These two prizewinning essays have earned Taranaki student Phoebe Harrop and Susan Smirk from Otago the Humanities Award in a writing competition for Year 12 and 13 students.
KEY POINTS:
The New NZer: Life in the 21st century
By Phoebe Harrop
She has blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes. And she's wearing a moko on her chin. "I can imagine a whole group of people turning in their graves at the thought of this," she says. It's the blatant display of biculturalism that has people stopping and staring as she strolls through Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. Rachel Helms, singer extraordinaire and student representative of Victoria University, is of mixed descent: "Scottish and Irish and maybe English. Definitely not Maori!"
In 100 years, what will historians say about my generation? That we destroyed the environment, exhausted the fossil fuels and overpopulated the world? That could really apply to any developed country today. But how will New Zealand be remembered as a nation: one culture in 1800, two cultures in 1900. But what about the year 2000? Or the year 2100? How will culture in the 21st century influence the future of New Zealand? In fact, how can we even decide how to classify New Zealand's cultural makeup? Sure, the Census might ask for the cultural group that we identify with - but I for one don't consider myself a "European New Zealander", which was the only box I could legitimately tick. I'm a New Zealander. A Kiwi. European doesn't come into it.
My generation appreciates cultural diversity. But appreciating and celebrating cultural diversity doesn't mean singling out cultural groups as making up New Zealand. Why should a Maori person be classed differently to a European New Zealander when we have both been Kiwis for multiple generations? It is important to recognise ancestry - but if I want to be known simply as a New Zealander, I believe that is my right. And there is a whole generation who share this opinion.
Walking through the WOMAD 2007 Festival with the recently-mokoed Rachel, I came to question what it is to be a New Zealander. One hundred, even 50 years ago, there were clearly defined cultural groups in our society - works like Bruce Mason's Pohutukawa Tree are a testament to this cultural rift. But today we see a growing culture - not European or Maori, but a new integrated group of "New Zealanders". A group who take their origins from all over the place: Europe, Asia, the Pacific, even Africa and the Americas.
I like to think of New Zealanders as making up one giant patchwork: each section of material is a different ancestry that maintains its pattern, but is stitched to other cultures with the thread of shared "Kiwi" influences. The result? A marvellous, intricate, diverse and simply beautiful quilt.
After all, it's no secret that New Zealand is one big melting pot of cultures. The 2006 Census brought into focus the fast-rising number of Asian citizens in New Zealand, who now make up a reported 9.2 per cent of New Zealand's population. And some people are getting worried. Since the release of the statistics from last year's Census, there has been call for tighter immigration policies to slow the influx of overseas migrants. Winston Peters, former Deputy Prime Minister, is particularly critical of the Government's "stupid population policies" and said that a continuation of "artificial population change" would create considerable social and cultural disruption. But would it? In a country so diverse, why should cultural difference, and indeed cultural composition, really matter?
Why not go one step further? Let's say that bicultural New Zealand is a thing of the past. And good riddance to it - as a result of this increasingly multifarious nation we have an intensely unique "flava" that is entirely New Zealand: in our fashion, literature, music and arts. It is from these interactions, too, that spring the forerunners of business, sport and science in our country.
Every time we watch the All Blacks on TV we see this - Fijian, Samoan, Maori and "European" players representing our nation together.
In fact, our recent national rugby captain is of Samoan descent - but we claim him fiercely as a New Zealander, and he had more mana than anyone else on the field.
Where would we be without the diverse influences on our "New Zealandism"?
As a country we share Kiwi culture, and share the differences of our own ancestry. Maori may be the indigenous culture in New Zealand, and Europeans like to think they have the next claim, but really we are just one nation. New Zealand. Not divided by culture, race or skin colour. And that's the way it should be. Our cultural patchwork shouldn't be picked apart.
As one of the new generation of New Zealander, I can only see unity through diversity as being incredibly valuable: too often countries are torn by religious and cultural clashes. We have a nation bound by diversity and shared influences that is continuing to develop its unique culture. With this as our future, the world will be our stage.
So, I propose that official documents such as the Census should include a new cultural identity: New Zealander. If people wish to continue ticking Maori, or European New Zealander, that's fine. New Zealanders want the opportunity to be united officially, and I for one would definitely be shifting my "identity" to "New Zealander".
There is one shortcoming in this stunning quilt. New Zealand has a serious problem. It's not global warming, overzealous parents smacking their children or even cross-dressing lawyers. It's in the stitching - one of the components that connects all cultures as "New Zealanders" is language. English is a unifier, but also an excluder. As New Zealand is in the "English club" we have become shortsighted and complacent, accepting English as the only language we need, and the language that everybody else should learn. It's an international language, used by America - the world's economic superpower - and spoken all over the world. But it is this ease of English that has left New Zealand behind in the multilingualism revolution.
