In a wide-ranging podcast discussing Waitangi week, Duncan Garner argues for the coalition government’s record on Māori-related issues.
“The record says they are better for Māori than Labour,” he remarks, “but nobody wants to talk about it.”
Garner says that, despite heated rhetoric, the government “haven’t removed one co-governance set-up.” Nor, he adds, have Treaty principles been stripped from legislation.
On Treaty settlements, Garner says, “[National’s] done the most settlements and they’ve done the biggest settlements, and they continue to do them.”
Garner contrasts that explosion in iwi balance sheets with the reality for many Māori families. “Iwi wealth has exploded,” he says, while average Māori households see little direct benefit.
He singles out ACT’s David Seymour for direct involvement in reopening and funding Māori boys’ schools, including Tipene/St Stephens.
“There’s another northern school… going to Parnell to another charter school for Māori that will be funded by David Seymour,” Garner says. “They wouldn’t exist without him.”
Yet he adds that this work is barely acknowledged. “The media hasn’t told the story of Seymour and the Māori schools,” he says, arguing that results-driven Māori education reform is sidelined because it clashes with the preferred political storyline, labelling the government as racist.
Garner says refocusing on literacy and numeracy has delivered the biggest gains for Māori students. “Because Māori had fallen so far behind, they gained the most,” he says, calling it “the best way to honour the Treaty.”
He also points to ongoing Māori cultural funding, including around $20 million for Te Matatini, which undermines claims that the government is anti-Māori.
On Treaty settlements, Garner says, “[National’s] done the most settlements and they’ve done the biggest settlements, and they continue to do them.”
Garner contrasts that explosion in iwi balance sheets with the reality for many Māori families. “Iwi wealth has exploded,” he says, while average Māori households see little direct benefit.
He singles out ACT’s David Seymour for direct involvement in reopening and funding Māori boys’ schools, including Tipene/St Stephens.
“There’s another northern school… going to Parnell to another charter school for Māori that will be funded by David Seymour,” Garner says. “They wouldn’t exist without him.”
Yet he adds that this work is barely acknowledged. “The media hasn’t told the story of Seymour and the Māori schools,” he says, arguing that results-driven Māori education reform is sidelined because it clashes with the preferred political storyline, labelling the government as racist.
Garner says refocusing on literacy and numeracy has delivered the biggest gains for Māori students. “Because Māori had fallen so far behind, they gained the most,” he says, calling it “the best way to honour the Treaty.”
He also points to ongoing Māori cultural funding, including around $20 million for Te Matatini, which undermines claims that the government is anti-Māori.
The Centrist is an online news platform that strives to provide a balance to the public debate - where this article was sourced.
2 comments:
I am very pleased to see that a journalist has focused on education not monetary handouts for Maori or emphasis on their culture. Over decades governments and other bodies have tried to alleviate Maori underachievement , welfare and crime statistics but at last a government has tackled what I believe is the paramount issue -a rotton progressive education system that selectively disadvantages the most vulnerable in society , not just Maori.
National along with Labour bought into this iniquitous ideology for more than 50 decades so what the coalition is doing is just reversing former disastrous mistakes in policy.
Charter schools will produce no better results unless they also cancel out the progressive ideology and doing instead everything except concentrating on what schooling is primarily all about - teaching the basics . Cultural indoctrination like insisting on Te Reo and Matauranga Maori will never be a substitute for this. It will be a very serious error to believe these things are a substitute.
Overseas studies, schools and research have shown over and over that disadvantaged students for one reason or another from society thrive and even out perform academically those from even the highest stratas of society- see the Clackmananshire Scottish research and the miracle of Mississippi in raising literacy standards in the very poorest of society.
Ptogressive educators, who make up most of our institutions ,of course are unhappy about their pet ideology being challenged. Gaynor
Correction :5 decades not 50. Gaynor
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