THE NATIVE SCHOOLS QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 20, 18 October 1907, Page 4

THE NATIVE SCHOOLS QUESTION.

.[BY IBLEOBAni.r-OWN COnBESPONBEKT.], Auckland, October 17;' ;An interesting contribution to the litera* ture of, the.. Native, schoolsi question is,',a letter .addressed to the Minister for 'Educa-' tion by Mr.' D. O. Donoghue v of ;tho Mfc. iioskill school. - The writer liuts out,lus .views as follows: —I respectfully submit that '.the system has been misdirected, in that' it does* not tend to the betterment, of character Or to the instilling of a sense of self-respect in the; Maori youth! '.Consider'the effect or tho system on a'Maori lad., Ho,conies'.to' school oil a' morning aiid begins .for the first time to speak, .not -in Maori, but ,in English, and continues to. do so until school hours are over, when lie returns home'and resumes 1 speaking.in Maori, yhich.wilT bo to hiin a great relief. Ho continues doing that until 'his arrival at school,! when ho begins-'the same course as on the previous,, day, and such is,his course for tho next five or six years, when he- leaves school ; and begins to live wholly. with his Maori parent's and Maori friends., Now how will tho, lad look upon his environment—say his parents first? Will lie because of his school training be'tho , more respectful to persons wlio. can 'speakonly ill tho. Maori tongue, a , tongue lniich be "has been forbidden to use and thereby taught to despise? I think not; Moreover, will ho now, bccauso of that training, be the moro obedient to'his parents, to, in ; liis eyes, very ignorant parents ? If ho had never been to school would lie not be more respectful and obedient to them ? Nobody aware of the waywardness of childrens' ; nature can entertain a doubt on tho point. Hence, bo far as. the betterment of character is concerned in the direction to which I have adverted the system cannot be considered .ef-, fectivc. That the system does not .'promote;' or instil feelings of self-respect in the lad seems very evident—(a) because he finds his race and everything, about, it tabooed, ignored, or .despised;'(b) because ho finds-his mother language banned in, tho'school ;. (o)'. bccauso if lie, wishes to be considered respectable ho must in somo mysterious way cease to be a Maori lad, although God mado him such, and endeavour to bo something quite, different. • It is plain, ( therefore, that , tho. lad's feelings of solf-respect as a. Maori aro not fostered or strengthened, but weakened. A system of education that so tends is. in that respcct undoubtedly misdirected. I now turn to another matter, the method of instruction, which seems' utterly -wrong. .1' cannot conclude these remarks without hoping that you will consider the effect or t:io system on the adult Maori race which sees itself stigmatised as something I might say'. unclean.' Its little children even forbidden to use its language, and. taught, if hot, directly, at least indirectly, to despise race, language, traditions, 'etc. How,'.'should;'.our '. adult race fool if' in similar circumstances? How if it saw itself and everything' about itself past and present banned arid St 'rued?