Particularly in Europe, many people are multilingual. It is compulsory in many European schools to study the mother tongue of the country in which the students live; English; and one other language of the students' choice. This multilingualism is invaluable - and something New Zealanders are lacking. Multilingualism is recognised as vital by other countries, yet New Zealand is being left behind as a largely unilingual nation. As international interaction increases, so too does the importance of language. In times of international conflict, understanding through language of another culture can bring perspective, peace and understanding: we fear what we do not know. The weight of language cannot be underestimated, as the importance of international co-operation and toleration becomes more and more important.
Literacy in New Zealand has always been a focus of the education system, and NCEA is helping our students come out of secondary school with a proficiency in English. Furthermore there is a comprehensive scheme in place to ensure that all adults, including immigrants, have the opportunity to become literate. We are successfully cultivating an almost entirely English literate nation - but is that enough? I have noticed that students of today have little motivation to pick up a second language at school. The standard schoolboy-French-and-Latin education of yesteryear is being lost and schools are not doing much to correct this trend. As student numbers dwindle and classes are no longer viable in a large number of schools, learning through the Correspondence School of New Zealand is the only option available to many. Combine this with a lack of new language teachers and New Zealand has a very serious problem on its hands.
Globalisation has a huge part to play in the demise of international language learning. Students don't see the point of studying another language, when English is so widely spoken overseas. The classic "OE" that so many New Zealanders have set out on in the past is no longer such a foreign experience, as so many people internationally speak English. Simply, New Zealanders have become lazy, accepting English as the only language they need: here and overseas.
This attitude has serious consequences. Not only does language provide us with a medium for communication, it also gives unique insight into the culture, tradition, history, influences and personality of a country. Adele Scott, a senior lecturer at Massey University, said this: "You become a different person when you learn a second language; you build a new identity and a richer world view. This new learning area will develop essential learning and communication skills, and has the potential to develop knowledgeable, self-confident members of society." It is this that unilingual New Zealanders are missing out on.
New Zealand is accepting its multiculturalism, now it must start working on the multilingualism. As a nation we've always been good all-rounders who punch above our weight. Can we account this to multiculturalism? Almost certainly. Such a wide-ranging ancestral spectrum has given colour to our quilt and to our national personality.
Being a New Zealander in the 21st century is a complex thing. You can look at any class in a New Zealand school and have trouble determining where each student's parents, grandparents or great-grandparents emigrated from - or if they were born New Zealanders, how long ago their ancestors moved to our fair islands. That is the beauty of Aotearoa. Some hail from Hawaiki, some from Hong Kong, but as people we share our citizenship and our pride in New Zealand.
The future of our culture relies on the growing diversity of our population. We can only hope that the New Zealanders of the future won't even consider culture differences, but rather simply refer to themselves as "Kiwis", as many of us do already. New Zealand of the 22nd century will be diverse, in culture and in language. How do we want New Zealand of the 21st century to be remembered? As the first country that accepted and promoted multiculturalism and multilingualism. So let's join the revolution - Rachel has started already.
* Phoebe Harrop is head girl at New Plymouth Girls' High School.
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Letters from our land: Dear children
By Susan Smirk
Children of Aotearoa,
Heed my words, for you are yet so young. I am the land that you know. I am the mist that encircles Aoraki in your dreams. I am the river that carries your tears across this land. I am the deep forest which shelters your fears. I am the windswept shores from which your dreams take flight. I am a strong land, and one of great beauty. I am your home. Ask of me what you will, and learn how to be a New Zealander ...
Our Land of the Long White Cloud,
We are a land of diverse peoples. Who is a New Zealander? Shall we judge by skin colour, by name or by heritage? Can we measure by race, by document, or by time? Who should we accept as New Zealanders?
My Children,
You are all new here. For millions of years I have been forming, breathing, living; you are all new to this place. You are not static. Not the freeze frame beauty of a mountain peak, or flash-bulb faces around a dinner table. No, you are the patterns of a moko, ever-growing stories, generations, on an ancient and living land. You must grow your stories together now.
You must recognise the strong warriors, those whose tribes grew at the base of mighty mountains, who knew me well, and to whom I was provider and home. You must recognise the determined pioneers, those who prevailed across unknown seas, to build something new on foreign shores; who embraced my hills and plains, and whom I prospered. You must recognise those who came searching from every corner of a vast world, and found what they were looking for, and chose to rest here in our land, bringing with them colours and songs from many distant lands.
You must lift your voices in a karakia, in a hymn, in a blessing, and a welcome. To these we say 'haere mai'. Come and tell your story - come and be part of ours. If you come, bring with you all that you have from previous places.
