News
The Progressive Party and the humanities
6 November 2008
| Byline: | Jim Anderton, M P for Wigram and Leader of the Progressive Party |
|---|---|
| Source: | Humanities Research Network |
With the election looming, we asked all the political parties for their vision for the humanities sector in New Zealand, posing a number of questions from our members. This is the Progressive Party's response.
What is your party's position on languages learning and how it should be funded?
Languages Learning
The Progressive Party believes that the learning of non English languages plays a significant role in the development of an imaginative and creative approach to life, and that not only all children but adults also in New Zealand should have the opportunity to learn such languages. In particular we consider that the learning of languages from the South Pacific and Asian regions serves not only this purpose but the instrumental purpose of positively furthering our relations with the regions both as individuals and as a country and economy.
What is your party's position on the role of education and the media in the development of democratic citizenship? Is that more or less important than their economic role?
Developing democratic citizenship
The Progressives have a long standing commitment to the need to develop a sense of citizenship in New Zealanders. We are one of the few OECD countries which does not include citizenship awareness in its core educational curriculum, and we believe this deficiency needs to be repaired. The role of the media in providing the information which underpins citizenship is also crucial. We think that the change to a more commercially oriented media which has been developing over the past two decades has had a negative effect on this role. While commerce and business are clearly important to any society, encouraging a consciousness of citizenship is equally important.
What is your party's position on the role of cultural institutions - libraries, museums, galleries, archives - in New Zealand, and how they should be funded?
Cultural institutions
The Progressive Party has a comprehensive culture and heritage policy (available on the website) and believes cultural institutions such as those you instance, and to which might be added community theatres and popular music venues, play a central role in maintaining and developing our culture and our heritage. They should be funded first and foremost from the public purse but should also welcome private endowments and initiatives.
What is your party's position on the contribution to sustainability of matauranga Maori and the humanities?
Matauranga Maori
Accepting that New Zealand is a bi-cultural society (a concept entirely reconcilable with it also being the product of immigration from a wide range of cultures), and that the post Treaty incomers are in a partnership relationship with the tangata whenua, is central to Progressive policy on Maori development and the Treaty. Recognising this through learning and education must be a key element in making that a reality. Those who maintain a mono-cultural non Maori perspective on life shut themselves off from some of the major cultural riches which determine what it means to be a New Zealander.
