The University of Auckland’s controversial Treaty of Waitangi and te ao Māori courses are unlikely to remain compulsory after negative feedback from staff and students, and criticism from politicians.
The university senate has recommended that Waipapa Taumata Rau (WTR) courses become an optional choice, rather than a core requirement.
The courses were made compulsory for all first-year students this year. The backdown comes after just one completed semester.
In March, Act leader David Seymour called on the university to scrap the compulsory courses, describing them as “a perversion of academic freedom” and “a form of indoctrination”.
“The university has been reviewing the feedback about the Waipapa Taumata Rau courses,” Auckland University Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater posted online on September 12. …
“While students have found the courses valuable, they have also indicated where improvements could be made and told us they would like greater flexibility in how WTR fits within their programme of study,” she wrote.
“As we do with all courses, we aim to use staff and student feedback to strengthen how they are delivered.
“To that end, and in response to that feedback, a proposal will be discussed at Senate on 15 September recommending that WTR become an optional choice within General Education for most programmes, rather than a core requirement.
This is a welcome backdown.
First of all no course should be compulsory across all faculties except something related to core academic learning such as how to do citations, references, not plagiarise etc. I would think it could be covered in a single one or two hour session.
The compulsory Treaty clauses were not about exposing students to diverse views on what the Treaty means. It was to tell them there is only one correct view.
Worse of all, students had to pay up to $6,000 for a compulsory course that many saw as of little or no relevance to their degree.
If the course does become optional, it will be fascinating to see how many students in each faculty elect to do it.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders
No comments:
Post a Comment