Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jan 18, 2019 4:38:49 GMT 12
Rotorua Daily Post 18/1/19
NO RECOLLECTIONS OF STRAPPINGS
A letter on January 1 referred to children being caned or strapped for speaking Maori at school and being forced to speak English.
I do not recall any strapping happening during the time that I was at school and I am nearly 100. I attended a number of country schools during my childhood and this is where one would expect to see this happen, if ever. Corporal punishment ceased in New Zealand schools in 1987.
What I did see when visiting my Maori mates during my school years was a couple of Maori mothers say quite forcefully to their children, “Do not speak Maori here, English is the future for you”.
Those days Maori and Pakeha were friendly to each other, but over the past 25 or so years one sees that some people are working hard to drive a wedge between the races. Let us hope that they never succeed.
JOHN SMALE, Ngongotaha
MORE VIRTUE SIGNALLING
I was not surprised to read the letter from Tuehu Harris, the acting chief executive of the Maori Language Commission, promoting that to learn te reo you must speak it every day (Letters, January 12).
Other letters this last week supporting te reo at our local library have really struck me as virtue signalling — that is, nice to promote, but in reality totally impractical.
Just imagine if commerce in our city, and our country, was carried out in te reo.
Sure, te reo has a role today in a place like Rotorua to promote our unique cultural difference, plus of course for those people who wish to learn and speak it.
But to have it rammed down your throat at our public library as A. N. Christie experienced is a step too far, in my view.
This example is just the tip of the iceberg here in Rotorua, as there is no doubt in my mind that our council in the past five years has promoted the Maori view more so than any other council in New Zealand.
MIKE McVICKER, Rotorua
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers
NO RECOLLECTIONS OF STRAPPINGS
A letter on January 1 referred to children being caned or strapped for speaking Maori at school and being forced to speak English.
I do not recall any strapping happening during the time that I was at school and I am nearly 100. I attended a number of country schools during my childhood and this is where one would expect to see this happen, if ever. Corporal punishment ceased in New Zealand schools in 1987.
What I did see when visiting my Maori mates during my school years was a couple of Maori mothers say quite forcefully to their children, “Do not speak Maori here, English is the future for you”.
Those days Maori and Pakeha were friendly to each other, but over the past 25 or so years one sees that some people are working hard to drive a wedge between the races. Let us hope that they never succeed.
JOHN SMALE, Ngongotaha
MORE VIRTUE SIGNALLING
I was not surprised to read the letter from Tuehu Harris, the acting chief executive of the Maori Language Commission, promoting that to learn te reo you must speak it every day (Letters, January 12).
Other letters this last week supporting te reo at our local library have really struck me as virtue signalling — that is, nice to promote, but in reality totally impractical.
Just imagine if commerce in our city, and our country, was carried out in te reo.
Sure, te reo has a role today in a place like Rotorua to promote our unique cultural difference, plus of course for those people who wish to learn and speak it.
But to have it rammed down your throat at our public library as A. N. Christie experienced is a step too far, in my view.
This example is just the tip of the iceberg here in Rotorua, as there is no doubt in my mind that our council in the past five years has promoted the Maori view more so than any other council in New Zealand.
MIKE McVICKER, Rotorua
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers