We must stand up to the proposed curriculum refresh because it is unfair, divisive and biased and will harm education. Due to come into force in 2026, the refreshed national curriculum concerns the education of millions of students over future decades and will impose costs of several billion dollars on New Zealand taxpayers.
Sometimes, the public becomes concerned about some issue but needs help to identify what can be done to effect change. Here are some ideas on the steps that the New Zealand public could take - those who are worried about what is going wrong in education right now. One possibility is to email or talk directly to your local Member of Parliament. Another idea is to email or talk to your school and your school board. Perhaps the most effective strategy is to email the Ministry of Education, stating your concerns about the refresh. Of course, you can do all three. To assist you in having your say, feel free to copy and paste text from this very web-page. See the text below.
Background
Recently, Breaking Views published articles about the current refreshing of the New Zealand Curriculum "Te Mātaiaho", expressing concerns about the heavily Treaty-centric nature of the proposed national curriculum, the embedding of traditional knowledge across the curriculum (Lillis, 2022a, 2022b and 2022c) and that the new curriculum will be imposed on all students. The main objections of those articles were:
1. Traditional knowledge is to be embedded across the curriculum
2. Traditional knowledge is to be accorded equal status to modern science and possibly taught as science
3. The curriculum is being used as a political tool to elevate the status of one ethnic and cultural group at the expense of all others.
Should the Curriculum Refresh be Stopped or Modified?
At this stage we believe that the refresh should be stopped and a new curriculum development team appointed to develop a national curriculum that is not race-based or that places any form of traditional knowledge at its core, but instead is equitable for all students, regardless of background. If Government cannot or will not cancel the refresh, then we can make various suggestions to the Ministry of Education to the effect that subject curricula should focus on subject content only; for example, the science curriculum should include science only but not other topics such as religion, spiritualism or cultural world-views.
The curriculum should include Te Reo and teach matauranga Māori, but within reason and not at the expense of critical skills and learning. It should also teach elements of languages and world-views of other immigrant communities. Curriculum content should be factual and balanced. Education should be about teaching subject content and how to think, but not teaching what to think, especially in relation to social and political issues.
Your Message to Government, the Ministry of Education, your MP and your School
You may wish to write your own messages but, if you wish, you can copy, paste and edit the text below for use in your own messages.
We expect the Ministry of Education to deliver a relevant curriculum that indeed nurtures Te Reo and teaches matauranga Māori, but not at the expense of critical skills and learning; that teaches elements of the languages and world-views of all immigrant communities; that recognises the diverse needs of all students of all backgrounds equally, and that retains a clear distinction between science as the most widely-accepted and overarching approach to generating knowledge yet devised by humans and the traditional knowledge of groups of people across different parts of the world.
Please stop the curriculum refresh and appoint a new curriculum team to develop a national curriculum that is not race-based or that places any form of traditional knowledge at its core, but instead is equitable for all students, regardless of background.
Subject curricula should focus on subject content; for example, the science curriculum should include science only but not other topics such as spiritualism, philosophy, religion or world-views.
Curriculum content should be factual and balanced.
Education should be about teaching students subject content and how to think, but not instructing them on what to think, especially in relation to social and political issues.
Our curriculum should not be based on any form of traditional knowledge.
No form of traditional knowledge should be accorded equal status with world science.
Our national curriculum should not embody special treatment of any ethnic or cultural group.
Our national curriculum and New Zealand's National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) must retain quality, credibility and portability, both domestically and overseas.
References
Lillis, D. A. (2022a). Education is in Big Trouble
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2023/01/david-lillis-education-is-in-big-trouble.html
Lillis. D. A. (2022b). Reactions to the Proposed New Zealand Curriculum Refresh
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/search/label/Dr%20David%20Lillis
Lillis, D. A. (2022c). New Zealand Must Fight the New Curriculum
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2023/01/dr-david-lillis-new-zealand-must-fight.html
Dr David Lillis trained in physics and mathematics at Victoria University and Curtin University in Perth, working as a teacher, researcher, statistician and lecturer for most of his career. He has published many articles and scientific papers, as well as a book on graphing and statistics.
4 comments:
Agree totally with you David. Keep at it and don't give up.
