EDUCATION 0F THE MAORI

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1930, Page 3

EDUCATION 0F THE MAORI

DISCUSSION OF DIFFICULTIES MR. P. SMYTH REVIEWS SYSTEM. QUESTION OF RACE ABSORPTION. A lecture on the education of the Maori ' wars given ,by Mr. P. Smyth at the summer school yesterday morning. There were present members of the Taranaki Education Board and Mr. Lamb.ourne, of the Education Department, who replied briefly at the close of the lecture.

The idea of education was part of the Maori sphere before the European appeared on the horizon of Maori environmental influence; said. Mr. Smyth. To preserve and perpetuate Maori lore the pre-European Maori instituted schools of oral-. instruction, where . traditional history and mythology were carefully instilled into the pupils ,by priests and teachers'who had graduated in the Maori school of learning—the wharcwananga or wharekura. These, schools won fame because of the high.'standard of the teaching and the high mental attainment and wide knowledge of the teachers. '

- In-“ The Empire’s Junior Partner,” one read, of the Maori. He had a regular system of education in autumn and winter -when cropping was completed. The classes of instruction in arts and crafts were open to the common people, but these of myUivlogy and history or “wharekura” were open only to the priests and chiefs. A-.course of three to five, years’ teaching was necessary to enable -one to become , a priest or toliunga; 'ln - the evening;on the marae (open space) of the- village and upon, riyer’bank and seashore, the-young men under .the -guidance of- .veterans, .midproud chieftains would practise assiduously,the manly sports. With : all the . wonders introduced by the white -people into the traditional tenor of MaoriTife, and through diversity of principle and custom, conflict was inevitable. A clash of cultures'was all that could be expected. The Maori marvelled at. the pakeha but t.;e trait that-saved the Maori from extinction and is still saving him from it, was his “untutored independence,” as Sir John Gorst put it. . ' ■ ■ Report lias it that the Maoris of old were brave, truthful and trustworthy, merciless in war, but kindly and goodnatured in peace. They were very industrious and to be idle or lazy was a disgrace —civilisation and ; education have by no means.improved this. The development of relations between the races was traced by Mr. Smyth, who recorded history from both the Maori and the pakeha viewpoints. , It did not appear possible that success in the education of the Maori could be accomplished without a deep knowledge of the peculiarities of' the educand. said Mr. Smyth. The underlying principle of earlier methods' seemed to be determination to Europeanise the Maori, regardlers of his own pride of race or anything connected with his race, He was expected to throw off the cloak of Maortdom and to agree passively to be impelled into a totally new environment with a new Speech. . The remarkable point is that the .Maori did not succumb and become cxtinc<- thimigh lack of racial enthusiasm. QUESTION OF RE-ADJUSTMENT. “To procure a correct and lasting influence on the moral and intellcet.iial potentialities of a savage community the question of re-adjustment must be fully, systematically and scientifically studied. The re-adjustment to a new order necessarily gives birth to revolutions in the mental, moral, and physical outlook of the subject to be metamorphosed.” The English missionaries established the first schools in August, 1816, the teacher securing good attendance bj trivintr t-he pupils food, usually a handful o'! potatoes and fish. (The parents and children considered that they should bo rewarded for their compliance to be taught.) Report has it that even then rapid progress was made in learning to read in their native tongue. The system of education from 1816 was that of imj>artii)g instruction to the natives in their native tongue in establishments for co-education of sexes of all ages. There they were educated, clothed, fed and housed. The Legislative Council at Auckland in 1847. provided for the education of Maori youths and recognised none but schools wholly controlled by religious bodies, even to the. appointment and removal of teachers. By the Native Schools Act, 1858, £7OOO was appropriated annually to be distributed as capitation. Little success attended the efforts of the Government and in 1863 barely 500 scholars were beiim taught. Tins was said to be owina to the unsettled of the country of the hostilities and the unsoundness of the scheme of education, particularly as it allowed the children to drift back to the demoralisin.or influence of the kaingas. lhe system collapsed a few years later In 1867 the Native Schools Act wan passed, but war. again broke out. In 1871 an Amendment- Act waa passed. In this Act an effort was made to introduce a workable system, of native education. The main provisions of the new scheme were the establishment o village schools wherever a sufficient native population and other circumstances rendered it-possible; the instruction to be in the English language only, except where the location of an English teacher might be found impossible; the working of the . village schoo,ls , through the agencies of the Maoris themselves, associated with and aided by such Europeans as might be willing to "°’k W1 1 them on school committees, and the contribution by the Maoris of part of the expense of salaries and inspection, to- j gether with grants of lands-for build-; il) O'S ° ’ CHANGE OF CONTROL. , .

