obvious. In New Zealand we hate good news. It annoys us. Fear of crime is way higher than actual crime... that can't be true, who wrote this pack of lies... we're not corrupt... oh come on, that's totally ridiculous... our education ranking is really good... yeah but I had this really crap teacher at school. Our education system has not been getting worse and worse. Our issue is the long tail of underachievement as Eric Blair states. It is too simplisitic to say that pay determines quality in education. The widely admired Finland is in the same ball park in terms of pay for teachers, and we are in the same ballpark as them for achievement. The similarities between the Finnish and New Zealand education system are notable in terms of conditions, and approach to education. To reach the very top and be the world leader in education we need to address our long tail. Currently John Key is indicating that charter schools will be focused on this issue. The first model schools will be successful, but (a) if the system spreads it will be detrimental to our overall education system and our community spirit, and (b) we will slip down the academic rankings John Key will have left the building at this point, but I will still be teaching so it concerns me. 1. What the hell is 'pupil score percentile' exactly? Score of what? Mean, median, mode, tail included or excluded? Defining 'best performing' would be a good