Thank you David. This is the sort of hand-out / leg-up I'm hoping the general public need. I've personally tried to encourage people to read what you and others have written on this topic in a bid to motivate them into some action, but I've been stunned, nay actually disgusted, at their apparent level of apathy and complacency over such. The average NZer just doesn't seem to appreciate the cost and damage this re-set will cause.
Please do keep it up.
the article addresses general education. I do not know if the intention has been put forward for public comment. Probably as a result of the histories curricum it was considered not prudent to seek home truths. The public should also follow up on the history curriculum. Write to the Minister of Education and enquire how to view the public submissions on the histories Curriculum (You cannot view the submissions. Unlike others to govt and local bodies, these are secret, not accessible even using the OIA, or without names. Apparently not taken up by the msm, and the PIJF now precludes. Do not forget that a reply to your enquiry due).
As in the past when education worked there should be single specific history text books. These could easily be written, based on the several well known and quite neutral histories published in the last 60 years or so. This would vastly simplify the effort for teachers, minimise maori capture, enable parents to assess how their children are being brainwashed or not, and enable those away ill etc to keep up. The manhours associated would be hugely reduced and a lot of contrived make work curriculum positions made redundant. Any matauranga content must be documented, not left to the imagination of some ex maori studies and/or union indoctrinated teacher or ring in Maoris. It should not require many column inches. Nurture is the wrong word for te reo as it implies teaching and use of. In any true history curriculum the original limited form of the language and the consequent modern largely contrived version should be explained. Along with the deteriorated race relations and the re education costs which obsession with it has brought.
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE STONE AGE
So-called ‘ages of man’ are established according to a series of steps whereby humans invented or developed ways of living and ideas, using materials at hand. The earliest period is commonly named the stone age (Palaeolithic) because rocks were the first tools used in a variety of ways; some as found, and others modified in some way for a special purpose. Around 10 000 years ago a new stone age (Neolithic) is recognised when stone tools were still in use, but settlement and primitive forms of agriculture and animal domestication were practised. The earliest phase of this ‘age’ is often known as the pre-pottery neolithic, with baking of clay to form useful vessels coming later.
Polynesians, when first found by Western explorers, were in the pre-pottery neolithic. Taking the New Zealand maori as an example, sweet potato was grown and other foodstuffs obtained from the sea, rivers or land-based animals. Timber worked with stone tools was also available for digging tools, weapons or building, and plant materials were used for fishing traps or clothing. A dog was domesticated. Fire was available, but neither pottery, metals nor the wheel were. Tribal stories and lore were passed on in story telling without permanent record.
Domestic groups lived in habitations made from plant material mainly, and a hierarchical, tribal system was in place, with frequent forays into the territories of other tribes accompanied by slavery, murder and cannibalism.
Belief systems had an almost total animistic basis, with living things being imbued with ‘spirits’ and magical creatures populated the country. Knowledge of the environment was limited to naming some flora and fauna, and some plants were ascribed medicinal benefit, in addition to other utilitarian purposes.
Such were original settlers of New Zealand when European outsiders arrived on exploratory expeditions. When new settlers from Europe arrived, the sudden influx of previously unknown agricultural practices, domestic animals, metals, the wheel, pottery, firearms and generally highly advanced technology must have been overwhelming to the earlier inhabitants. It was not long however before they saw the benefits of what had dropped into their laps, and readily used or adapted the new technologies and ideas.
A treaty, designed and intended to keep New Zealand and its peoples under the protection of the British monarchy, was signed by a small number of maori representatives and the British. The British crown ruled over all, but maori were allowed to basically remain as they were. Problems obviously arose as more settlers arrived and eventually outnumbered the native inhabitants. The clash of ideas and philosophies, as well as the need the new settlers had for land resulted in some skirmishes, deaths on both sides, and some confiscations of land, as rebellious maoris were brought to order.
In recent years reparations in terms of return of lands or large cash settlements has been attempted, but human cupidity has seen these measures to be deemed insufficient. The demographic minority that the descendants of the original native inhabitants now represent wield excessive influence, in part supported by a weak-kneed, compliant government that seems to have no pride in its historical origins.
The result of this supplication and genuflection at the altar of expediency and primitivity is that future New Zealand children will be taught, via a new curriculum, a distorted version of the history of this country, and will lose perspective as to what human knowledge can offer in terms of language, science and philosophy. This anti-intellectual crime should be proclaimed for what it is and any attempt to drag this country and its populace back into the stone age, given short shrift.
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