What's keeping them back? Life choices and life chances

Abstract

While numbers and statistics can be manipulated to shock or numb, most of New Zealand's teachers will not be surprised to learn that 59% of Maori school-leavers who find jobs go into manual occupations, that only 5% go into technical or professional work, that 49% of Maori students become unemployed on leaving school. After spending three years rubbing shoulders with New Zealand teachers, and a whole year in their classrooms, my guess is that they instinctively know that such statistics are close enough to the mark - they see these percentages come alive in their schools year in, year out. And perhaps because of the regularity of Maori 'failure' and 'underachievement', the 'Maori problem' has become something to be expected, to be coped with.