Peace studies in schools questioned

Press, 14 March 1985, Page 34

Peace studies in schools questioned

PA Wellington Introducing peace studies into schools did not mean bringing indoctrination into the classtoom, the Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, has told Parliament.

Speaking to a private member’s notice of motion, he said he had made the point last week that there had to be careful consideration of where education ended and indoctrination began.

Mr R. McD. Gray (Nat., Clutha) had questioned how much “brainwashing” there would be in peace studies especially over the nuclear issue.

“Are we just going to get the individual views of individual teachers hammered down the throats of our young people?” he said. Mr Gray also asked whether parents would be consulted about what was taught, how teachers would be trained, and how standards would be determined. The Minister had left the country “hanging in doubt” about what was going to be taught. “Peace is not just a freedom from war. It is also a freedom from civil disorder, from such things as illegal strikes, from such things as

street marches that are illegal, from such things as threats.” He wanted the Minister to give an assurance that pupils would be taught the kind of threats they might face during an illegal strike.

Mr Marshall said he did not see peace studies as a separate subject on the syllabus but rather something that “infused” the whole curriculum at schools.

“It is to do with the way children relate in the classroom. It is to do with the way that teachers relate to one another.

“Particularly it is to do with what happens when we get into positions of difficulty in the classroom and whether we are to continue this barbaric practice of corporal punishment.” He said peace studies were fundamentally about conflict resolution in the home, school, and workplace. While the topic might be controversial, it had been his experience as a Minister that some things had been “swept under the carpet” for too long.

“Just because a matter may be divisive and controversial there is no reason why we should not face up to it,” he said.