Search Results for: Matauranga maori

A debate: should Mātauranga Māori (indigenous “ways of knowing”) be taught as science in New Zealand schools?

UPDATE:  Notice that one of the debate participants, David Lillis, has left a comment below. ******************** The NewsHub article below, reproduced on MSN, contains a short (10-minute debate) about whether and how Mātauranga Māori (Māori “ways of knowing) should be taught in public schools. The participants are Sir Ian Taylor (a half-Māori businessman and a … Continue reading A debate: should Mātauranga Māori (indigenous “ways of knowing”) be taught as science in New Zealand schools?

University of Auckland continues to promote indigenous ways of knowing while not allowing a promised debate between that and modern science

In July, 2021, a group of seven University of Auckland academics (two now deceased) published a letter in the Magazine “the Listener”  saying that the local (Māori) “ways of knowing”, or Mātauranga Māori (MM), while of significant cultural, sociological, and anthropological value, was not equivalent to modern science.  It was written because the New Zealand … Continue reading University of Auckland continues to promote indigenous ways of knowing while not allowing a promised debate between that and modern science

New Zealand government spends $2.7 million to test already-debunked indigenous theory about the effect of lunar phases on plants

We’ve already learned that, with respect to some indigenous “scientific” theories, the New Zealand government is willing to commit the “Concorde” or “sunk cost” fallacy, continuing to fund lines of inquiry even though those projects have already been proven wrong or unproductive. A particularly egregious example, which I’ve documented before (see here, here and here) … Continue reading New Zealand government spends $2.7 million to test already-debunked indigenous theory about the effect of lunar phases on plants

What are Maori “ways of knowing”, and should they be taught in science class as coequal to modern science?

I’ve been describing the big kerfuffle in New Zealand (well, it’s not a huge kerfuffle as the Kiwi public seems to know little about it) involving whether mātauranga Māori, (henceforth MM), which loosely translates to “Māori ways of knowing,”. should be taught as science alongside modern science in both secondary-school; and college science classes. In … Continue reading What are Maori “ways of knowing”, and should they be taught in science class as coequal to modern science?

A New Zealand teacher writes the government protesting a proposed curriculum asserting the equality of indigenous “ways of knowing” with science

I’ve often written about how New Zealand’s government and school authorities are determined to teach the indigenous way of knowing,”Mātauranga Māori (“MM”), which I’ve often discussed, as coequal to modern science in science classes.  While many (like me) maintain that MM should be taught in sociology or anthropology classes as an important part of national culture, … Continue reading A New Zealand teacher writes the government protesting a proposed curriculum asserting the equality of indigenous “ways of knowing” with science

Maori “ways of knowing” to be taught as science in NZ universities

The kerfuffle continues about whether mātauranga Māori, or “Maori ways of knowing”, constitutes an independent form of science that should be taught in school science class as coequal to what we know as “real science”.  As I’ve pointed out before, this coequality is simply ludicrous, for mātauranga Māori is a collection of religious beliefs, superstitions, … Continue reading Maori “ways of knowing” to be taught as science in NZ universities

A good summary of the mess that is science education in New Zealand

If you want to see what the government of New Zealand is up to with respect to science education, you can’t do better than listening to this video/slideshow by two exponents of the “we-need-two-knowledge-systems” view. I’ve gotten a lot of scary stuff from Kiwi educators in the last couple of weeks, but this one site … Continue reading A good summary of the mess that is science education in New Zealand

More from New Zealand, a nation whose science is circling the drain

I’ve written a lot about New Zealand lately, in particular the schools’ and government’s attempt to force the teaching of “indigenous ways of knowing” (mātauranga Māori) into the science classroom as a system coequal in value with modern science. That means not only equal classroom time, but equal respect, treating indigenous ways of knowing as … Continue reading More from New Zealand, a nation whose science is circling the drain