ABSTRACT
This is an experience shared with me by my grandmother’s brother of his schooling experience. His story gives context to the situation of state education in New Zealand, only two generations prior to the schooling experiences shared by our storytellers in this chapter:
“When I was at Matawaia School, the rule was no speaking Māori on school grounds during school hours. Well, I was a cheeky boy, and one day after school, just outside of the school gates I spoke Māori to my cousins. A teacher overheard me, and the next day, to make an example out of me, he strapped me in front of the whole school body.”
This next experience belongs to my mum and speaks of a negative schooling experience in a setting that was intended to provide her a high-quality education. Her story, like my granduncle’s, further describes the inherent intolerance to an indigenous Māori worldview in New Zealand, only one generation prior to my schooling experience:
“My family moved from Moerewa, Northland, New Zealand, to Auckland, New Zealand. My parents wanted their children to have more opportunities and access to high-quality education that Auckland could provide. One day at school, our teacher was talking about Lake Wakatipu (South Island, New Zealand), and she mispronounced it. So, I corrected her. She told me that I was being insubordinate and sent me out of the classroom to stand in the hallway. I was so embarrassed; it was no wonder I wagged school.”
These experiences as shared by my granduncle and mother set the scene of the New Zealand education system of the two generations directly before me and the storytellers of this chapter. They highlight the calculated attempts of the education system to disconnect Māori from our language and identity.
