bending over backwards...
Read this
I have been looking at a job application form to work with Identity Services New Zealand, as a citizenship officer.
This is part of the job description:
"Achieves Effectiveness for Māori
This describes working effectively with and for Māori colleagues, clients and stakeholders, to ensure their specific needs are identified and met, and to create a positive work environment for Māori. It relates to our Effectiveness for Māori (EfM) strategies, policies and guidelines and supports our vision to be recognised as an EfM leader in public service. Performance indicators: • Shows awareness of the implications of the Treaty of Waitangi; • Develops basic skill in Te Reo and Tikanga; • Shows understanding of issues for Māori in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi and government policy"
Why should I have to speak the Maori language to issue passports? Why shouldn't I have to speak Mandarin or Indian?
24 Comments:
why should you have to speak english to issue passports?
So weird! But not surprising considering our current climate of political correctness.
What are specific needs Maori have? Are we trying to say they all have the same specific needs?
Surely every individual has specific needs, and a good workmate would take this into account in dealing with people!
Maori and English are the two most common languages in New Zealand. Plus we should have some respect for Maori people I mean our ancestors did take their land and force their culture on them, surely us being able to use some of their language when dealing with them is only fair?
AJ
I highly doubt Maori is anywhere the most (or second most)common language in New Zealand. It is however an official language of New Zealand.
Not all land was 'taken', and not all Maori were unwilling to take on this new culture that had been imported. And even if European culture was forced upon some how does forcing Maori culture on anyone else help? Having another culture rammed down your throat is not good as you have implied. Therefore how is it going to benefit Maori to ram their culture down unwilling throats. It will just continue the cycle of tension which began as you when our culture was forced upon some Maori.
As an aside:- The whole concept of Maori as one people would not have been possible if the terrible Europeans hadn't come along.
plus in every other country, the colonisers came in and took over the natives with force, not generally recognising them as people (take Australia or America, for example) whereas in New Zealand they were treated as equals and a treaty was signed.
anyway, i am also intrigued by the huge percentage of maori workers in WINZ christchurch. Probably heaps higher than the percentage in the general (chch) population.
Arghhh!!!! Come on, heaps of land was taken, wars where heaps of Maori were killed, the Treaty has hardly been honoured. Did you know that the only country where the settler version of such documents is honoured above the indigenous is NZ and that they say very different things. Maori have it worse off now than others in NZ and people wonder why. Come on, you'd think racism would stop somewhere.
they dont say very different things. Its a one word difference. And I agree, an important difference, but its 160 years ago. Why cant we live as one people?
All this bending over backwards is making it hard for me, a political science graduate, to get a job in a governmental department, like Identity services or ACC. I think your grounds for getting a job should be based on your skills and qualifications rather than your ancestry or ethnicity.
It's not a one word diference, have you ever read an english translation of the maori version? Very different to the english version.
I agree with you that geting jobs should be based on skill. But working with people you need the people skills, and working cross-culturally with people you need some cross cultural skills and respect for the fact that not every one can be as "normal" as all us white people.
Michelle said "I think your grounds for getting a job should be based on your skills and qualifications rather than your ancestry or ethnicity."
That right, it shouldnt be based on ancestry or ethnicity. thats why they want to be able to speak the language (a skill and/or qualification), not be maori(ancestry or ethnicity)!
have you ever read an english translation of the maori version ?
I have.
I was quite surprised to observe the fact that there were no important differences, given the fuss people were apparently making about it.
Very different to the english version.
Clearly that's a matter of opinion, as I found them pretty much the same. They both seemed equally obselete and irrelevant today.
well "anonymous" what i'm trying to say is that why should the skill of speaking Maori be essential to getting a job that approves passport applications.
Anonymous, why do "maori have it worse off now than others in NZ"?
Please explain this claim.
It doesn't say you have to be able to speak maori. It just says you have to be developing skill in te reo (maori language) and tikanga (culture and protocol). I think that all New Zealanders should be doing that anyway (but that is an aside).
Maori people have made the effort over the years to learn our language and our culture, and join in with our society. Why should we not give them the same respect and learn the basics of their language and culture - and try and relate to them in a way that they will understand?
The Maori culture, like any other culture consists of a set of values. Some of these are similar to those of our culture, while others are different. As Christians we complain when people don't respect our beliefs and values - so why don't we respect other peoples beliefs and values and try and relate to people in a way that they will understand!
