Compulsory Study Needed

Te Ao Hou, September 1965, Page 14

Compulsory Study Needed If the seeds of racial harmony are to be sown in the school, it is obvious that first we must have wise nursery-men, for teachers cannot teach racial harmony if they do not understand and practise it themselves. This brings us to the education of the teachers. In my opinion the study of race relations should be one of the compulsory and essential subjects to be taught in the Teachers'

Training Colleges. It should entail a closer and fuller study of other races, discussions on race relations, where they fail and how to improve them, discussions on the problems of different peoples and informal lectures by people of different races, all aimed at fostering a deeper and healthier understanding between races. I have seen this carried out to some extent very admirably at Wellington Teachers' College, but not all European students were involved; it affected only those who had Maori students in their groups or who chose to specialise in Maori studies. At Training College I knew many European students who had never even conversed with a Maori before they attended the College (and not solely because no Maoris lived in their district). After mixing freely with us for two years they knew much more about us, and were not so quick to condemn. If all teachers were thus educated, they would pass on their knowledge and understanding to children who in their turn, would transmit their wisdom to another generation.