SPASIFIK publisher INNES LOGAN asks who’s to blame for the education struggles of Maori and Pacific students.
I know a family of three brothers and a sister from West Auckland who never achieved much at school. It appeared the education system didn’t suit them at all and the same could be said of their parents.
What they did have was a good work ethic, literacy skills and a certain independent streak that saw them follow their parents into the line of self employment.
So, having made a success of their lives, did the education system fail them? Possibly.
If so, is it because the education system is racist? Not in this particular family’s case. They are white.
They are my wife Anne, and brothers-in-law John, Michael and Robert, children of Murray and Margaret Becroft.
When Maori Party co-leader and Associate Education Minister Pita Sharples suggested in his call to provide Maori free and easy access to universities because the “system was failing Maori”, I immediately thought of them. I also thought of a family friend whose 16-year-old son, who had spent a decade of his school life failing to learn and being a constant disruption in class, was at last finding his way learning carpentry trade skills. He’s also white.
In the five-and-a-half years since SPASIFIK began we’ve profiled hundreds of Maori and Pacific people who have succeeded in education, their careers and business.
What becomes clear is that most succeed because of their home environment and the support and expectations of their parents. It has little to do with race, apart from the fact not enough Maori and Pacific support their kids to succeed at school.
Of course all our parents want their children to do well at school. Well, that’s what we’re told.
Pity they’re often just words, not actions.
I know of two South Auckland families living next door to each other. Both are from working class backgrounds, one makes financial sacrifices to ensure their children go to a private school, a sacrifice that is paying off as their eldest has been offered a scholarship. The other makes financial sacrifices to ensure their monetary contribution at church each Sunday doesn’t cause embarrassment, while the children go to school hungry are behind in school fees and can never afford to go on educational school trips. Sound familiar?
I generally support financial assistance for Maori and Pacific students. Too many of our parents failed in the system and therefore lack the know-how and resources to ensure their children didn’t follow suit. There is little indication that these families will sort it out among themselves as trends appear to be worsening. That cannot be allowed to continue, as the societal ramifications will seriously affect the future of this country.
Let’s put the supposed failures of the New Zealand education system into perspective. If it was that bad, why are an increasing number of our graduates successfully applying their degrees across the globe? Why do New Zealand’s general literacy levels generally compare well with other countries? Is it really the fault of the system? The reality is any broad, national system needs some form of uniformity to be manageable and affordable for any government. And there will always be those who simply don’t confirm. I just wished so many of them weren’t brown.
It’s a convenient scapegoat to blame for our failings, as is the government, pakeha (or palagi, palangi, papa’a), family or supposed friends.
It’s easier than analysing one’s own actions, or lack of, that may have led to it. It’s easier than asking the questions “Is there really nothing more I could have done?”
Because no truth hurts greater than the ones at home.
Why do Maori and Pacific students lag behind European and Asian? Is it the home, as Innes Logan suggests, or is it the system?
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