One final point - this job seems to me to be a customer service job of some description. Isn't a big part of customer service keeping the customer happy while giving them a service they require? I have always found that customers will not only be happier if you make an effort to consider how they view things - but they will also respect you more, and make your job a lot easier.
Well, let me elaborate....
further on in the job description it says you wont be interacting with the public much.
Ray I never knew you could speak Maori!!! Well done.
I don't know if language should be a factor in trying to relate to people. Empathy perhaps, but I'm not so sure one should learn to speak another's language.
I don't think history should play a part in making these things what they are. Surely the past defines the present but to what extent? "You rammed your culture down my throat, so I'll ramm mine down yours." It could be never ending.
I think it should be based on skill rather than culture and ethnicity. It seems dumb that workplaces and such should continue to single out individual cultures when NZ is so bent on being one people.
I only speak a little bit of Maori, but I do wish I knew more, and am actively making an effort to learn more :)
scott... can i call you scotty?
when i said maori and english are the most common languages in NZ i maeant that they are the languages that you come across most frequently(that and asian languages). Plus learning some Maori is not the worst thing in the world for a white middle class New Zealand Christian to do. I mean come on we learn all the foreign names of cars, coffee, technology that the modern christian needs for their ministry (eg; ipods, cellphones, new soundsystems for church so Jesus can hear us) and those snazzy Italian shirts we have to wear on Sunday so we look good enough for Jesus. Please excuse the ranting tangent about pig headed fundy christians but I did vote Labour. Some of them are very nice.
You mean the party that took away maori rights to the forshore and seabed?
what does voting labour have to do with anything?
It was a TANGENT...T-A-N-G-E-N-T. I went on a tangent UNRELATED to the topic of the Maori issues. Voting Labour has nothing to do with anything previously mentioned. It was as stated above a tangent. I even spelled it T-A-N-G-E-N-T. I hope I've made myself clear through all the sarcasm.
What does the foreshore and seabed have to do with Maori language?
While i don't claim to be an expert on the Maori, i did do some research on them as a part of a history course. It wasnt really a peaceful handover...there were lots of conflicts. and by conflicts i mean bloodshed with the killing and the kniving and the murdering and the musketeers and the oh mr european leave my hill forts alone! mmm-huyay!
Look, you all know I'm whiter than Chad after a week sequestered in a computer lab. But I also studied linguistics, and I'm also part Welsh. So I'm a staunch supporter of minority groups (even previously oppressed ones) actually being allowed to speak their native languages. I think it's incredibly important to the survival of their culture and theirselves as a distinct, ethnic identity.
No, I don't speak Maori. Regretfully, it's not even top of my list of "languages I want to speak". But I fully endorse that it will now be taught in primary schools (not just how to count to five), and I realise if we're going to be anything but another group of arrogant, assimilating colonialistic bastards, we do have to take the minority aboriginal group into account.
Yes, I think that you should be chosen on qualifications, rather than your ability to kiss ass, and no, I don't think being P.C is in any way going to help the current situation we are in, here in NZ. Some of the stuff that gets spouted is complete... tosh. It's people trying to cover up their guilt complex with pretty words that sound good but mean nothing.
But the fact is, we're in this cultural/economic/social situation, and we have to do something somehow.
Perhaps if such employers ran a course on (elementary) Maori language and culture, to help their employees? That would at least be constructive.
Anyway, as a seasoned (mwa ha ha) applicant for lots of random jobs, I suggest you take all this crap with a large chunk of salt. It turns up in *so* many jobs, and really, playing them at their own game (spouting appropriate empty yet flash-sounding words in their direction) is the best way to do stuff. Seriously, it's all dreamt up by P.R. people. And since we did B.A.s, we know what kinda crap they write.
It's not about sincerity or honesty, this kind of thing (I know that sounds awful). It's about how well you can play their game. Applying for jobs requires a certain detachment from who you are in reality.
Sorry for the length of this comment!
sorry, me again - just to say, how much of that stuff in the job description do you actually think will be part of the everyday, grindingly boring part of the job? I would say very little. It's a job description - they blow things out of proportion on purpose, it's part of that domain and discourse.
Also thought of an analogy to explain the whole job-hunting/application/interviewing rigmarole. It's like a stage-play. It looks like real life, sounds like real life, and often is based on or in some way reflects real life. But it isn't. It's all acting, all smoke and mirrors. Everyone's playing prescribed parts, and (s)he who delivers their lines [read: markets themselves] best, wins.
Don't lose hope... there'll be a job out there somewhere for ya :)
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