In 1879 the control of native; schools passed from the Native Department to the Education Department. As a district in which a native school had. been established became Europeanised m its mode of living the school was-handed over to the control of the Education Board for the district. One would surmise that this was based upon the theory of ultimate absorption of the Maori race by the Europeans. “An indication of the extent to whim the education system has been successful in the past 50 years should be o-auo-ed by the attitude of the European toward the Maori. In the majority of cases the Europeans are fucndly or tolerant, but • in many cases, the Maoris are looked upon ‘with contempt because of evidence of intemperance, Lethargy, uncleanliness and laziness.

About. I per cent, of .the Europeans look upon the Maori as an equal; and one man said the European became very<■ familiar with the Maori'when there, was a possibility of exploitation, . .... •: . “It is sad to notice how the less fortunate of the Maori people are often exploited by both the European and the better educated Maori. This shows the education system is not succeeding in what it should aim for—the fitting*of the Maori race, as a whole to cope with the exigencies of life. We should not hear of one price. for the Maori and another for the European in pertain stores; we should not be listening . to reports of the scandalous exploitation of the Maori vote by certain unscrupulous candidates for local governments; we should not be harrowed with information about sheep-like Maoris agreein<r to certain importunities for a mere bag of flour or an extra glass of beer, to°find later that the whole concern was engineered for their own future hurt.and ostracism. “Following this we arc told the. Maori child can hold its own with the European child at school, and often proyes better. It is also eaid the Maori child is on a par with'the European child according to home environment. Particularlyl is this comparison favourable wheii the language difficulty is overcome. I have heard people, and not one of them was a Maori, say: ‘Give the Maori child the same environment as the European child and he will hold Ins own; give the European child the same environ-' ment as the Maori child and he will, not do as well.’ ” , . , • “Undoubtedly, more definite English lessons in the curriculum would.ba. pf great benefit. Particularly should the English lessons cover at least half of the° time-table and the majority pf the lesson periods on the subject should be oral. Handwork /should be ..encouraged since the Maoris are traditionally noted for ' extremely high-class -handiwork of many and varied descriptions. The aim in this instance should be to develop Clearer thinking’ through The medium of manual manipulation, thereby .increasing the self-respect often dainagcd .by stultification' through’ theoretical problems. When it is felt that all possible has been done for .the pupil in the general culture period, the. pupil should be drafted into a higher academic culture or into a vocational school, according to what is merited. “The Maori pupil, is described as an. excellent' pupil, amenable to discipline, ambitious to . succeed, indpstripus. and obedient, equally as good as, if not better than,-the European pupil, very bright and eager, docile, easily interested, emotional,' responsive, a keen competitor bu£ good-humoured and helpful to his fellows; as truthful as the European, and, if treated, with tact, .he will do anything. If these assertions are all true, tlie conditions are iddal for imparting knowledge. In the Maori secondary schools only a small percentage of the pupils, practically all adolescents, do not evince a desire to remain at school for a long period. In fact, some would stay on forever. Unfortunately, the majority of Maoris of earlier, generations failed to profit fully by the education system imposed on them. This would seem to be indicated, at least by the general attitude towards the. welfare of their children during their school life and afterwards.

