Maori access to free university education
Oh my hell. I had to stop and listen to this the other day because I could not believe I was hearing what I was hearing.
Don't get me wrong, I believe that Maori have had a hard deal when it comes to education. To some degree that is the fault of the system we are in. It is hard to find an education system that suits all learners, let alone have a system with the right tutorial staff, able to cater to a wide variety of clients and learning styles.
But then you have Dr Pita Sharples, a man supposedly educated and having the post of associate education minister in a government saying that Maori should have free access to university level education. To be honest, I am hoping that he is only talking about access in terms of entry requirements rather than free of tuition fees.
But if nearly 50% of Maori boys are leaving school with out achieving NCEA level 1, what on earth makes Dr Sharples think that they are going to achieve university level 7, 8 or 9. Honestly, I believe there are some kids who are held back too much who could handle your university classes at year 1 and go on to achieve degrees and so on. I've seen them and my wife works with some of those bright sparks, who along side their NCEA studies are actually doing Polytechnic and or university papers. This is either because the school they are in is not challenging them enough, or the school is working to help them work towards something they really want to achieve, that your average NCEA class does not cater for.
Call this profiling but it is generally how it is. This kind of achiever is generally one who is not necessarily a straight A student but has made a commitment to work. Generally involved in school sports teams, has a decent support network in and out of class but most importantly and most likely at home. Despite the school systems failings they tend to achieve. They have a social life as well as a school life. They wont always be your college Dux, or a scholarship student, but they will none the less, not be the one who goes to school to eat their lunch...or at least just to eat their lunch.
But then you have to look at the second side of the argument. There are those kids who go to school because they have too. They don't want to be there. They spend more time working on their street art work than their school work. These students spend more time in detention than studying and likley by the end of their high school journey to have spent more than 1 year at 2 different high schools. If they play on sports teams the may do very well there but thats all they have and focus on. They tend at times to get preferential treatment as the members of some sports teams do and they focus more on that than they do their education.
Life then becomes a new school, one of harder knocks and they simply become bitter and resentful of those who have worked for what they get. Some, not all...may even get caught up in a life of crime.
Maori need access to university, but like everything else, its not for everyone. I come back to my earlier point. If they can't hack it at high school's basic subjects and complete that year, how are they going to hack it at higher levels.
Think even of Te Wananga o Aotearoa. I spent six years of my professional career there and I considered it to be well spent. But I also looked at the programmes for the most part as stepping stones to things better and higher. Few courses were degree level. Those that were degree level were of a Maori study scope...and again, not suited for everyone. But there were courses offered that could lead someone who wanted to, to polytechnic or even university.
Universities I think have enough nous to decide who goes onto what courses. It was always the way with enrolling students that you do not enroll them onto a course that they won't have a reasonable chance of success. Would you take someone onto a degree programme who hasn't got the discipline to sit in a class room?
How would you feel, being given something because of what you are ethnically, as opposed to having earned the opportunity? Where does it end? Getting a job because you're Maori?
Will eventually we get to that point?
I sure as hell hope not!
Don't get me wrong, I believe that Maori have had a hard deal when it comes to education. To some degree that is the fault of the system we are in. It is hard to find an education system that suits all learners, let alone have a system with the right tutorial staff, able to cater to a wide variety of clients and learning styles.
But then you have Dr Pita Sharples, a man supposedly educated and having the post of associate education minister in a government saying that Maori should have free access to university level education. To be honest, I am hoping that he is only talking about access in terms of entry requirements rather than free of tuition fees.
But if nearly 50% of Maori boys are leaving school with out achieving NCEA level 1, what on earth makes Dr Sharples think that they are going to achieve university level 7, 8 or 9. Honestly, I believe there are some kids who are held back too much who could handle your university classes at year 1 and go on to achieve degrees and so on. I've seen them and my wife works with some of those bright sparks, who along side their NCEA studies are actually doing Polytechnic and or university papers. This is either because the school they are in is not challenging them enough, or the school is working to help them work towards something they really want to achieve, that your average NCEA class does not cater for.
Call this profiling but it is generally how it is. This kind of achiever is generally one who is not necessarily a straight A student but has made a commitment to work. Generally involved in school sports teams, has a decent support network in and out of class but most importantly and most likely at home. Despite the school systems failings they tend to achieve. They have a social life as well as a school life. They wont always be your college Dux, or a scholarship student, but they will none the less, not be the one who goes to school to eat their lunch...or at least just to eat their lunch.
But then you have to look at the second side of the argument. There are those kids who go to school because they have too. They don't want to be there. They spend more time working on their street art work than their school work. These students spend more time in detention than studying and likley by the end of their high school journey to have spent more than 1 year at 2 different high schools. If they play on sports teams the may do very well there but thats all they have and focus on. They tend at times to get preferential treatment as the members of some sports teams do and they focus more on that than they do their education.
Life then becomes a new school, one of harder knocks and they simply become bitter and resentful of those who have worked for what they get. Some, not all...may even get caught up in a life of crime.
Maori need access to university, but like everything else, its not for everyone. I come back to my earlier point. If they can't hack it at high school's basic subjects and complete that year, how are they going to hack it at higher levels.
Think even of Te Wananga o Aotearoa. I spent six years of my professional career there and I considered it to be well spent. But I also looked at the programmes for the most part as stepping stones to things better and higher. Few courses were degree level. Those that were degree level were of a Maori study scope...and again, not suited for everyone. But there were courses offered that could lead someone who wanted to, to polytechnic or even university.
Universities I think have enough nous to decide who goes onto what courses. It was always the way with enrolling students that you do not enroll them onto a course that they won't have a reasonable chance of success. Would you take someone onto a degree programme who hasn't got the discipline to sit in a class room?
How would you feel, being given something because of what you are ethnically, as opposed to having earned the opportunity? Where does it end? Getting a job because you're Maori?
Will eventually we get to that point?
I sure as hell hope not!
posted by Wiremu Bayliss at
8:11 am
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