Green Party hits home run with universal te reo Maori in schools

1. Before Britain colonised and annexd this country, te reo was universally spoken by it’s people.

   I wonder if ACT view that as pre-colonial “social engineering”? Or maybe the true “social engineering” came about when British colonists flooded this country as our own “boat people”…?

2. It’s a nice idea to keep the language alive, but for the Greens to shoulder a policy such as this which is bound to be controversial, must come at a considerable cost to the advancement of their environmental objectives.

   It is one thing to form a comprehensive social policy to carry their core issue to a believable administration, but to try to carry another completely separate special interest identity must compromise the message.

   I think they are making a mistake.
   D J S

   • Why should one be exclusive of the other?

     • It won’t be for some; it will be like for Priss , an added attraction, for many a matter of indifference , but for some , a turnoff, as some will resent the enforced focus on an aspect of their child’s education that they consider to be less important than other subjects .
       There are good arguments both ways, I think that having a child’s interest is critical , and while the attention is there learning happens at an astonishing pace, and when it lapses no learning happens at all. And Te Reo may take the interest of a group of pupils otherwise pretty bored by school and that must be positive, and it should be an option. But the quoted statement in the original post that ” the percentage of Maori who can hold a conversation in Te Reo Maori is falling ” shows that even in the population to whom this policy would presumably be of particular interest, it is generally not. Hence I suspect this policy will be counterproductive to the Green’s overall support.
       D J S again

   • I agree that this is a mistake, English is a requirement for obvious reasons but instead of directing funding for Te Reo Maori into all (including those with no interest in learning) maybe the same funding directed towards those who show some interest (i.e. more funding for every interested student / more funding for Te Reo Maori scholarship etc) makes more sense? Also suspect that this will cost the Greens a lot more votes than it will help them win.

     • Have you considered that Greens policy may not be motivated by buying votes in the short term, but by the desire to do the right thing, thus assuring a steady growth in respect for them (and thus votes) in the longer term? I thoroughly support proper teaching of both this country’s official languages in our public school system (and NZ sign language too).

3. What took the politicians so long? ( racism?)This is a great policy. It should have happened years ago in NZ schools !.

   I well remember being required to learn French, when I would much have preferred Maori and found it far more relevant.

   I do not regret the French language however learning the Maori language in school would have been a great Taonga, a treasure .

   Well done Greens!

4. Shouldn’t the Green Party be more concerned about the planetary meltdown that is underway and the economic meltdown that will arrive soon?

   Being able to say “I’m starving and there is no food” or “Shall we eat the dead people?” in Maori is unlikely be of much benefit to coming generations. Indeed, if we keep on our present path of ostentatious consumption (and there is absolutely no indication of any change in direction) there won’t be any coming generations because young children living today will be the last generation to ever reproduce.

   Oh, I forgot for the moment: Green Party policy is to ignore everything that matters, and pretend the globalized economic-political system that is destroying the habitability of the Earth has a future.

   It’s sure going to be ‘interesting’ when the Antarctic ice sheets start slipping into the ocean and raising sea levels by up to 6 metres:

   https://ads.nipr.ac.jp/vishop/#/extent

   But long before that comes the global energy crunch and the unravelling of fiat currencies.

5. I thought Te Reo was compulsory in schools already? Admittedly not particularly well taught much of the time, but from pre school to primary my children are learning it and my own experiences at uni is all my courses had compulsory Te Reo components.

   I welcome people to be bilingual in this country – BUT I also agree with David Stone that Green roots are at the environment (which is in critical danger) and if Greens want to actually gain more votes and stop people being driven to other parties or not voting they many want to focus more on that this election.

   There are currently two Maori parties for those pro Maori to choose from as well as Labour having many of the Maori seats – so voters have many options on this issue if it was critical to them but there are also those who think there are more important issues to focus on than identity politics.

   Greens should be getting a lot more votes. They don’t and the reason is that Metiria has very clear views on what is important to her, rental housing and identity issues (Gender/ethnicity/age). I think this is hijacking the party into areas that are actually against what the main Greens values used to be, aka the environment and uniting people in NZ on that issue.

   Support for National’s unitary plan for example in Auckland is an example of the hijack. A lot of Green voters want to limit population expansion due to environmental reasons and put more regulation into development. Put simply people are polluters, developers have wrecked Auckland with poor quality leaky houses. More people equals more pollution, more houses, more cars, more stress on social services etc.

   I have no doubt that Metiria is a very capable honest person. But her own electorate prefers the Greens party to her in the electoral vote last election. I think Bradford would have been better on social policy because she is an activist and realist. Bradford did more for NZ vulnerable people than any other politician in my view. And even the right respect her – she is a uniter for what she believes in and doggedly pursues that – not just speeches and meetings.

   Bradford could have united vulnerable people in a way that the Greens under Metiria are not able to do because Metiria seems less focused on environmentalism and is focused on social policy but in a mildly schizophrenic disunited and dictative way that does not really rouse people to support the Greens. No one likes being dictated too and told what to do. Bradford came across as supportive and practical, Metiria does not on social policy – more as a dictator of policy.

   Young, Maori women, renters unite, everyone else, Fuck off and pay for us.

   Shaw just seems like an add on and does not seem to be allowed or able to shine.

   The right loves to blame and punish people, my concern are that the Greens are also doing that – and blaming the people that put them in power in the past, Pakeha homeowners. You can be pro Maori and pro Pakeha, pro middle class and pro poor. That’s called winning voters.

   In short Greens are doing what Labour has done in the last few elections which is allowing MP’s to dictate policy in various directions for their idea of social responsibility which is at odds with other policy which seems against it. In short schizophrenic policy that makes no sense to the majority of voters who are alienated as all the televised policy is for a group you don’t belong too that somehow there is a massive fight for between all the parties. This leads many ordinary people not to vote, or be scared that some minor party is coming after them if they get in, they vote for the status quo.

   Labour under Little are coming out of it and I think there may be a change of government, but the Greens are not helping themselves at all or Labour with their decisions.

   Metiria would be better fit as leader of The Maori Party and bring them out of the evil empire than leader of the Greens. Greens really need to take a hard look at what messages they are constantly sending out and are they strong ‘Green’ messages and strong ‘unite’ messages?

6. i will still vote green but my opinion is it will lose more votes than it gains.

7. I agree with this policy. TOP are coming out hitting for Maori to have greater acknowledgement and the Greens response is sensible. It fits their political profile and will have cut through with the urban immigrant demographic.

8. She may be “excited about every child learning te reo Maori in their school ” but I suspect a majority of parents aren’t.

   The fact of the matter is that there are far more Mandarin speakers in NZ than Maori speakers and given the tight school timetable, most kids would be better off learning something they will find useful.

   All this does is condemn the Greens to their normal 10% vote of extremists and nutters.

9. Well I guess the hungry kids can always eat Maori words as well as English words.

   As for the planet…

10. The Greens have just secured my vote! Well done!!

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