NATIVE TEACHING ABROAD

Taranaki Daily News, 18 January 1930, Page 13

NATIVE TEACHING ABROAD

INDIAN SYSTEMS REVIEWED

NORTH AMERICAN METHODS. COMPARISONS WITH MAORIS. To supplement the study of the education of the Maori which is being made by the members of' the teachers’ summer school at New Plymouth, a lecture on Native Education Abroad was given by Mr. N. R. McKenzie yesterday. Dealing with the education of the aboriginal races of Canada, the United States and some of its dependencies, he outlined the essential differences between the systems of the two countries, and indicated briefly where they had any bearing on Maori education. The Indian, he said, was in many respects like the Maori, although the Maori was superior 'physically and mentally. In both races the unit was not the individual, but the tribe or family; the richest person was not the one who hoarded most, but the one who gave most; everyone claimed hospitality as a Tight. Like the Maoris, the Indians lived in villages and" disliked solitary life on farms. Land was free to all so long as it was used, but ownership ceased with disuse. Chiefs and medicine men opposed schools, as these tended to break down the traditional social system and the power of • the chiefs and medicine men. . In Canada and the United States education aimed at breaking down most of these customs. In the United States, if not in Canada, an attempt was at one time made to eliminate the native i. language, .while .-.native customs were held up to contempt. The latter practice had been abandoned, but large numbers of Indians spokd English as ' a mother tongue. The administration of the first schools in both Canada and the United States was under the control of the church missions, said the lecturer. Even at the present time two-thirds of the schools in Canada -were organised by the church, with certain financial aid from the GovL eminent. In the United States govern- .: rnent help to church schools had been ,l discontinued, and all schools that re- ■ ccived federal aid were under federal jurisdiction. AGRICULTURE AND HANDWORK. The Indian children were encouraged -I I to attend the public schools, but as all i| 'the education of white children was '] under immediate local control,‘fees were • paid by the Government for every Indian attending these schools. The native i! • day schools, which were not unlike the New Zealand Maori village schools, stressed the importance of training in . agriculture and handwork. These schools were’ concentrated on the reserves or tribal lands. Better work, was done in . the boarding schools in which Indian teachers instructed the children. There

were very many features of the Indian i, schools, such as the employment of native teachers, which were being-discuss-ed in classes oil Maori education at the summer school, said Mr. McKenzie, and it was interesting to note that some at least of these features had been already incorporated in the native education sys- ' tem of Canada.

On the Six Nations’ Reserve, Ontario, Canada, there were 14 schools manned by Indian teachers, and it was well to remember that the mental efficiency of the Indian was lower than that of the Maori. On this reserve, which was established by a grant of fertile land to the six tribes which supported England in the War of Independence, there was the Mohawk Institute. Founded originally by Oliver Cromwell, this large school was typical of the Canadian Indian boarding schools. Half of the day was spent in the classrooms in academic work and the othei half was devoted to a vocational course. The girls were instructed in nursing, and, in some cases, in poultry farming, while the boys were taught all branches of farming and any trades that might prove useful on the r terve. , A few of the more brilliant Indian children attended the ordinary high schools, which were rarely of the hostel type. Objection had been often lodged at the' academic character of the education given Indian children in some of the schools. It we ■: pointed out that the influx of Europeans had destroyed the Indians’, means pf livelihood —his hunting grounds. .'lt .wa's the ( white man’s duty to give them a vocational education which would fit them to become useful citizens in their changed environment. This charge could not be levied against the United States’ schools in which a utilitarian education was given, training the natives to be tradesmen. , PRACTICAL TURN DESIRABLE. Mr. McKenzie said he thought it was possible and desirable to give a practical turn to all education, for if a subject was of no use, even in leisure moments, he could see no use in teaching it. It had been found that in Indian schools where some vocational work was being carried out the moral standard was higher than in those where the.course was, academic. For this reason the Indian schools in the United States of America were much better than those in Canada. • The aim in United States high schools was the grouping of cultural work round a vocational core, and an effort was made ; “to cut out rubbish.” There was much that New. Zealand educationalists might learn from these schools. In the Indian schools there were three features which were stressed. The English language, which had the effect of improving citizenship, right-living habits and hygienic precautions, and vocational work. By observing the effects on tens of thousands of children over a period of half a century it had been found that children who put in a half-day at academic work did just as well as those who spent the whole day. By developing native crafts in schools and by finding a market for genuine native handwork the Governments of Alaska and Canada had helped the Indians to gain a little of their lost self-respect. In a discussion at the conclusion of the lecture the inspector of native schools, Air. Henderson, pointed (it that one of the great difficulties in a compulsory vocational course was that of persuading the parents to acquiesce. Most parents wanted their children to have a chance, at least, of distinguishing themselves in one of the professions. He thought all children should undergo a vocational' course of training, perhaps between the-ages 6f 13 and 16 years. In Rarotonga, said Mr. Anderson, onethird of the time was spent in agri-

culture and woodwork, and it was found that efficiency was greatly increased. ' - Mr. Cross asked Mr. McKenzie to expand his statement in regard to vocational education, which, .he said, was the only thing capable of restoring to the native his self-respect. There were in Canada, said Mr. McKenzie, two 'schools, the Hampden Institute (established in 1868) and the Tusckegee Institute (established in 1881), and the experience in these schools, both with roll numbers of over 20C' negroes and Indian children, was that vocational education had very definite beneficial results. In Seattle also an interesting test, \w.oi was accidental in its origin, had been noticed by Mr. McKenzie. A reactionary education board had come’ into power and industrial work in all but a very few schools had been abolished. Inquiries made at had been abolished. Inquiries made at the high schools later revealed the fact that those chilceived academic training only.