Field of Dreams

Build It and They Will Come

The attempt to revive the Maori language, making New Zealand a genuinely bi-lingual nation was the stuff of dreams.  But, the protagonists of the dream made a fatal tactical mistake.  Substituting appearance and image for reality, they turned to the State.  By accessing taxpayer funding, Maori language instruction from pre-school onwards would ensure the survival and prospering of the Te Reo--or so all parties believed. 

But "top down" in such matters never works.  If a culture is to survive, if a language is to continue, it needs to be inculcated in hearth and home from parents to children.  No amount of state funded schooling is going to make up for parental neglect.  The old adage, "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world" still holds. 

The state funded initiative to revive the Maori language through government schools has been running for forty years--almost half a century.  The results?  Dr Timoti Karetu is described as one of the leading experts on the Maori language.  He has issued a report card on how the language is progressing.