Network has everything to do with the new curriculum!