Teaching Of Maori An “’Essential Must”

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32394, 5 September 1970, Page 14

Teaching Of Maori An “’Essential Must”

The teaching of the Maori language and culture in schools was an “essential must” for New Zealand society, said the Rev. E. T. Buckle, an Anglican representative from Auckland, at the National Council of Churches annual meeting in Christchurch yesterday.

“Every effort we make to bring this about will be an effort for more harmony between relationships in our society,” he said. “We must stop talking about encouragement for this proposal and begin to see the real need.” Mr Buckle was taking part in discussion on a recommendation approved by the council that the Maori language and culture be taught at primary, intermediate, and teachers’ college levels, and in secondary schools for those who wished to learn it It was also agreed to recommend that the Maori language and culture be taught in theological colleges. Introducing the recommendation, the Rev. W. S, Dawson, minister of the Durham Street Methodist Church, Christchurch and the past president of the council, said that the uneasiness and unrest among Maori people today was because so many Maoris, specially the young ones, felt a sense of inferiority, a lack of identity, and in some cases even resentment

This feeling stemmed from several sources, including inadequate training, education in a language that was not their own, and other economic and social factors. The legal equality was not the same as making eouality the real thing, he said. Mr Dawson said that there

were some “areas” in particular which did not mean very much to Europeans, but which meant a great deal to the Maori. One was the loss of Maori land. Unfortunately, there was very little that could be done at present to heal this wound. One “grave wound” about which something could be done, however, was the question of the Maori language. “In the past, some of us have listened with uncomprehension to the demand that we bring back the Maori language,” said Mr Dawson. “We saw it as an attempt to put life into a dead language. “This is not an attempt to restore a dead or dying language. It is not a language question. What is sought is some knowledge of the Maori language which can be used as some sort of sacrimental expression by the pakeha.” It would give selfhood, worth, and participation in the nation to the Maori people and it would enrich Europeans themselves. The Anglican Maori Missioner in Christchurch (the Rev. M. M. Mete) said that language was a condition of the attempts to bridge the problem of inter-racial relationships. If there was a failure in language, there would be a failure in other areas as well.

The council agreed to recommend that the churches provide opportunities to listen to the deep emotional attitudes of the Maori people to matters concerning their cultural development; and that they support all sections of the community agitating for the identity and selfhood of the Maori, people.