Don Brash
Hobson’s Pledge
Universities are bad enough these days for pushing a particular set of politics. Well-adjusted, intelligent young people enter university and then emerge a few years later identifying as Marxists and arguing for separatism.
Now the University of Auckland wants to take the indoctrination further.
Whether you want to study engineering, accounting, philosophy, or chemistry, you will be required to complete a mandatory course covering the Treaty of Waitangi and New Zealand history.
This will also apply to international students who may only be in New Zealand for the duration of their studies.
It means that of the eight courses/papers that a student enrols in for first year, one will have to be the mandatory Māori course. This gives them one less course to choose for themselves.
I assume that they will still be obliged to pay for the course, despite it being compulsory.
Some people I’ve spoken to have said, ‘So what? Isn’t it good if people understand our history and the Treaty better?’ I share with them my main objections:
1. The facts around the Treaty and our history are highly contested. There are polarised views about whether Māori ceded sovereignty, for example. The people who are involved in writing and delivering these courses are likely to be radicals – like many in academia – who will teach their opinions as truth.
2. It is mandatory. If a person wants to study the Treaty, New Zealand history, Māori mythology, and te reo they should enrol in a course to do so. They’re entitled to seek that kind of education, but no one should be forced into it.
It is indoctrination. It is propaganda. And I have no doubt it is deliberate.
The long march through the institutions has been very successful for socialist identitarians. Chief among their successes has been capturing the institutions of education. Our children are being educated to think like the braying mob who call everything racist and want us to be separated into race-based categories with different rights.
I detest seeing the bright minds of New Zealand’s future being taught that critical thinking is bad and equality is evil. I frequently hear from parents who feel like a wedge is being driven between them and their children by their schools, universities, and the people who teach them.
This issue further highlights the fundamental problem with universities making the Treaty of Waitangi a key part of their vision and claiming to be ‘Treaty-led’. This makes critiques of the Treaty beyond the pale. At universities there should be no ‘sacred cows’' like this.
Anyway, what do these universities think their role is in the Treaty? The Treaty is between the Crown and iwi. I guess funding models could allow universities to be shoe-horned into the Crown, but it is a bit odd for them to stick their oar into something they have no business being in.
Hobson’s Pledge have some serious questions about the course, including:
– Can a student object? Opt out?
– Can a student challenge the narratives being taught (as they would expect to be able to do in other courses)?
– Will students be subjected to disciplinary action or poor grades if they state that Māori did cede sovereignty in 1840?
– Who is writing the course?
– How much will it cost students?
We have written to the University of Auckland seeking answers and expressing our concerns about the mandatory course. Add your signature to our open letter now.
There is always strength in numbers and our hope is that in collecting signatures supporting our letter we can demonstrate to the decision-makers at the University of Auckland that this is a concern for many.
This article was originally published by Hobson’s Pledge.
