Encouragement for the Brighter Child

Te Ao Hou, July 1956, Page 44

Encouragement for the Brighter Child He Awhina mo te Tamariki Hihiko Meake nei ka whiwhi nga tamariki Maori, tane wahine, e noho tata ana ki nga haikura ki etahi awhina mo nga kura rawaho penei me Te Aute me Hukarere me era atu kura. Ko inanei te whakatau a Te Minita mo nga Kura a Te Honore R. M. Algie i te Aperira nei i runga i te kupu tautoko a te hui i tu ki Poneke hei whiriwhiri me pehea nga kura Maori a nga ra e tu mai nei. Ka whiwhi huarahi ke ano nga tamariki e whai ana ki nga mahi ma te hinengaro hei oranga mo ratou. E wha te kau nga karahipi ka whakawhiwhia ki nga tamariki kua puta i nga kura o raro e tata ana ki aua haikura a ma te maia o te tamaiti ka whiwhi. Kei te raroto tenei kaupapa ki te iwi Maori. Mai rano i te tau 1881 enei karahipi i whakawhiwhia ai ki nga tamariki Maori. Tae noa ki te tau 1898 e wha tau ano te kaha o nga kura o raro a kei nga kura a nga hahi te rua tau o ko atu i runga i te awhina a te Kawanatanga. Ko Te Aute Kareti te kura tuatahi ki te whakaako i te Maori mo nga mahi a hinengaro penei me nga mahi takuta me era tu mahi a ko te tangata nana taua kaupapa ko te tumuaki rongonui o taua kura ko Te Tatana. No muri mai etahi atu kura Maori i whai ai i te tauira a Te Aute. Huri rawa ake te rau tau hou kua eke ki te ono tau te kaha o nga kura Maori o raro, a ka whakawhiwhia e te Kawanatanga ana awhina mo te rua tau ki nga kura a nga hahi ki nga tamariki e pahi i nga whakamatautau mo te karaehe o runga o aua kura o raro. I tenei ra kua nekehia te kaha o te awhina a te Kawanatanga ki te wha tau a kei te haere nga tamariki Maori ki nga kura Pakeha. Ka tu nga haikura ki nga rohe tuawhenua ka tata mai nga kura tuarua ki nga tamariki kaore i ahei ki enei tu kura i mua ake nei. Kei te manaakitia aua kura a ka nui te piki o te matauranga o te iwi. Ko tenei matauranga te kaupapa o nga mahi a ringa, a meake nei ka kiki aua mahi Maori boys and girls living near a district high school will in future be eligible for scholarships to board at Church colleges and approved high schools. This decision was taken last April by the Minister of Education, the Hon. R. A. Algie, following recommendations by the committee which discussed the future of Maori schools in Wellington last November. This decision further widens the opportunities of young Maoris who desire to follow a professional career. Forty scholarships will be awarded to primary school leavers living within legal distance of district high schools and scholars will be chosen on merit. Maori opinion is known to be strongly in favour of this new development. Scholarships have been given to Maori boys and girls since 1881. Until 1898, Maori village schools gave only a four-year course, and the Church boarding schools provided a further two at the Government's expense. Te Aute College was the first school to offer Maoris secondary education of an academic type. The man who introduced this was the famous headmaster Mr Thornton. Gradually other colleges followed the lead of Te Aute. At the turn of the present century six years of elementary education were given at the ordinary village schools while the Government awarded its scholarship to proficient pupils who wished to follow a two-year post-primary course at one of the Church colleges. Today, the tenure of these scholarships is four years and many of the pupils go to European high schools. With the establishment of district high schools in many remote areas, post-primary education came within the reach of many who had previously been deprived of it. These new schools are spreading knowledge and progress in their districts. They are producing many of the Maori apprentices who will be the skilled workers of tomorrow. In addition they are training some young men and women, who after doing their school certificate desire to study for professions like teaching, law, medicine, etc. The Education Department made it a rule at first that those who lived within reach of a district high school would not qualify for the boarding scholarships. The scholarships were to be only for those who otherwise could get no post-primary education at all. As a result, the number of candidates for the scholarships became less from year to year because there are so few areas left not served by colleges or district high schools. However, eighty scholarships worth £70-£75 continued to be awarded and last year 307 were current. Maori delegates on the Committee on Maori Education at the meeting held in Wellington last November, put forward a proposal that half of

