Why Labour and National won't be making Te Reo compulsory in schools

Forums › Politics › Why Labour and National won't be making Te Reo compulsory in schools

amiga500

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Topic # 240387 5-Sep-2018 17:38

On the AM show this week Simon Bridges said he supported the teaching of Te Reo but would not make it compulsory. I would say that Labour won't be rushing to make it a compulsory subject either.

For the last many weeks columnist Joel Maxwell has been extolling the virtues of learning Te Reo describing his personal journey towards fluency in Te Reo. As the weeks have gone by the number of negative comments & down votes about Joel and Te Reo seem to have grown and grown. Each week a few people will comment in support of the column but the vast majority are in opposition.

While one could say that Stuff commenters are mostly conservative, white, and old, the sheer number of negative comments would make any politician wanting to make Te Reo compulsory in schools a little nervous.

Here is a screenshot of 3 comments and down votes from his 3 Sept. 2018 column. (Actually up votes on the comments made)

Fred99

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Reply # 2084473 5-Sep-2018 18:10

Foreign language's?

FFS - 126 upvotes for some moron who doesn't even know the basics of his/her own language?

Wish I'd been forced to learn some Te Reo at school, and I wish I'd been forced to take the piano lessons which I considered to be an utter waste of time, when I was 8 years old.

amiga500

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Reply # 2084477 5-Sep-2018 18:26

Fred99:

Foreign language's?

FFS - 126 upvotes for some moron who doesn't even know the basics of his/her own language?

Wish I'd been forced to learn some Te Reo at school, and I wish I'd been forced to take the piano lessons which I considered to be an utter waste of time, when I was 8 years old.

You are right of course, but this guy gets to hold an orange voting pen every 3 years ..

gzt

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Reply # 2084572 5-Sep-2018 21:43

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amiga500: Why Labour and National won't be making Te Reo compulsory in schools

The number of negative comments on a Stuff page doesn't strike me as a good guide to anything.

amiga500

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Reply # 2084680 6-Sep-2018 07:49

gzt:
amiga500: Why Labour and National won't be making Te Reo compulsory in schools

The number of negative comments on a Stuff page doesn't strike me as a good guide to anything.

Well yes, but if I were the National/Labour team in charge of running polling it might make them think about doing some of their own polling on this issue. I bet National has, & that is why Simon Bridges came out so clearly on the issue this week. Making Te Reo compulsory in rural schools would go down like a lead balloon in some regions of NZ.

MikeAqua

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Reply # 2084705 6-Sep-2018 09:10

While I don't have a personal stake in this, I would like to see te reo compulsory up to the first year of high school, because: -

- Being bilingual has many benefits so I would like to see kiwi kids becoming bilingual at an early age;

- Te reo is an easy language to practice within NZ - practice is important to staying blingual;

- The govt has a generally accepted obligation to support the language and teaching it is a very effective way to do that;

We would need to acknowledge a few probable consequences: -

- In time the majority of te reo speakers would be non-Maori;

- This would unavoidably alter the language (as Maori have influenced development of the NZ accent and the NZ dialect of English);

Mike

amiga500

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Reply # 2086740 10-Sep-2018 10:50

Maori language week. Another week of 'intensive care' for the language that can't sustain itself. Go to any event with lots of Samoan or Chinese people and observe how those two cultures manage very well to keep their language alive - by talking!

gzt

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Reply # 2087159 10-Sep-2018 20:49

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amiga500:
Maori language week. Another week of 'intensive care' for the language that can't sustain itself. Go to any event with lots of Samoan or Chinese people and observe how those two cultures manage very well to keep their language alive - by talking!

It's really not that simple. Both Chinese and Samoan ethnicities have strong institutions in the form of national governments that invest in and have the effect of maintaining the language, a huge number of publications and multimedia the list goes on. The Maori language received very little state support for a long long time and during some periods was actively discouraged by state institutions.

freitasm

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Reply # 2092406 18-Sep-2018 10:59

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I have removed a reply from this topic and banned the user. Racism is not tolerated here.

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mrfte

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Reply # 2094369 21-Sep-2018 10:26

My wife and myself speak Tamil (our native language) at home, we watch a lot of international movies and know bits and bobs of Spanish, Japansese and Hindi. I welcome the need to teach a second language in school though I don't support Te Reo being made compulsory. Would rather have an international language of our choosing instead (French/Mandarin/Spanish... ) which will enable our daughter internationally.

gzt

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Reply # 2094786 21-Sep-2018 22:36

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Possibly one reason you don't hear more spoken Maori around is experiences like this:

Stuff: Laura Martin (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa) has heard these and other racist comments on recent trips to the playground with her 2-and-a-half-year-old son.

The solo parent, who is part way through a social work degree, is determined to raise her child bilingually with te reo Māori as his main language, but is encountering backlash from people she's never met before.

"I've been told that I'm a child abuser for speaking my own indigenous language. I've been told that I should stop doing Māori things because 'that's how women get bashed' ... it [racism] is everywhere."

Pretty bad. It's more or less harrasment for speaking Te Reo in public. It's a horrible thing.

MikeAqua

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Reply # 2095652 24-Sep-2018 17:07

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gzt: Possibly one reason you don't hear more spoken Maori around is experiences like this:

Stuff: Laura Martin (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa) has heard these and other racist comments on recent trips to the playground with her 2-and-a-half-year-old son.

The solo parent, who is part way through a social work degree, is determined to raise her child bilingually with te reo Māori as his main language, but is encountering backlash from people she's never met before.

"I've been told that I'm a child abuser for speaking my own indigenous language. I've been told that I should stop doing Māori things because 'that's how women get bashed' ... it [racism] is everywhere."

Pretty bad. It's more or less harrasment for speaking Te Reo in public. It's a horrible thing.

That's terrible. I hope it represents a small minority of F-witts. How any intelligent people really think like that, much let alone say it?

I'd be willing to bet the sense of identity/pride gained via exposure to te reo and tikanga is associated with a reduced incidence of violence among Maori.

If you read early accounts of missionaires who came to NZ, they noted physical punishment of kids in Maori communities was rare and generally thought Maori didn't physically discipline their kids enough - "spare the rod, spoil the child" etc.

Mike