Lifetime of social work by husband-wife team

Press, 6 May 1980, Page 25

Lifetime of social work by husband-wife team

By

KARREN BEANLAND

New Zealand, mythically the land of milk and honey and egalitarian society, in fact educates some of its people to failure . . . That is one lesson nearly 35 years in social work has taught Major Malvern Taylor and his wife, Amy, who is a major in her own right. Both have spent a lifetime in the Salvation Army, working with children, alcoholics, and, today, visiting prisons and working in courts. They met when they were training to be Salvation Army officers in 1944 in Wellington, but they did not marry until seven years later. Mrs Taylor grew up in the Salvation Army in Waimate. Major Taylor came to the army from a "nominally” Presbyterian background at the age of 16 when he decided there was more to life than earning a living in the usual way. They spent 28 years working with children — their great love — until their own three children grew up. They also spent several years on Rotoroa Island, a centre for alcoholics. Their first appointment to the Island was at a time when it had poor communications, with no boat of its own and generating its own electricity. The Taylors’ first appointment as a married couple was as officers to the St Albans Corps. Last year, they returned > to Christchurch, this time to work as the regional co-

ordinators of social work from Crhistchurch to Invercargill, and to deal with community social services in Christchurch.. This has brought them involvement in prisons and courts.

Being new to the courts is, in Major Taylor’s opinion an advantage because he believes he can understand how some of those in trouble with the law feel.

“I remember going to court for the first time in Christchurch. The court orderly was very helpful, but when the court sat I had no idea of what was going on,” he says. “Certainly, the lawyers

and court officials know what is happening, but I’m sure a large number of those who appear do not. Our society generally uses so much jargon and everybody presumes the other fellow knows all about it.” Major Taylor does believe that things are changing, and for the better. Society has realised that long prison sentences do nothing for people except pull them down further. He also hopes that the new court system (particularly the famiiv courts) will improve things. “Those who are responsible for dispensing justice have recognised the need for change and are prepared to affect it,” he

says. “Family courts will allow a sensitivity that would not exist in the ordinary open courts.” He hopes, too, that the new system will enable procedures to be speeded up, so that people are not just remanded again and again. Yet, he sees much futility in the whole pris-. on system. “People are aware there are such places as prisons, but when you find yourself in the work you capture something of the sense of futility the people have about making something worth while of living. You find fellows in prison for the first time who genuinely say, ‘l’m

not going to come back here,’ but there are large numbers who look on it as the closest place to home.”

Major Taylor’s biggest aim is to show some of these people that their lives can be made worth while. He does not count success cases, but he aims to be there when somebody reaches the stage whe’re they decide they need help. “All of us hope that somewhere along the line our work will show people they are of worth and that they can become a valuable part of society,” he says. . Major Taylor is disillusioned with the education system which, he

feels, educates some people for failure. Schools have an almost total academic basis and children are not educated to cope with the basic necessities of life, such as handling money and gaining work experience.

In his work in children’s homes. Major Taylor has experienced secondary school headmasters who expected children to leave school at the age of 15 because they came from .bad

backgrounds. They were made to feel an encumbrance if they did not achieve academically. “Some of the children I saw went into society as failures,” he said. “They

start with a basic mistrust and their life’s experiences reinforce it.”

This is why he dislikes his cases being seen as successes or failures. “How can you measure success?” he asks.

“Some people have everything that makes for success in their backgrounds, in their education and upbringing. Others start with all the ingredients to fail. “Talking to some of the prisoners and hearing about their lives, I know that I would be in the same place if I had their background.” Major Taylor says that he has seen an increased awareness of social problems in the last 35 years.

However, this has been off-set by increased numbers of problems, for which he blames the “affluent society.” “The problems we have are due to the mishandling of affluence. The Bible says the love of money is the root of evil, and we have fallen into that trap,” he says. “We are ail a little greedy, wanting more. Eventually people become possessed by their possessions.” Major Taylor says the problems he has seen over the years have not changed, but they have been aggravated as people have acquired the means to be trapped by ehem. “It is lucrative to pander to people’s indulgences because they have the money to spend. If people did not have the money, then they could not spend it on alcohol or drugs or gambling.” Affluence also causes damaging divisions in society, Major Taylor says. '“lt is very much a ‘we’ and ‘they’ society, and this seems to be emerging more and more. The haves are not willing to be put aside for the have-nots. “I don’t feel that society is totally selfish — there are a lot of caring people. But there are also many careless people. “What happens is that the nobodies of society group together to say they are somebody. It is a pity they have to be outrageous to make themselves heard.”