Time to tell our stories

Wednesday, 12 September 2018

Many Kiwis know little of New Zealand's history.

OPINION: Knowing little of history is not something that we should aspire to, yet many New Zealanders remain wilfully ignorant of the events that shaped our nation and culture.

Kiwi school kids can leave the education system knowing more about Tudor England than the New Zealand Wars. This is a ridiculous situation and a sad indictment on our commitment to partnership under the Treaty.

Stuff is launching a campaign to get the teaching of the New Zealand wars into the broad school curriculum so future generations can get a better understanding of the events that shaped us all.

Currently the subject is taught as an option within the history curriculum but we think the genesis of our nation deserves better than that.

We believe our shared history has mana and therefore deserves the undivided attention of our tamariki.

A subject that captures who and why we are, shouldn't be a poor cousin to English, maths and science. If prejudice is born of ignorance then education can do something about that.

Over the coming days Stuff will publish a series of stories aimed at convincing educators to make the telling of our story compulsory.