Dr. David Lillis, Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger & Professor John Raine: In Defense of Science and Education

 The Guardian Declines to Publish

For those interested, here is a letter that was written two weeks ago to the editor of The Guardian - which they declined to publish – refusing, by the way, to give a reason.

It is wonderful that the Māori holiday, Matariki, was covered in The Guardian of 13 July by Charlotte Graham-McLay - Indigenous renaissance: Māori hope Matariki holiday will help cement status of local knowledge.

 

Matariki marks the mid-winter rising of the Pleiades star cluster, signifying a time of beginnings and endings, coming together, remembrance of the dead, and planting of crops. The article says that Māori leaders hope that the country learns more of the history behind Matariki, in which the positions of the moon and stars are the foundation for understanding almost every aspect of the natural world. 

 

Indeed, we should learn about the celebration’s origins, but those of us who have undertaken studies in geophysics and astrophysics assure the casual reader that the positions of the moon and stars most certainly are not the foundation for understanding most aspects of the natural world. Māori knowledge included weather and environments, planting patterns and the movements of fish. However, no traditional knowledge provides much explanation on how and why such phenomena occur. Unfortunately, traditional knowledge rarely goes beyond trial and error and accumulated observation, often conflates understanding and knowledge, and generally fails to bring the explanatory power provided by world science. Such knowledge was transmitted orally, without books, and therefore it is somewhat fatuous to have asserted that Māori books had to be hidden in order to be preserved.

 

We are told that New Zealanders are hungry to know more about the Māori understanding of land, skies and seas. Many of us really are keen to learn about the knowledge of indigenous communities. However, we draw the line firmly at taking any form of traditional knowledge as equal to the science of the twenty-first century and we fight against the present unrestrained acceptance of traditional knowledge within education, medicine and science.  

 

John Raine is an Emeritus Professor of Engineering and held Deputy and Pro-Vice-Chancellor roles across three New Zealand Universities. His responsibilities have included research, research commercialisation and internationalisation. 

 

Dr. David Lillis is a retired researcher, statistician and academic manager, who holds degrees in physics and mathematics, was a statistician for education for the New Zealand Government and worked for several years in research evaluation for the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

 

Peter Schwerdtfeger is a distinguished professor in theoretical chemistry and physics and Head of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study at Massey University.

 

Link to the Guardian article:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/14/indigenous-renaissance-maori-hope-matariki-holiday-will-help-cement-status-of-local-knowledge