Columns

This week’s motion is “That Maori language should be a compulsory subject in schools”. Tiho Mijatov argues the affirmative, while Basil Brazil argues the negative.

Affirmative

I always feel a bit thick passing through New Zealand towns and having no clue what the Maori place names mean. Or having to sit through the principal’s ten minute ‘korero’ before the English translation at school assemblies. Or being unable to have a meaningful opinion on the W(h)anganui debate. And I’m definitely in the majority. Apparently, only ten percent of Maori themselves speak the language, let alone non-Maori.
 
So is the solution to let the language dwindle until it’s eventually removed from the curriculum? To change place names into their English counterparts? Or should we educate everyone about our country’s national languages?
 
First of all, learning ANY language is good for the person learning it. It makes your brain work in ways it wouldn’t otherwise, it helps you to understand the structure and feel of your own language, and some boffins at Harvard have even proved it delays the onset of mental diseases like dementia. So even if Maori isn’t the next Spanish, it will help kids’ other learning, and so should take a permanent place in the school programme.
 
But why learn Maori specifically? Well, it’s pretty indisputable that a thorny political issue of our time is the resentment and confusion on both sides about the Treaty of Waitangi, and what to do about it. It’s also pretty uncontroversial that different languages have untranslatable words for different concepts. So when the Greeks have a single word “kairos” for that feeling you get when time seems to drag on and on or flash by far too quickly, or when the Koreans have an encouraging term that translates only as ‘fight’, you can’t help but feel that knowing only one language limits the way we see, and can ever see, the world. More locally, in our founding document the key to one of its only three clauses is ‘kawanatanga’. In English that’s Maori giving up their sovereignty, which we associate with executive control over the country. In Maori, it’s just a transliteration of what they thought sounded like ‘Governor’, a man based in Australia who hardly impacted on their lives and occasionally protected them from settlers. When the Treaty talks about giving this up, it’s crucial that we know exactly what we meant.
 
And the only way we can work through these problems is by talking through it. And surely it’ll be far more effective if in a generation people can freely converse in both our national languages, better understanding each others’ viewpoints and coming to solutions that work for everybody.
 
- Tiho Mijatov
 

Negative
 
It sucks that Maori is dying language, but teaching it in school isn’t going to rectify the problem.  
 
Sorry Tiho, but how many of you can confidently say you studied the Treaty of Waitangi a good five or six times at school yet can’t seem to recall a thing? This is because interest and enthusiasm are key to absorbing knowledge.  Similarly, to become fluent in a language requires commitment, passion and perseverance. Sadly schools simply aren’t fostering such attitudes.
 
Imagine this; you’re a fidgety, pre-pubescent kid sitting in class on a Friday afternoon. The unenthused, young white teacher is trying to teach you a few “Maow-ree” phrases. You have a laugh with your mate at what sounds like “Fuck-a-papa” and then resume flicking spitballs at the girl in front. Maybe it would be different if the teacher was an All-Blacks lookalike with a chocolately accent, but let’s face it, there already is a shortage of good teachers, let alone teachers who can actually speak Te Reo without sounding like Paul Henry. Sadly, school isn’t the place to engage young people. It’s thus unsurprising that in a YahooXtra poll conducted on July 28th 2008 asking the question whether Maori should be compulsory in school, an overwhelming 82% percent said no.

The problem in New Zealand is that we are way too bloody PC about it all. Politicians and principals will gladly tack a couple of “Tena koutou katoas” on to the beginning of speeches then whinge about the multitude of Maori on the dole once in the comfort of their Ponsonby penthouses. Teachers will insist on using phrases without showing any admiration for the culture. We pretend to value our only true official spoken language in public, but secretly ridicule it whenever we get the chance.
 
The future of Maori is dependent on a change in outlook. We want people to learn the language out of choice, not because they know it will get them promoted. We want our nation to be truly proud of our indigenous people. How do we achieve this? Maori needs to be more prevalent in the public eye. We need more Maori music, more Maori television, more Maori politicians, more Maori doctors and more Maori politicians. Only when Maori is ubiquitous will it truly be appreciated.
 
-Basil Brazil