Bring parts of yourself which have grown on foreign shores. Come and bring with you Africa, Asia, India. Bring Europe and America. Bring the islands, the Pacific. You may bring these pieces, but do not cling to them greedily and fearfully. If you bring them, bring them as gifts. When you enter this land, share them with the whole. You will learn, and then, as you give, take, share ... you will see the whole heart of this nation.
From all the pieces, the pieces that didn't fit - the old pieces, and the new ones - you will rework what you each have brought to this nation, into a beautiful whole. This whole - this story we are now telling together, woven from pieces - we have called Aotearoa New Zealand, and each person that tells it is a New Zealander.
Ancient Land,
The world is a big place. We are only four million people - an island, in the middle of a vast ocean. We are the "ends of the earth". There is little we can do; a new nation, still finding its feet. Other nations have history, power, money, strength. Compared to these, how can WE do anything?
My Sons and Daughters,
To outsiders, you are proud and defensive about our small island home; what you have built, what you have grown. But I hear your insecurities in the face of the outside world. Firstly, you must remember your brothers, your sisters. They have already spoken to the world; and the world has heard them.
They speak in many ways, and in ways entirely their own, and they speak on our behalf. Remember that on the world's highest peak a young beekeeper stood and recalled the other snow-capped peaks of home. Remember how in this country, a young woman made the first women's vote in the world, and thanked her nation for this gift.
Remember how your film-makers have taken the spectacular beauty of this land and presented it to the world, on a silver screen. Remember more than this - not just individuals, but those in the crowd. Those who refused the rugby team from a land where apartheid reigned. Those who rejected nuclear ships in our waters. Those who marched for equality, for justice and peace.
Now, children, you have taken your shaky first steps. You have discovered that you can walk - now learn to run, and never, never stop dreaming of flying. Do not fear to follow those who have already shown you the way.
Though small, you are a nation with a heart - and you have every right to make ourselves heard. Already you have shown the world you can stand strong in your beliefs. And we are only just beginning. This nation has passion, mana, and pride. Know this and stand tall, as an unashamed New Zealander.
Aotearoa,
We have some shameful history of injustice and brutality. We have spent many years covering this up, many years ignoring it, many years belittling it. How can we get past this? How can we move forward, with so much wrongdoing behind us?
Oh Children of this Land,
You must learn to acknowledge the past - to hang your heads, and accept with shame the greed over this place which has led to such bitter conflict. But more than this, you must now learn to lift your heads once more, and again look each other in the eye ... now is the time. This nation has scars - just as Maui's brothers, in greed, tore up this land, greed has left invisible marks across out nations. These things are part of our story. It may seem that these deep scars have divided your country into almost separate pieces, but together we can carve them into lessons which will teach the future generations better ways.
Now, like children, you must learn to share these unique lands. You must learn that I, New Zealand, do not belong to you - but you, all, can belong to New Zealand. Remember that all is a gift, and one meant to share. This is being a New Zealander.
New Zealand,
We want to go places, and do things, but we are bound here by fear. Can we make the journey, and will we fit into the world? Are we good enough to make it out there? How can we leave all we know and love ... how can we leave you, our home?
My Children,
Do not forget that the journey to find this land was just as perilous. By waka you came, over wild seas. By ship you came, over vast seas. By plane you came over strange seas. Have you forgotten so soon, what you are capable of? You are the warriors, the journeyers, the builders. The brave discoverers and inhabiters of new lands. But yes, here you have found a home.
In my wild and beautiful lands, you have grown, and you have grown to be a part of them. You are growing strong and true, like a tall totara tree. You have always grown towards the sky - you grow with purpose. You are young; a new nation, still tremulously testing your wings, and finding you can fly - and oh how you will fly. So the time must come where you will leave the nest and fly away from home.
This is right - you must go to other shores, and gain a wider knowledge of this planet, and your place in it. I will release you, so you can carry our name across wide oceans. Tell other lands about the people Aotearoa is raising.
Tell other nations about the beautiful country from which you came. Yes, I will send you with a message, but like a lover, I will always await your return. Come, and carry news home to us. Bring back knowledge and wisdom. Carry new ways, new learnings, and with it, you will make New Zealand a stronger and more understanding place. Go, see other lands, but always let your heart carry you back; for I am your home.
Return to me - I will not forget you ... for you are a New Zealander.
Your Land,
Aotearoa, New Zealand.
* Susan Smirk attended Otago Girls' High School until last year and is now at university.
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The Humanities Award is sponsored by New Zealand National Commission for Unesco, the Royal Society of New Zealand and Te Whainga Aronui: The Council for the Humanities.
In 2007 the topic was "Being a New Zealander".
Tomorrow night at Auckland Museum a panel including the writer James Griffin, financial journalist Rod Oram, actor Jo Randerson, composer Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal and journalist Gilbert Wong will explore the topic further. The discussion starts at 7pm and bookings are recommended.
