COMMENT: When a TV reporter at Waitangi asked Jacinda Ardern, James Shaw and Kelvin Davis what Article 1 of the Treaty said, all three were thrown by the question. Even allowing for the fact they were not expecting it, their difficulty was astonishing. New Zealand history might not have been well taught to previous generations in our schools but it certainly gave attentive pupils the terms of a Treaty that is fairly concise by the standards of historic documents.
Its first article, of course, confers on the Crown the right to govern New Zealand. If that is called a transfer of sovereignty it becomes contentious, which is no doubt why the question was put to the Government leaders at Waitangi and was possibly also the reason they stumbled over it. But it is surprising any of them needed assistance. If they really did not know Article 1 off the top of their heads, it might be a reflection of how little history has been taught in schools for a long time now.
It might also reflect a wider change in education. Knowledge is said to be no longer something taught to children in schools but something they discover for themselves with guidance. Facts no longer need to be learned by rote, supposedly, because they can be looked up when you need them. Does that mean generations that are now in government no longer carry a working knowledge of the Treaty in their heads?
Surely not. Yet it was agreed by all parties at Waitangi that schools need to teach the Treaty in its historical context, so presumably they have not being doing so. An association of history teachers has launched a petition seeking legislation to require "the coherent teaching of our own past....".
