Tour of Schools

Te Ao Hou, September 1967, Page 45

Tour of Schools by ‘Kere’ We have just returned from a trip to seven schools, all of them interesting, all of them different, and what a welcome we received, even though we were speaking on such ‘dry’ topics as teacher-training, university courses, apprenticeship requirements, hostel accommodation and boarding bursaries. Admittedly, we ‘sweetened the pill’ with Maori and Cook Island action-songs and hakas, but even so, teachers at all these schools said that there was interest and enthusiasm and a more realistic attitude towards the aims of schoolwork after we had been. Who were we, anyway, to go gallivanting around secondary schools in the Wellington province? We were a group of students from Wellington Teachers' College, following up an idea raised at the Maori Student Federation meeting last May, where it was suggested that school tours should be made to help prepare the many Maori children who must in a year or two make the ‘big move’ into the city. A grant was forthcoming from the J. R. MacKenzie Trust, and our lecturer, Mr B. Mitcalfe, arranged for seven schools to receive us over a long college week-end, from Friday to Monday. Away we went on a ski-truck that looked so much like a stock truck that at Hato Paora (Parorangi—near Feilding) the ‘Fathers’ came out, took one look at us and went back in again. They had thought it was the assignment of cattle for the farm. That misunderstanding cleared up, we soon settled in, met all the boys and Fathers Delaney, Atkins and Kinsella. The group performed for the whole school, breaking the programme with a brief talk on ‘varsity life and the difficulties of the first year. This was from Iwi Henare, an old boy of St

photographs by Brian Morell In the Waitotara valley the students looked at these rua koauau—pits for storing kumara. Stephens, whose first hand experience of the problems of social life, accommodation and adjusting to the freedom of ‘varsity life proved most valuable, provoking a whole barrage of questions during the informal supper session afterwards. At Turakina Maori Girls' College it was teaching that most interested the seniors. Mrs Tiria Asher, who had been working for many years as an uncertificated assistant in schools all over the North Island, spoke on the advantages of teaching, not only as an interesting and varied job for young people, but also for married women who would wish to return to this work when their families had grown up. Tiria was astonished to find that at some of the schools the pupils didn't realise students at Teachers' College were actually paid to David Andrews, Tiria Asher and Barry Mitcalfe took into a double rua. learn, so that parents did not have to find money to send children to college. Similarly, many of the Teachers' College students do university subjects with ‘all fees paid by the college, and those who do well are given a year of full-time university work on a teacher's bursary. Mac Burt, another second-year Teachers' College student, with very close links with Ngaruawahia, described the Maori and Pacific subjects one could do at university, ranging from Maori Studies and Maori Language through to Stage III, to Anthropology, Sociology and Asian Studies up to an Honours level, i.e. four years of study. He also took care to outline the $270 boarding bursary available, and to stress the need for two years of sixth form work before entering university. College pupils were interested to hear of the alternatives to the ‘bonded’ bursary which offers free university work and living expenses in exchange for a year of service in a government department (on pay) for every year of study. Both Mac Burt and Murray Bruce, speaking on apprenticeship, stressed the worsening economic situation and the way it would hit casual workers first, but even so it was still possible for a boy not sure about his future career to attend university during the eightmonth academic year and save the necessary money to support himself by working in the freezing works for the remaining four months. Mac himself had done this sort of thing; so had Tom Ihaka, the leader of the action-song group; it sounded much more convincing coming from them than from any vocational guidance officer. The group was struck by the tightening of

the economic situation—especially at Ratana Pa, where the acting headmaster, Mr Henry Everitt, said one-third of the men were out of work, partly bcause of seasonal fluctuations but also because of the ‘squeeze’. Even so, the students were vastly impressed by Ratana Pa, by the enormous hall in the course of construction, to be finished by next January, able to seat 4,000 at once, the energy and friendliness of the children whom we'd met before and hope to meet again, and finally, by the place itself, still one of the great centres of Maori life. The other thing that struck the party was the difference between the boys' and girls' schools. At Wanganui Girls' College, where Miss Ellis (formerly of Kamo) was headmistress, the whole school received us with the utmost friendliness as did Turakina Girls', but it was the more formal and restrained boys' schools which asked the more searching questions about careers. It was as if there was still a different standard for girls, much lower, directed perhaps not towards a career, but solely to a family. Here Dovey Shedlock was careful to point out the advantages of education to a married woman, how it helped her help her own children, but it still seemed as if (apart from a few like Hine Delamere, the head girl at Turakina) most of the girls were setting their sights far too low. Although we were impressed by the questioning at Wanganui Boys' College, I think for atmosphere and friendliness (apart from the boarding schools) our visit to Manawatu and Horowhenua Colleges will be remembered with warmth, for staff and pupils went out of their way to make us welcome. These were very much community schools, especially Manawatu College at Foxton where the parents, Maori Children at Ratana Pa with some of their visitors. and Pakeha, packed the assembly hall for an evening concert, a talk and a sociable supper afterwards. Here, Murray Bruce, who hails from Levin, came into his own, speaking on the minimum requirements for apprenticeship—two years or more of secondary education and a good grounding in maths for most trades—and outlining the various Maori Affairs schemes in carpentry, plumbing and electrical trades. David Andrews described the advantages of the many hostels in Wellington, how it was possible to find cheap living and the company of people like oneself in the hostel situation. Apart from what was said, it was the personal contact that mattered, the friendships made, the hospitality given, and the contacts future school leavers will have in Wellington. We hope this school tour will become an annual event. Wanganui East Girls' College Maori Club members perform an action song for their visitors.