“DO NOT CLOSE ACADEMIC DOOR" "We hear discussions about, and listen to dissertations on, practical education in such subjects as agriculture, construction and dairy fanning as being the only means of saving the race from economic distress. One fears the result of too much stress on the practical side.. Yet one man of long experience with the Maori and genuinely interested in the Maori people, strikes, to my mind, the right note when lie says: 'Stress the practical side of education by all means, but do not close the academic door.’ We must keep in mind that English is the great stumbling block of the Maori, and°until he is fairly proficient in this language his practical education will be faulty. The greatest weakness of the Maori character to-day is his want of confidence; civilisation and its, education have played havoc on the determination and self-confidence so much in evidence in the Maori of fifty years ago. The only way to make the Maori confident nowadays is to make him a good English scholar and a good Maori scholar; then he will feel that lie is really one of the community. '■ “Although opinions are very much divided as to the advantage to the teacher of knowing the Maori language, there are . many arguments in favour. A Maori word here and there would help the understanding of pupils, but' a treater advantage is the ability of the teacher to converse with the {mrents in their own tongue. “To overcome the retrograde .influence ' ot the home and the difficulty of the English language it is necessary, to remodel our education - system .to combat them, and not to be a handicap itself. For this reason Maori language should be a compulsory qualification for all teachers of native schools. “We might proceed a step further and suggest that the Maori language-be included in the curriculum of the native schools. Some will argue against this, stating the fate of the Maori race is ultimate absorption into the white race. This may be so, but to provide for such now would be premature, particularly if the last census returns indicate anything. What do our English—language, literature, poetry and prose—and our history and traditions mean to us? Solve this point and you see what the deprivation means to the Maori. -The/decay of Maoridom is, in my opinion, psychological, and is due to a very great degree to this cause. • MAORIS AS TEACHERS. “The natural consequence of what has been elaborated is to ask whether it is a pity the Maori people have not been encouraged to enter the teaching profession in greater numbers. The majority of those who have considered this aspect are very dubious; but surely a Maori teacher with vision for his own race would have greater influence among his own people than any European, however competent. “During the past fifty years the Maori race has been saturated with the impression that tlie. Maori is helpless i without the guidance of the European. ’ that the European can do ih:i and do) that, but the Maori must uever hope to be able to do the same. Did the Maori have Europeans to guide him 500 years ago? The amicable co-opera-tion* of the'two races with no feeling of preference should be the ideal of the Maori education system. At least one teacher with Maori blood should be on the staff of every Native s.-hool, as it takes a Maori to understand a Maori.

“At present the Maori mind seems to weigh matters according to two values r-thingii European; lack of which does not make him feel ashamed: things Maori, which he thinks, are all lie can call his own but which he knows are

repulsive to the European and enggndei'

:contempt. Indubitably, Maori, teachers in greater numbers, Maori language and tradition as school subjects and the 'Maori "languages; as a necessary qualification for all native school teachers would give a new, and a wide, confident outlook to the Maori race generally. “It has been rumoured that there is a desire to absorb completely the Native schools into the public primary schools. At the present time such a suggestion would seem ridiculous to the less initiated. There would be a min- - ority of Maori, children in many public schools, and one trembles for these unfortunates in an environment where their struggle with English would most probably brand .them as unintelligent. and, unfit for anything " but neglect. This .woiild. be the .death knell of selfrespect, and a good breeding ground, for loss of confidence. The education of tire Maori has produced a new type of • pedagogue; not only lias, the pedagogue to be practically father, and . mother, to the pupils, but lias also to lead the majority of parents by the ■hand. The present Native teacher could •most probably tell the'world what type of education would be of most advantage to the. Maori to-day and . for the next 50, years were it not for the departmental ' muzzle. The Native school teacher who makes his or her- school successful .under, present conditions/is a prodigy for whom the greatest praise would- be. too’little. ; . , BUILDING THE NEW. TYPE. ‘ “The responsibility of both white and brown in New. Zealand is- to dp our utmost to build the new type that. must conic when the absorption theory proyes itself true;. and this new type of people must be a very line type if all. the splendid traits, of the old-time Maori are fostefed rather than starved. ‘’Home influences of the present'time point to .the necessity ,of providing for more. lugh. schools where the pppils may -boai-d.. At 'the end of . the two years, •with as much with/the pupils as is. ad visable, there should be a grading of pupils. for higher academic studies, ,for .technical and agricultural courses at. special .schools to be provided. This should, be a three year period, or preferably- four. .The pupils in the boarding schools for boys should not be required to do their own. cooking, laundering, general housework and such like. The great' endeavour' should 'bo to revolutionise home conditions and surely after five or six years of intensive training the best of the Maori talent will be found as leaders/for the rejuvenation of the stagnating'race whose remarkable; traits of endurance, of fair play, of..independence, of contempt, for laziness, of- peerless', bravery,- were, so much in evidence 50 i years ago.” ; ..." . Mr. Lambourne, of the Education Department, congratulated Mr. Smyth on his thoughtful paper. Some parts of ft were provocative- but ,no doubt they were intended to be so. It .was his opinion that the achievements of the Maori in European civilisation due in a large measure to two or three genera-, tions of Maori school teachers. ■ Through them the Maori had been able to absorb European culture. These teachers were carrying on their,..work, with devotion; . ’