Will’s Word: Forget culture wars and focus on bread and butter

Not sure if you saw the headlines yesterday, but boy, it is bizarre that the Government is set to remove the requirement for schools to give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi obligations in the curriculum.

Honestly, this government is getting way too swept up and caught up in cultural wars, when they should be, for lack of a better phrase, and not to steal Chippy's words, focused on the bread and butter issues plaguing this country.

I don't see how schools adhering to or incorporating Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations into the curriculum is harmful or bad. Truly, if we care about equitable outcomes for Māori students, which is no surprise, they continue to be over-represented in statistics poorly when it comes to educational outcomes, this move sends exactly the opposite message to them.

Genuinely. The Government says the Crown still holds the Treaty obligations, fair enough, but if schools are freed of any formal requirement, then the pathway to closing achievement gaps or building cultural competence becomes murkier.

Put simply, this government's priorities sometimes are misguided. For example, Health New Zealand, where the Government rearranged the title. Initially, it was Te Whatu Ora; they rearranged it to Health New Zealand.

Then take a look at the passports, rearranging Aotearoa below New Zealand. Again, this is all stuff that frankly, in the grand scheme of things, isn't going to make the cost of living better, and isn't going to make much of a difference to my life.

So I question whether this government has the right priorities.

That's Will's Word.

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