Opinion: Bring on the NZ history lessons

Napier City Council is delaying the introduction of Maori wards to consult further with ratepayers. Photo / Warren Buckland

An expert panel is worried there could be come difficult conversations coming up when the teaching of New Zealand history becomes compulsory.

History has a habit of doing that. Bring it on.

Radio NZ reported that the panel, convened by the Royal Society of New Zealand to advise the Education Ministry on the draft Aoteaora New Zealand's Histories curriculum, has also criticised the draft for "overly compacting" the curriculum.

It is also concerned that major topics have been omitted, including the 600 years of pre-European Māori life.

The new curriculum will be taught to all children from Years 0-10 from next year, based around Māori history, the impact of colonisation, and the exercise of power.

The panel has warned that "history can hurt" and schools must take care when introducing the curriculum next year.

There will be many New Zealanders - Māori and Pākehā - who will consider this a very obvious statement.

Yes, we need to take care in the classroom, just like we do with other sensitive issues that are taught.

But one hopes that what our kids are going to begin learning will promote intelligent cross-cultural debate, of the type that many parents struggle with.

The challenging conversations in the classroom will extend to the home, as children begin to educate their parents.

Which brings us to the point, how do we take some of the pressure off our kids and educate adult New Zealanders about our history?

It can be a rather inflexible rod for our adult backs, given we have been too ashamed to teach compulsory NZ history for decades.

Many of us are ignorant, and don't recognise that colonialism has not ended well for Māori.

Māori wards are a small step toward rectifying that. A small step.

The debate has brought out the best and worst in New Zealanders - those "against" cry racial prejudice while those "for" seethe at the ignorance of the "against".

Imagine how teaching compulsory NZ history over the past century would have altered the tone of that conversation.

Māori wards are no more racist than Māori central government electorates. Or the Māori All Blacks, for that matter.

One benefit of the debate has been that it is challenging us to contemplate whether our opinions are reinforcing negative racial stereotypes. And therefore, are those views racist?

Readers of a younger democratic might shake their head at this, but racism is an evolving beast. In some instances, what isn't okay now, was widely considered okay not that long ago.

Those of us, predominantly Pākehā, who struggle to recalibrate will find ourselves left behind and quickly irrelevant in a rapidly changing multicultural society.

Which is why all of us, not just our kids, need to learn more about New Zealand history. Only then, if we are informed, can our opinions on race and culture be respected.