Are. You. Kidding?!

I, like many of my peers have worked effing hard to get into university and get my scholarship.

At High School, I saw a large quantity of students wagging, smoking and TAUNTING others, and now WE have to compete with some of them at the University also?

Don't get me wrong, I would be just as hacked off if it suddenly became open entry for everyone, but SERIOUSLY?

Are they going to make it open entry for everyone now? If they do for maori, I see it as racism if they don't for everyone else.

If this happens, all I'm going to think, walking through the campus is 'do they actually deserve to be here?'. There goes the pride in walking amongst those who actually WORKED HARD to get where they are.

Instead, its merely, here have a free pass to a university, don't worry about staying in high school to make it, go chill with your friends, ignore the rest of society who has to work for university.

Yet another way for racism to be evoked within the communities in my opinion. I hope there will be petetions against this!

I work in the library at a multicultural secondary school. African, Asian, Middle-Eastern and Polynesian students use the library a lot. This includes students from refugee backgrounds and those with English as a second language. Maori and European students are much less visible. The library is open to everyone and I think we have a welcoming and non-threatening atmosphere. Those with poor literacy are helped and encouraged and have simple material available to them. If Maori students need help, they could start by venturing in to the library. I am happy to help anyone with finding information, spelling, efficient use of the computers and so on.

Our librarian recently sent a survey to heads of departments, asking if we were meeting their needs and what we could do to improve services. The HoD of Maori said we were not meeting her department’s needs, but despite our invitation has not bothered to come and talk to us about how we can improve. To the best of my knowledge she has only visited the library once this year, and I seriously doubt that she even knows what resources we hold. In contrast, other HoDs have told us what type of material they need, even suggesting specific books. We also have two Pacific Island homework clubs operating after school. These are organised and run by Samoan teachers and are proving very popular.

In my view, it is too easy to blame colonisation and racism for Maori educational failure. Families have to support their children. Teaching staff need to show an interest. If students can’t cope with reading and writing at high school, they are unlikely to succeed at university. I also note that there are numerous scholarships available to Maori that are not available to other ethnic groups, as well as support networks at many campuses. Blaming everybody else for Maori failure seems rather simplistic to me.

i have worked fuckn hard to get where i am at present i had to work minimum wage for 2 years to earn enough money so i could even afford to attend university,and i continue to work shitty jobs so i can stay here,im from a poor family and a low decile school.I am the first person in family to ever attend university,and every single member of my family are proud of me for getting here, and now we are just going to open the gates up as long as your a maori?.I always made sure in high school to get the best grades i could, and ensure i dedicated as much time as i could to study,but it appears as always in this country as long as your a Maori you can have whatever you want handed to you on a silver platter. Its absolute bullshit how the situation with these people has got to this level,and everybody is sick of it but nobody has the balls to do anything about it.The Maori want the life they have,they want to imitate affrican american culture,they want to shove their children in clothes dryers,they wanted to bully me and steal my shit everyday during highschool instead of studying for a future. They made and contiunue to make poor choices thats not our problem, why arent we as a nation focusing on the people who actually worked hard and want a future,rather than people who just throw it away? Help out the students who have prooved they are worthy of studying at university level rather than throwing more money at the drain on society the majority of Maori have become. They are the racists, they are the ones keeping this country as a 'them' and 'us' nation.

Politicians are always out of touch with reality, but this one is EXTRA ABSURD! Massey University already has 'Open Entry' for most courses, provided you are over 20. That is one reason why standards at Massey Uni are so poor compared to other Unis in NZ (despite VC Steve Maharey unconvincingly trying to suggest standards there are better). Massey staff are under a lot of pressure by their employer to keep standards low in order effectively hand out "free passes" to many students who would fail at other Unis. Now Massey is trying to find ways to increase Extramural completion rates - further lowering of standards likely, just ask CoB PVC Prof Lawrence ("Larry") Rose. Automatic open entry for Maori, which is racist...and offensive to achieving Maori, would force these same problems onto other Unis in NZ as well. Not good!