In the nineteenth century England spent a lot of time convicting poor people of minor crimes and sending them off the other side of the world in Australia. Not only did they use this method of getting rid of people they didn't want, but they made life so intolerable that huge numbers 'volunteered' to emigrate to North America and even to the end of the world, New Zealand.
The surprising thing to me is, that this group of people, the bottom of the heap as far as the aristocrats in England were concerned, set up new societies that in general have been more successful than their predecessors. Certainly the main early aim was to give everyone a better life, more democracy and more say in how society was run. These 'no-hopers' in fact made a pretty good job of it. There was plenty of innovation, lateral thinking and shaking off the old establishment ideologies.
Why is this relevant to us today? I wonder if New Zealand is becoming like the nineteenth English society with a very wealthy upper class and a lot of struggling poor people. Are we committing the same error of ignoring all the talent and ideas in the latter group, even if we can't find another country to send them off to?
Children in this group are not getting the same opportunities as their better off peers for all sorts of reasons, at least one of which is lack of resources (time, money, emotional commitment) to make the most of education and extend their ambitions to major roles in making our society work well.
Here is another area where, amongst a number of other initiatives, sharing our wealth and resources more evenly across society has an important role.
