Teaching New Zealand Wars History
Efforts to ensure more young New Zealanders learn the history of the New Zealand Wars at school stepped up recently, with Stuff launching a campaign to support this kaupapa. As an editorial announcing the campaign noted: "Kiwi school kids can leave the education system knowing more about Tudor England than the New Zealand Wars. This is a ridiculous situation and a sad indictment on our commitment to partnership under the Treaty." The series of stories included some inspirational examples of schools which had taken up the challenge , including one Hamilton primary school . The New Zealand Wars, I explained in one interview for the series, could best be understood as a clash between two competing visions of what the Treaty of Waitangi represented. I also spoke about this issue on TVNZ's Breakfast show. Over the past month or so I have been giving a series of talks in schools around the country on New Zealand Wars history, with more to come. I spoke about h