English syllabus
Sir,—The “outrage” response to the suggestion reported on Saturday’s front page that “the Treaty of Waitangi is a cornerstone for educational policy, including English” offers a vital insight into the malaise of our country. That is, the conviction that the dominant culture’s (white, male) way of going about things is indisputably the best. Dr Lockwood Smith’s implication that incorporation of Maori lantV...' . ..
guage and literature will impede, not enhance, the direction of pupils’ attention to the outer world, and New Zealand’s making its way in that world, is as erroneous as it is offensive. Indeed, the realisation by those of the dominant culture that theirs is only one among many equally valid world views and visions of progress is surely the very best way to learn how to do well in the world. This cannot occur in a monocultural education system which actively obliterates the validity of the culture and language of its own land, Aotearoa. — Yours, etc., JANE SEVERN. September 24, 1988.
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Press, 27 September 1988, Page 12
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165English syllabus Press, 27 September 1988, Page 12
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