Minister? Maybe Muldoon but maybe I'm being unfair to the rotund one. John Key: "We're saying that 30 per cent of young New Zealanders are not attaining the level that we would want them to attain in terms of reading, writing and maths." Hmmm not sure where he plucked the figure of 30% from -- and I don't expect him to tell us -- but the point he conveniently misses is that a proportion of NZers are not doing well...under a National Government. It's as if this government bears absolutely no responsibility for this state of affairs. You raise a really good point woss. Because, and lets be blunt, under labour the 30% was 0% wasn't it -- labours education policy saw all those leaving school going on to get first class degrees at universities around the world. Don't forget pixies and rainbows too. Or, maybe this infantile attempt at smearing National demonstrates where the education system is really lacking -- allowing dullards like you the vote and probably the right to drive as well. Under labour we had no idea what education standards were being met as a country, no way of seeing how our kids were doing comparatively, and therefore no means of bringing about positive change -- measure what you treasure. Now we have the start of a meaningful measurement process, a process that will allow for trend analysis over time, not hysteria. My only hope is that some teacher leaders grow up and engage in a