MAORI EDUCATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13651, 20 July 1908, Page 2

MAORI EDUCATION.

THR XATIVK SCHOOL KYSTKM. lllv C' V Yr>ung. in the Auckland " •• Herald.") 'j )ie Mlnis'.pr for Kduca.ir.n has recently ' litu nulpmg eliecllU..y plai.-t i-.-I KI .IS e llelei ling to all interview lie had recently wnn a reporter o! the l.vitciton Tiiiitfj, it does not appear li,- )ku> much improved Ins knowledge nl' native sehoo.s ; indeed, the besi' lliau call lie i-.aid ot his utterances is time lie speaks kindly of iho native nchool teachers and their ucholaici, but realJy lie* cannot btaken Sci'iousiy. His remarks are toes vague and spacious, and *ire meteK intended iio thruw dust 111 the eytis of a pub.ic who, generally speaking, are ignorant of, because they tai;e hU.e or 110 in-U-ixfit in the question of native education. Kspet-iallv is tliis the case in Hie Sou.li" Island, the people of which, ami tile i'arliaineiitaiy representatives of which, are as lamentably ignorant of name n/iairs as th-ugii in.., Mere a people of another country in another hemisphere; and consequently a I great wrong li:.i> been. and is being, done "i the Maori race for want of a critical opp:.siuion. J lie Minis!-?)' is reported as having said "t he teach-is were applying theinseiv.s to their work with niagnificient enthusiasm (granted), and weie achieving results that were, of the iu.irio.st- value to the count rv." 'Sow, in the name ol humanity, are the native lads bring taught agriculture and 'the manual arhv at, these schools. or are tliev apprenticed alter '.savin-' school to farmers and trad, emeu'! Are there any .Maori corps, or even many individuals iii our defence forces, military or marine? Are Maori lads and lai.sies employed in our postal, telegraph, or school de part tin--iil&? i.r are ihe gu.s welcome a.s domtsi'ic seivani.*, not wit hstanding the pakeha housewives' dil'liculiy in tins matter? Some three or Ifmr are being trained as hospital nurses, when neons of ihem should be under training. The Minister goes on to say "the teach* is were .... no.i only leaching the children to read and write, and to turn their accomplishments to the Iks! account I?) hut also training them in habits of order and cleanliness, and itidusliv." Oh! Mr. Fowhls ! whaii do you know r.S I luce children after they ,kave 1 the Government Xa.ive schools nnd return to their p.;oplu? Evidently, nothing. Do you think they leaven the mass of their pe.o pie and improve their habits and moiti'i;? Visit their pas, or ob ain informatiion fiom disinterested souic.fi. see them on the racecourses, loafing about street cor--liens, in the whisky salocns, or au tangis. When you have learnt anything yott m iil admit, that education which do. s not inculcate- the moral virtues which lead to after employment is making the last* stale of the Maori worse thaji the first. The objec„ of these artic.iS in to point out some of the fault is of tilie present native school system of education. In giving consideration to this subject, it is piemised that ihe white man's civilisation, wlvn applied to the Maori, carries with it obligations and ' responsibilities, ana time uv, as the governing race, are morally bound lo guide our efforts ivj influence the Maori so .hat. he in time assimilate all that is good in cur civilisation, while piotecting him from that evil contamination I which tinier l twately comes in the train I Looking buck over the past 60 years, can it he said that we have done our b.st ia this niattei —that we have done toe Maori race more good than harm ' i leave the larger aspect, of the question there, and limit- ihjs aiticle to eoi.sideraiuon of the result of our efforts to educate the .Maori through the medium of tine Government and Sectarian Native kehoo.s. 1 submit that thu-e efforts have not been carried out on intelligent lines, with due consideration of how they were adaptable tit the liabus and customs of the natives, and how tliey could b-s-t utiuae his natural and : alijjit.-es, there fore ihev have not produced t'lie result intended and desired.

