Hobson’s Pledge Trust
We agree that the draft history curriculum divides history into villains and victims, contains significant gaps, and pushes a narrow set of highly political stories from our past, as a new petition on the ACT Party’s website states.
The draft curriculum’s “three big ideas” are divisive and wrong, the petition says.
The first “big idea”, that Maori history is the “continuous history” of New Zealand, excludes the many peoples who have travelled from the furthest points of the globe, brought their histories and cultures with them and worked to give themselves, their families and this county a better future.
The second, that colonisation “continue[s] to influence all aspects of New Zealand society”, is depressing and wrong and neglects the elements of our society that are untouched by colonisation.
The final big idea, that power has been the primary driver of our history, creates a narrative of oppressors and oppressed, and leaves out the many forces that have propelled our past, including scientific discoveries, technological innovations, business, and artistic creativity, the petition says.
Please sign the petition by going to Petition for an honest history curriculum
A submission by Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash on the proposed history curriculum may be read at Submission
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