ADULT EDUCATION TOO LATE TO SAVE MAORI CULTURE?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 85, 13 January 1950, Page 5

ADULT EDUCATION TOO LATE TO SAVE MAORI CULTURE?

“Adult education for the Maori people has come 15 years too late,” said Mr M. Winiata, Maori tutor to the Adult Education Centre of Auckland University in an address to tribal elders “Fifteen years ago, or even 20 years ago, we had with us the old people who could have passed on the knowledge of the older cultures such as history, whakapapa (geneology) and arts and crafts. Now some of this ancient knowledge has gone forever. Our younger people are no longer interested in the history of their race and of their tribes.” Mr Winiata outlined the various courses available and suggested that as 1950 would be the great anniversary year of the migration of the canoes to Aotearoa, it would be appropriate if a course in the local history was started in Maketu or, alternatively in modern economic problems, as they affected the Maori today.

He pointed out that adult education for the pakeha had started in New Zealand as far back as 1916. The Maori therefore had a lot of leeway to make up. In addition, he had to be bi-lingual to stand on an equal footing with the pakeha in every walk of life. He needed more and more education, but without a knowledge of his own Maori traditions and culture the Maori was a misfit in society. It was only by a fusing of the two cultures in himself that the Maori of today was going to make any permanent contribution to the- future of the Maori race as a whole. Therefore he must have as thorough a knowledge as possible of his own history besides that of the pakeha.