1 have previously said the whole system of the -native education is cast on inapplicable and unsuitable lines. Armchair theorists have stmp.y applied the same curriculum of education to paheka, and Maoii children alike, to be assimilated at e>ight, forgetting the Siow* st-ag«i» ana iong periods through which their own am.estois progixused from a suit of biue paint and a war club to the present sarJ. rial iioek-coat, silk hat, and umbrella; forgetting that this carricxihim is to equip the pakeha chud witn the ncctcsaiy knowledge to enable Inn) lo through tlie business of his afer-lik-, white tne .Maori, when he finishes his sctioo.iiig, go,s back to liis kainga with a mass of unassiui.iiat/ed knowici.ge which lie linds nu use for there, he having no business nor professional 1 lit ure. The first fault in the Government system of. education, and a prolific cause of its failure, is surely found in the peculations . which insist that teachers shall o-uv«y aii iiifouuauon liiruUgii tue lue.iniui ut tile t-iigush language. VVhy, if tiie jiaiive schoo.u are to maiiituuied, should not the native Vernacular be the JlxeUiUlll Used, ah.l r.ugilSu Ue ii.» a ftt-paru e sttujeci, as j ..V.[U. 1 d a . ..eig.. •uuguuge* An ectlicaud peiu,,jii uiay -spcuii many liniguagiii, hut, tie iiul.-t. (>_- a li.SvU linguist, indeed who do.s not tnmli m his i.totlier tongue; and why shomd tne native liiilguug., US histoid, lnyuiu u.gy, trauitioiio, ami legciiut>, Ijc ignoieu it may be slated that- at the recent e.vaiiiination ol naive School i-aildiclaiets lol' te Ante- Loliege .JumoV hSciiolaiuhiiiS, a curious lact uiLclOuecl in connection with the. *-iaiiiinatiou Jiapeis w.ij, that iae c..udiaaLei weie giaauallj' losing knowtet.ge ol their on it language, u consequence of this ni is said are to ut made ill ihe .Sfaori school wotk,' and cci'taimy suiiie changes ate to be cUi-.U't d. v\ hat the Maori requires is our genera^ khoWiengc, M liicli surely. coiiia bo conveyed to iiim more rapidly through the m.dium of his own language; lu wm, and uocs, pi ok up our language by iissoeiatlOll. in connection with this it is sai'isfftctorv to find thai., in tlie iimiiiUuiein- ol iiinj native scnoot code, teachers are encouraged to teach cei'tUin tuOjects viva voce, instead of by the old was.e of time systeui. This- aictnse might wu'h advantage be extended to alnuht all the subjects other than writing and figures and singns. lixpericiice atid common sense demonstrate tli.it vile quieter and Clearer Way to a cnild't. understanding is through the sense or sen-Seis wlncll are mote receptive. Une child j.s .sharper in understanding what lie sees, another what he heals, while the deaf and dumb are euuca.ed through the sense of touch. It should also be remembered that the Maori, ignorant- of meta.'s, thier uce and purpose, had no means of recording his knowledge of things, - therefore- his education, winch in cany times was extensive and ranged through astroinony, navigation, pharmacy, botany, agriculture, and the various arts of peace and war, was ccndtic.ed or.iliy until the advent of the pakeha missionaries; hence hiij prodigious power of memory, which the .records of the Native Land Court afford proof of. This explains the curious fact, noticeab.e in schoo.is where children of both racee are taught, that up lo the fourth standard the Maori child is sharper and of keener perception than the pakeha child; this is because ille primary education is mistly oral, but in itie higher standards, itl«e pakeha system being comparative, analytic, and indv.cliive, the hereditary, faculties of the pakeha child take him, oil quickly, and tHie Maori is left b hinil."lining trammelled by a system Which fatigues his mind, being loaded .with formula and signs, proving, that, if all edue. ;iion were conveyed orally ami illustrated by practical objects—as is Imtany- in outdoor instruciiion—ihe presump ion is that the Maori would advance in front of his pakeha fellow-pupil. The one branch of education in which the Maori excels is. caligraphy, .which suggests that, it he were educated, lie would probably excell in arts

and handicrafts. . The eminent writer, Sir Theodore Martin, i.;iy.-> cluuhvn arc educau.:d n.s wore the children of tlie past, gr-ncra-tion. Ilm • t ntire educational system to-day ii, in .the wrong directum: wv imparting a smattering of knowledge, regarding many dungs that will lie or no |;o.-Hil) e advantage to ■ nine children out of ten. arid while dMiig . i h:t> we art- nrgleiting those tilings which are most Ki-n----lial." flow true is this of the naiiyo irlUMll