Reflective Writing II

Aotearoa New Zealand undoubtedly is one of the most diverse countries in the world. According to Statistics New Zealand (n.d.), in 2013, the population of New Zealand consisted of 74.6% of European, 15.6% Maori, 12.2% of Asian, 7.8% Pacific peoples, and 1.2% of Middle Eastern, Latin American, African. While walking on the street, one can see various kinds of people with different hair and skin colours, which is the one of the most fascinating features of New Zealand. With so many people from different races and more immigrants coming to the country, it is extremely important that people get along well and work together to build a better future. Personally, I fell in love with this country soon after my visit last year and I managed to return. I chose New Zealand not only because of its stunning pure nature but also its acclaimed accepting society. However, this year, my perspective has changed slightly as I stayed longer in New Zealand and as I explored more into NZ society through this group project.

Our group project topic is racism in New Zealand schools from primary to tertiary education. In Oxford Dictionaries (2016), racism is defined as “prejudice, discrimination…against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior”. Even in New Zealand, the country that celebrates its diversity, surprisingly, we found that Maori students are often the victims of casual or everyday racism in school (Mayeda, Keil, Dutton & ‘Ofamo’oni, 2014). In their study, they state that “majority group members enact everyday racism unconsciously without intent”, and “acts of everyday racism include assumptions of incompetence and/or criminality” (p. 174). That means that people who conduct racist behavior do not know that they are actually doing it. Also, they have the tendency to think that a person from a particular race does not have the ability to do something, or that most of the crimes are committed by the people from a certain race. This is what Maori are facing right now in New Zealand. A very recent study shows that in school, teachers have lower expectations toward Maori students (Blank, Houkamau & Kingi, 2016), which has indirectly led to less participation of Maori students and their dropping out of school earlier than other racial groups. The lower expectations toward Maori students might result from the stereotypical attitude toward Maori families’ social and economic status and from seeing Maori as an inferior race due to the historical development of the country.

As we went deeper into the topic, we found that racism has another form called “institutional racism” that has been influencing New Zealand society in a fundamental way. The 1988 report Püao-te-ata-tü (Daybreak) indicates that institutional racism exists while national decisions are made through mono-cultural perspective, and “participation by minorities is conditional on their subjugating their own values and systems to those of ‘the system’ of the power culture” (as cited in Human Rights Commission, 2012, p. 3). To date, most of New Zealand’s curricula are still “Eurocentric” (Mayeda et al., 2014, p. 174). To close the disparity between Maori students and students of other racial groups, Ministry of Education has been holding assisting programs like Te Kotahitanga ended in 2013 and Ka Hikitia in use now. Communication and mutual understanding between teachers and Maori students are encouraged. These projects indeed have shown improvement in the learning environment of Maori students. Additionally, Maori students’ achievement in education has increased and more participation has been seen. However, we still have doubts in whether everyday and institutional racism have decreased and whether people’s mindsets have completely changed or not.

To tackle this problem, as a major in Language and Culture, I could not agree more when I heard one of our lecturers, Deborah Corder, who comes from the same discipline, say that marginalisation occurs due to “ignorance, the lack of understanding, and lack of knowledge on both sides” in the symposium (personal communication, October 18, 2016). She also mentions that we can solve this problem by having “intercultural dialogue” and a conversation with “people who are in the position to bring about change”. I totally agree with her solution to decreasing marginalisation because that is exactly the solution I thought of when doing the group project. To me, the world is full of different languages and cultures, which is why it is so fascinating. There is no “good” or “bad” culture, and no “good” race or “bad” race. We should value cultures and try our best to understand the reasons behind other cultures’ beliefs and practices. Also, according to United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), everyone is born equal regardless of his or her race, sex, religion, etc.

Racism, as a form of marginalisation, could be minimized by increasing mutual understanding between people of different races from the perspective of my discipline. That is why I think I, Too, Am Auckland and That’s Us Campaign are great solutions to the problem. For the previous solution, two students of different races ask each other questions related to their respective races, cultures, identities, beliefs, and so on. For the latter, people can write about their racist experiences on the campaign website so that more understanding is achieved. In addition, awareness of racism could be raised because as I mentioned before, some people are not aware of their racist deeds. In my group, we also have students from the disciplines of Education and Hospitality. Our group focused more on solutions from Education discipline in our presentation, since we believe that education starts at a young age, and it has a huge impact on people. To diminish racism toward the Maori, we think that Maori culture should be incorporated into the New Zealand curriculum because the culture is the root of the country. Students should learn the culture and understand its beliefs and practices in detail, rather than by a tourist approach. To educate parents and to include people from different cultures, we deem that holding regular school meetings and cultural activities might be a good way. Parents care about their children and when parents participate in those events, they might learn something and gradually change their mindsets toward some races as well. From the Hospitality perspective, cultural events at a regional or societal scale could be held regularly to help people from different cultures acquire deeper cultural knowledge.

After this semester, I think that as global citizens and the future of the world, we can alter the negative side of society like racism to the positive if we really want to. We can see ourselves as “the people who are in the position to bring about change” which is presented by our lecturer, Deborah Corder. We may start small like I, Too, Am Auckland, a student-based supporting group for Pacific Islander and Maori students at The University of Auckland, but the positive attitude can be spread around the city, the nation, even the whole world. Perhaps one day we really make a change, watching everyone enjoy living in this diverse world.

References

Blank, A., Houkamau, C., & Kingi, H. (2016). Unconscious bias and education: A comparative study of Māori and African American students. Retrieved October 26 from http://www.antonblank.com/uploads/2/6/4/6/26465847/unconsious-bias-and-education.pdf

Human Rights Commission. (2012). A fair go for all? Addressing Structural Discrimination in Public Services. Retrieved October 26, 2016 from https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/2914/2409/4608/HRC-Structural-Report_final_webV1.pdf

Mayeda, D. T., Keil, M., Dutton, H. D., & 'Ofamo'oni, I.-F.- H. (2014). Maori and Pacific voices on student success in higher education. Alternative: An International Journal Of Indigenous Peoples, 10(2), 165-179.

Racism [Def 1]. (2016). In Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved October 26, 2016 from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/racism

Statistics New Zealand. (n.d.). New Zealand in Profile: 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2016 from http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/snapshots-of-nz/nz-in-profile-2015/about-new-zealand.aspx

United Nations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (1948). Retrieved October 26, 2016 from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/