Editing Māori language (section)

=== Suppression and decline ===
As early as 1847, English was set as the predominant language of schooling by the Education Ordinance Act; individual schools began to ban the use of Māori, though this was not yet a nationwide policy.<ref name="rnz-petition">{{cite news|last=Tahana|first=Jamie|title=Remembering the Māori Language Petition and the revival of te reo Māori|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/474655/remembering-the-maori-language-petition-and-the-revival-of-te-reo-maori|publisher=[[Radio New Zealand]]|date=13 September 2022|access-date=5 December 2024}}</ref> The [[Native Schools Act 1867]] established a schooling system for Māori children, who were to be taught in English whenever possible.<ref name="nzlii-1867">{{Cite web |title=Native Schools Act 1867 (31 Victoriae 1867 No 41) |url=http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/nsa186731v1867n41290/ |access-date=14 March 2024|website=New Zealand Legal Information Institute}}</ref> This was followed in 1880 by the Native Schools Code, which placed further restrictions on the use of Māori, establishing the expectation that teachers would have some knowledge of the language solely for the purpose of teaching English to younger pupils. Further restrictions on Māori followed, to the point that in the early twentieth century, children were forbidden to speak it in the classroom or playground, under penalty of [[corporal punishment]].<ref name="ka'ai-mahuta">{{cite journal|last=Ka'ai-Mahuta|first=Rachael|journal=Te Kaharoa|volume=4|issue=1|year=2011|title=The impact of colonisation on te reo Māori: a critical review of the state education system|issn=1178-6035|doi=10.24135/tekaharoa.v4i1.117}}</ref> In recent years, prominent Māori have spoken with sadness about their experiences or experiences of their family members being caned, strapped or beaten in school.<ref>{{cite news |date=1 September 2015 |title='I was beaten until I bled' |work=[[RNZ]] |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/282955/%27i-was-beaten-until-i-bled%27 |access-date=3 January 2021 |archive-date=22 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222211726/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/282955/%27i-was-beaten-until-i-bled%27 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Compulsory classes will help right the wrong after Te Reo Māori 'beaten' out of school children a generation ago – Sir Pita Sharples |url=https://www.1news.co.nz/2018/09/09/compulsory-classes-will-help-right-the-wrong-after-te-reo-maori-beaten-out-of-school-children-a-generation-ago-sir-pita-sharples/ |access-date=24 November 2022 |website=1 News |language=en |archive-date=24 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124061640/https://www.1news.co.nz/2018/09/09/compulsory-classes-will-help-right-the-wrong-after-te-reo-maori-beaten-out-of-school-children-a-generation-ago-sir-pita-sharples/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Graham-McLay |first=Charlotte |date=12 September 2022 |title=As Māori language use grows in New Zealand, the challenge is to match deeds to words |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/12/as-maori-language-use-grows-in-new-zealand-the-challenge-is-to-match-deeds-to-words |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124061641/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/12/as-maori-language-use-grows-in-new-zealand-the-challenge-is-to-match-deeds-to-words |archive-date=24 November 2022 |access-date=24 November 2022 |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en}}</ref>

In many cases these policies were accepted or even encouraged by parents who wanted their children to succeed in the Pākehā world around them;<ref name="Calman2">{{Cite web |last=Calman |first=Ross |title=Māori education{{snd}} mātauranga{{snd}} The native schools system, 1867 to 1969 |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-education-matauranga/page-3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416145535/https://teara.govt.nz/en/maori-education-matauranga/page-3 |archive-date=16 April 2019 |access-date=16 March 2021 |website=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |publisher=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu |page=3}}</ref> however, it remained government policy to educate Māori in manual trades rather than academic professions until the mid-twentieth century.<ref name="auditor-general">{{cite web|last=Provost|first=Lyn|title=Education for Māori: Context for our proposed audit work until 2017 {{!}} Part 3: Historical and current context for Māori education|url=https://oag.parliament.nz/2012/education-for-maori/part3.htm|publisher=Office of the Auditor-General|date=6 August 2012|access-date=5 December 2024}}</ref> Proposals in 1930 to introduce Māori to the curriculum were blocked on the grounds that the purpose of education was to "lead the Māori lad to be a good farmer and the Māori girl to be a good farmer's wife".<ref name="auditor-general" />

Most Māori people continued to speak Māori as their first language until [[World War II]]. The number of speakers of Māori began to decline rapidly with the migration of Māori to urban areas after the war (the [[urban Māori]]).<ref name="history" /> By the 1980s, fewer than 20 per cent of Māori spoke the language well enough to be classed as native speakers. Even many of those people no longer spoke Māori in their homes. As a result, many Māori children failed to learn their ancestral language, and generations of non-Māori-speaking Māori emerged.<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 February 2015 |title=Rosina Wiparata: A Legacy of Māori Language Education |language=en-US |work=The Forever Years |url=https://theforeveryears.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/rosina-wiparata-a-legacy-of-maori-language-education/ |access-date=15 November 2017 |archive-date=15 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115144138/https://theforeveryears.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/rosina-wiparata-a-legacy-of-maori-language-education/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1984, [[Naida Glavish]], a [[Switchboard operator|tolls operator]], was demoted for using the Māori greeting "{{Lang|mi|[[kia ora]]}}" with customers. The "[[Kia Ora Incident]]" was the subject of public and political scrutiny before having her job reinstated by Prime Minister [[Robert Muldoon]], and became a major symbol of long-standing [[linguicism]] in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hayden |first1=Leonie |date=7 August 2019 |title=The Kia Ora Lady: Dame Rangimārie Naida Glavish in her own words |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/07-08-2019/the-kia-ora-lady-dame-rangimarie-naida-glavish-in-her-own-words |access-date=7 July 2024 |website=[[The Spinoff]]}}</ref>