DEFINITE OBJECT IN EDUCATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 175, 14 October 1927, Page 13

DEFINITE OBJECT IN EDUCATION

PLEA FOR MAORI BOYS NATIVE MASTER’S LECTURE “Maori bo>s will follow a good leader anywhere. Give them a definite object in education. Nothing pleases a Maori more than to believe that he is working on a partnership basis.” A plea for a better understanding «.> the Maori lad in the educational scheme of New Zealand, so that he might, ou reaching manhood. take his proper place in the rational life, was made by Air. Patrick Bmythe, senior assistant at St. Stephen s Maori College, in an address under the auspices of the To Akarana Maori Association List evening. N Some people were inclined to the view that it was dangerous to set foot where angels feared to tread, said Mr. Smythe, in reference to his subject. Yet as the son of an Irish father and a ATgapuhi mother, he did not consider himself either a fool or an angel, and felt at perfect liberty to speik. (Laughter.) For the last 15 years Air. Smythe, who is also the association’s secretary, has devoted himself to Alaori education. The ideas that the Alaori lad was uneducated before the arrival of the pakeha was quickly dismissed. Mr. Smythe explained the curriculum of the ancient wliare kura, or schools of learning, open only, however, to the sons of chieftains or priests. Birth was an essential entrance qualification. TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR Then came that torrential downpour upon the Maori environment—the arrival of the Europeans. Consternation reigned when the missionaries attacked the ancient laws of tapu, the sheet anchor of the Maori social system. The Maori mentally was ignored and not understood. An advanced culture was rushed all too quickly upon the bewildered Maori. After tracing the development of Alaori education since the missionary days, and subsequent legislation, Mr. Smythe said: “The question has often been asked, ‘What is the use of educating the Maori? He will only go back to the mat/ “If the example of Sir Apirana Ngata. who for years has done so much for his East Coast people, can be termed •going back to the mat/ I hope that hundreds of other Maoris will do likewise!” (Applause) In 1923, 7,016 Alaori students were attending 324 public schools and It private establishments for natives. This represented 13 per cent, of the total Alaori population. WEAK IN ENGLISH From inquiries he had made, declared Air. Smythe, he had found that the native scholars were invariably weak in English. “Yet what can you expect?” he asked. “English is not their tongue, and I hope that it never will be.” On the other hand they excelled in drawing, writing, mathematics and manual arts and handicrafts. One teacher had remarked that the Maoris would benefit from “a technical rather than a literary form of education/’ If taken early enough, he saw no reason why the Maori pupils should not compete on an equal footing with the European scholars in matriculation and other examinations. It was Air. Smythe’s contention that the teacher of Maoris should preferably be one of Maori extraction. He should qualify in Maori tradition and history in order to understand and appreciate Alaori mentality. The greatest stumbling block was the English language. Often the honest efforts of a Alaori boy were held up to ridicule. A sure road toward success was for the teacher to be a student with his pupils. NO COLOUR LINE “There is no colour line in New Zealand, yet is some hesitation in certain directions to promote the Maori or to give him greater responsibility.” The young Maori must be given j sympathetic encouragement, said Mr. j Smythe, and a definite object in edu--1 cation if he was to become a useful member of the community. The average young Alaori scholar {when asked what walk of life he in- | tended entering on leaving school ini variably answered: “I do not know.”