I think the most important part of this story is the why this is happening, who is advising and what are their interests being served.
Erica Stanford is an amazing salesperson, but who has designed what she is selling?
The decision to ban all Māori words for under 5s is being driven by advisers who have been caught quoting some pretty questionable race ideology.
The justification on phonetics is simply not true…
|
QPEC totally condemns the decision to sabotage At the Marae.
- Sponsor Promotion -
In its explanation, the Ministry actually acknowledges “these words reflect everyday language used in classrooms and communities.” Then in the same sentence, in an embarrassing display of pedagogical rigidity, the Ministry claims “the higher number [six words] presented decoding challenges within the phonics sequence used in the series.” The evidence worldwide suggests the opposite. From the 1960s onwards, projects like the Bilingual Education Project at the Ontario Institute of Education in Toronto have established quite categorically that young children have a natural ability to absorb several languages at the same time, without damage to other functioning like learning to read. Indeed, acquiring more than one language leads to greater verbal ability in general. In Aotearoa NZ, te reo Māori has the added advantage of a close fit between print and sound — closer than there is between English language print and sound. So one irony of the Ministry decision is that censoring Māori words will actually limit both the development of reading abilities and the advantages of bilingualism. And another is the ludicrous decision to delete Māori words from a book that focuses on the Marae, the central location of Māori culture. We should bear in mind that the decision may have less to do with the Ministry and much to do with the prejudices of the Coalition Government. |
|
As Waatea reports, Bruce Jepsen, president of Te Akatea, the Māori Principals’ Association, says the decision not to reprint “At the Marae” was racist and white supremacist. We agree. |
…Who are the advisers of Erica’s purge on Māori words in ?
TDBs educational blogger Allan Alach makes the point..
The education of our pre-school children is at risk, in danger of being dumbed down to meet Atlas Network goals.
…the mainstream media are refusing to even acknowledge any of the back ground advisers for Stanford in making this decision.
Let’s not forget that Elizabeth Rata was appointed despite Ministry recommendations not to appoint her!
Rata rails against the “Learning Approach” and decolonisation, the “political agenda to transform New Zealand”.
…why are we allowing these priorities literally banish Māori out of our children’s books?
When you have an educational activist working against ‘decolonisation’s success’, (her words not mine) surely alarm bells should be ringing?
The Minister’s defence that removing Māori words from books for under 5s is a phonetics decision and not an attack on the Māori language would sound believable if she hadn’t appointed an extremist to do this exact outcome.
Right Wing International think tanks like the Atlas Network are openly hostile to indigenous rights because the Atlas Network are funded by those constantly stealing indigenous land and assets.
We have right wing educational activists with links to NZ think tanks who are connected to the Atlas Network, and they are advising the Minister on policy that will over time censor all Māori words in books for those under 5, purposely making it more difficult to connect to the indigenous identity because they consider that identity is too politicised.
This is a carefully constructed and well camouflaged trojan hose acting in the interests of extreme advocates.
Here is the main adviser to Erica at the ACT Party conference raging against ‘ethno-nationalism’…
…the fact that the mainstream media have not picked up on any of this is a shocking indictment on their lack of research skills!
Remember – Elizabeth Rata was appointed by Erica DESPITE Ministry recommendations not to appoint her!
Erica is on the hook for this ant-Māori, Atlas Network attack on Māori in education and banning the language for children is just the beginning of the purge.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
This is smart politics by the right. They know what they are doing – it’s part of a long term electoral strategy to anchor National with the the pushback against Maori in general – ZB, Garner, NZ Herald and the Platform. This is the go to rightwing strategy in every country with a democracy and it is extremely successful. As a government you can do almost anything to the economy as long as you are picking on a minority at the same time.
As I’ve said previously – since October 2023 the petty provocations against Maori from every layer of government have been continuous and as regular as clockwork. This is going to continue right up to election day next year.
Incredibly grotesque and embarrassing, the explanation is complete nonsense considering neuroscience—children having more neurons and by learning able to form more solid neural pathways into adulthood.
Ending decolonisation’s success in favour of what? Colonisation’s failures? Considering how last century began with European colonies across the Earth rapidly disintegrating and dissolving away as the century progressed, then this century finding many of these former colonies growing in strength and surpassing their former colonisers—demonstrates how deluded these creepy quacks are and the dark age nature of their agenda. Not to mention information technology allowing the opportunity to learn more freely than some rigid system of indoctrination of past times.
Yep bet she wants to do a Paula Bennett. Cf that lady at the beginning, pudgy real, now fined down, almost transmogrified, the very model of a modern major particle, and with a nice little job though still tethered to gummint.
Just blatant racism, however Maori and Te Reo are not going to disappear are they .Fucking amazes me how racist these cunts are but they are happy when Maori score a try in a test match or some other sport .The real problem is Maori economy is out performing the colonist economy .
Elizabeth Rata in this video claims that we are losing democracy because of the apparent “Ethnonationalism” that Maori are practicing??? So, when has Maori suppressed the right for NZers to vote or have your enrollment cancelled?
The deliberately ignorant seem to have taken over education. They intend to dumb it down because dumb, poorly educated people are easier to keep in line.
However, I’m hopeful that subversiveness is alive and well among teachers and parents/grandparents who will ensure children are exposed to te Reo and unique Māori culture.
We do not need the minister’s permission to teach our young ones what we want them to know.