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Can I ask a question about parents? 

I watched Erica Stanford do a press conference yesterday at a school in Wellington while launching the writing action plan. 

While I was watching that I was reading a story about Nicola Willis, who it was suggested by people in London might be the next Prime Minister. 

She had gone to the New Zealand Society on her trip last week. She stood there in a tangerine suit and there had been a buzz about the room as they wondered whether this was New Zealand's next Prime Minister. 

It was a weird story, and it means nothing, but if it ever came down to it, I would take Stanford over Willis all day long. 

She is a force of nature and if you ever want to see a minister in charge of detail, watch her in a classroom in front of cameras. You won't fail to be impressed. 

The bad news though is part of the day involved the release of yet more data showing our kids in Year 3, 6, and 8 are in real trouble when it comes to maths and reading. 

Only a small minority are where they should be. A small minority. 

The claim at this stage by Stanford is what they have introduced, and are introducing, is the turnaround plan. It's the magic, the cure, and the panacea. 

Not that it makes it better, but the numbers out yesterday were marked against some of the new standards, hence the massive failure rate. 

This stuff is benchmarked internationally. Once, not long ago (maybe when I was at school), in a lot of stuff we led the world. Today we are so far from leading the world it makes you want to cry. 

Stanford isn't crying. She speaks in a way that suggests she knows something the rest of us don’t, like she has seen the future and it is bright. 

Or could it be she just hopes it is and is faking it till she makes it, because the gap between where our kids are and where they need to be is gargantuan? 

So, back to the parents. Where are they? 

Maths can be sort of tricky, if you want to find an excuse, but reading and writing isn't. A kid who can't read or write properly by high school is a reflection of their home life, as much as the school. 

Schools take too much heat. Governments take too much heat. 

If your kid can't write or read and your kid is 12 or 13, where have you been?