i n ga tamariki Maori. Ko nga tamariki e pahi atu i enei kura ka haere ki nga Whare Wananga kia whakaakona ki nga mahi roia, ki nga mahi takuta me era atu mahi a hinengaro. Ko te tohutohu a te Tari mo nga kura i mua ake nei e kore e ahei nga tamariki e tata ana ki nga haikura mo nga awhina hei kawe i a ratou ki nga kura rawaho mo nga tamariki anake kaore o ratou na haikura aua awhina. I te mea kua rato te nuinga o nga rohe i te haikura kua takitahi haere nga tamariki e whiwhi ki aua awhina mo nga kura rawaho. E 80 nga karahipi o te wariu £70 ki te £75 e whakaputaina ana ia tau ia tau, a i tera tau nei hui katoa aua momo karahipi ki te 307. Ko te tono a nga Maori i te hui i Poneke i tera Noema me wehe te 40 o aua karahipi e 80 mo nga tamariki kakama kei nga rohe he haikura o ratou a ko tetahi 40 mo nga tamariki kaore o ratou na haikura. E tika ana ra kia koa nga matua mo te whakatau a te Minita mo nga kura mo nga karahipi nei. Ahakoa hoki te pai o nga haikura hou nei, ko te tumanako ia o nga matua kia wehe atu a ratou tamariki i te kainga kia matatau ai ki nga tikanga o te ao, kia tutataki ki nga tamariki o raua iwi a kia riro ma te tangata ke e tohutohu. Ko te tumanako tenei o nga matua Maori katoa engari ia na te utu o enei momo kura, whawha ana hoki ki te £200 i te tua, i whakahaehae. WHAKATAU He kokonga whare, e kitea, He kokonga ngakau, e kore e kitea. A corner of a house can be seen and examined, Not so the corners of your heart. He kotuku kai whakaata, ehara i te parera apu paru. A white heron peering upon its food, not a mud gobbling duck. (Applied to host who refrains from eating whilst attending to needs of his guest). He kaka ki te haere, he kuku ki te kainga. A kaka when travelling, a pigeon at home. (Applied to a person who when travelling loudly announces his approach to a village, but in his own home sits quietly whilst travellers pass by). Reo Takiwa these eighty scholarships should in future be devoted to children of special ability living in areas served by district high schools. This would leave forty for the very isolated areas where no secondary schools exist at all. The committee accepted the proposal which was approved last April by the Minister of Education. The decision should be received with great satisfaction among Maori parents. In spite of the entirely adequate education given by the district high schools to the great majority of pupils, many Maori parents still like to send their brighter children away from the village for their schooling. They like them to undergo the influence of the boarding school environment because they think it will bring them a new outlook and make success in the world easier. It is not a shirking of responsibility for the cost of boarding school (all in all at least £200 per year) is a considerable responsibility, scholarship or no. A college offering a professional course is particularly valuable for the brighter child who is suitable for entering one of the professions. Too many of these fail today through cultural reasons, that is, through the gap between the home community and a professional course at high school. This is a purely Maori problem and it is right that there should be a special scholarship provision for Maoris to overcome it at the present time. Even with this provision it will take years before Maoris can get the same benefit from the country's advanced education facilities as the Europeans get at present. The Rt. Hon. S. G. Holland at last year's Te Aute College break-up, examines a taiaha held by Garry Rangiihu, the college haka leader. In his prize-giving address, the Prime Minister reminded the boys that Te Aute College had given the world two great statesmen in Sir Apirana Ngata and Sir Peter Buck, and they had been boys just like the present generation—doing the same things, playing the same pranks, learning from the same sort of teachers. ‘And,’ he said, ‘there is still plenty of room at the top.’