Meeting some of the locals...

Chatting with the Locals…

Hey everyone!  So as I have already said, we are currently staying in a Maori village.  The two men that run the facility stop by on occasion, and I was able to sit down and talk with each of them about Maori Education.  The first thing that is kind of cool is that one of the buildings here used to be an Early Childhood Education school. 

I first sat down with a man named Huia.  He had talked that his ancestors were chosen for roles that they would play in the community.  The children were taught using oral repetition of history.  Huia remembers that the elders would be up in the early morning reciting history in the room where the children slept.  It was said that the children would retain most information in the early mornings, so that is why they practiced this method of teaching. 

Huia did not attend a traditional Maori school, but he still knew a few things.  He told me that when he was young, and his parents as well, they were not allowed to speak Maori in school.  If a person were to speak the language, there would be corporal punishment.  Thankfully, this is not the case today.  The Maori people are working on revitalizing their language and ways.  There are now Maori schools in New Zealand.  Most of them are located on the North Island.  These schools teach purely in Maori.  Huia likes the fact that they are teaching the Maori children their language while they are young.  Huia is still practicing his Maori language, but is happy to see it being incorporated into the school system.  For the students who do not attend a regular Maori school, Maori is now offered as a class for the students in the mainstream schools. 

Huia values education greatly four a couple reasons.  The first, is much like a reason I would have, employment is better with education.  His second reason is that a child gets to learn about his or her own culture, and get to know oneself better. 

I asked Huia if he thought the Maori children valued their education.  He said no, there is a trend of lots of Maori leaving without qualifications.  Huia suggests the reasons for this being no support at home and socioeconomic status.  After speaking with Huia, I would say that he has a functionalist perspective on education.  He values it’s importance in the social world, like getting jobs, but he also greatly values the individual benefits of getting to know oneself. 

Relating what Huia said to me with School and Society by Walter Feinberg & Jonas F. Soltis, I am not going to put a label on Huia’s educational values. 

“The point of this book is to help you think about school and society by seeing how others have thought about it, not by learning how to apply one label or another to the thinkers or to school situations” (p. 8). 

I saw some commonalities between the functionalist perspective and Huia’s view.  From talking to him, I learned that he thinks schooling is an important part of the society. 

Paki, who is currently sitting next to me, is the person I talked to next.  An interesting fact, he just told him that his name means sunshine.  Anyways, when I talked to Paki about education, he did not have much to say.  He also went to the public, however, he only went through sixth grade.  Paki said he does value education if you want to get somewhere in life.  Paki is very glad that the Maori language is coming back, and proceeded to teach me to count to 5 in Maori.  Later that afternoon he actually came back and gave me a book about how to speak Maori.  I am definitely excited to show that to people when I get back. 

Paki did not give me very much feedback on education.  He seemed to rather talk about the Maori language, or about his farming of beef cattle.  As he does value education, it is not the center of all things for him. 

Finally, I talked to a 21-year-old boy, his name is Brad.  He is not a Maori, but he is a Kiwi.  He was actually a leader on our black water-rafting trip, and we ran into him in town a couple times after that.  I decided to ask him about his education, and it was an interesting find.  He actually went to a boarding school from the ages of 11-16.  Previous to that he was at a regular school.  I asked him if he ever learnt Maori, or about the culture.  He said he did learn how to count in Maori, but that was all.  “Most Kiwi’s don’t learn Maori unless they want to” Brad had told me.  Brad does value education, and went on to a university for deployment in outdoor education and leadership.  Although Brad values education, it is not common amongst his family.  Heading straight into the work force is more common for him, but he is happy that he was able to get an education.  After visiting with Brad, I would say that he is more of a functionalist like Huia.  He believes that education serves a social purpose along with individual purpose. 

As I continue to ready School and Society I am excited to gain more insight on the different views of education that have been witnessed, and also see what new views I may find.  I will be sure to write more as I read more into the book.

Paki and I. 

Brad and I.