ERO Is Coming to A School Near You

Pomo Maori Education--Another Trick by Whitey

What is Maori?  Who knows?  But apparently it's now really important for government schools to be able to answer that question. 

Recently, we came across a directive from the Education Review Office ("ERO") which audits all schools in New Zealand and rates them accordingly.  We quote:

ERO considers educational success for Maori, as Maori as (sic) a key indicator of school performance.  We are interested in:

• The context of the school in relation to Maori in the school and the local community.  [A prize is offered for the bright spark who can exegete the meaning of that sentence.]
• The conditions and environment that support educational success for Maori, as Maori.
• How schools know they are being successful in improving educational outcomes for Maori, as Maori.

The phrase "Maori, as Maori" is plastered all over the document which lays out how ERO will now be evaluating all schools.  The focus upon "Maori, as Maori" is to be a key indicator of whether or not a school is performing.  The question is begged, What does "Maori, as Maori" mean?
  Notice that the focus is not going to be upon the educational progress of Maori per se--as in, how Maori students are progressing in reading, writing, maths, science or music. 

The focus is to be upon how Maori are being educated consistent with their ethnicity.  The constructivist curriculum gone mad.  Educational success, one presumes, as a Maori may be quite different from what constitutes educational success as a Pakistani female, or a cocker spaniel. It is a world in which National Standards for reading, writing and maths has neither urgency nor meaning.  The government educational system is so dysfunctional, the left hand cannot even find its right, let alone shake it. No wonder so many teachers and pupils are confused.

The ERO document goes on:

As part of school and kura education reviews, we will:

• Focus on educational success for Maori, as Maori
• Support internal and external review to consider and use Maori world views
• Support and encourage schools to develop partnership with Maori communities . . .
• Consider the school's future plans and innovations for further improving and accelerating educational outcomes for Maori, as Maori

So there you have it.

Historically Maori were animists, worshipping gods manifested in natural phenomena.  They practised slavery, murder, revenge, and cannibalism.  They had no written language.  Is this what it means to be Maori?  Does educating Maori as Maori mean training them up to be illiterate animist slavers? 

We are sure that is not what the ERO means at all?  Well, what then?  Many historical Maori customs and cultural icons are despised by many modern Maori and rejected.  Which, then, represent the authentic Maori?  Historically, Maori lived in fortified villages, usually on top of hills.  The closest modern continuum of this is the Mongrel Mob gang headquarters.  Does educating Maori as Maori require that schools integrate them into the local gang headquarters so that they get back in touch with "pa" existence?  If not, why not? 

Is education which is authentically Maori, as Maori require that Maori girls sit at the back of the classroom, silent, according to traditional marae protocol?  Does it mean that all Maori ought to be educated to be illiterate, since not having a written language is the truest, most authentic expression of "Maori, as Maori".  If the answer to such questions is in the negative, by what standard do you accept some precepts and cultural mores and not others? 

Welcome to the wonderful world of educational psycho-babble.  No-one can give an authoritative answer to these questions, least of all the ERO.  What we have is a scintillating example of pomo constructivist education.  Schools need to ensure that they construct authentic Maori education--although there is no standard by which it can be defined or delineated.  There can be no standards in pomo constructivist education--only vacuous mush and meaninglessness.   

We recently met a Christian Maori woman, with a long family tradition.  With some heat and passion she declaimed her forebears and ancestors (and their culture) as wicked and degenerate.  She had found new life in Christ.  Her family had rejected her.  Is she authentic Maori?  If not, why not?  By what standard is the question to be answered?  Or is she just a pakeha Maori?  A cultural traitor? 

But since she has ancestors who heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who subsequently repented and believed, is she, who walks in their steps, a genuine, real, authentic Maori.  So, educating her, a Maori, as Maori, would involve accepting her anathema of Maori animism as authentically Maori, right?  Ah, no--we expect that's not what the ERO means at all when it talks about "Maori world views". 

We are sure that all our New Zealand readers will be delighted their hard earned tax dollars are being frittered on such meaningless inanity by the government education system. It's free money, so what's the problem.  Just think of how much wasted effort will need to be put in by government schools, jumping through all kinds of chimerical hoops to satisfy the ERO.  Tick-box, post-modern bureaucrats gone mad. 

Don't ever forget you are paying for this nonsense.  The worst part of it is that it is just another deceptive trick that will end up doing great harm to Maori kids.  But, whitey knows best.