Patriotism and the New Zealand primary school: the decisive years of the twenties

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with patriotism, its impact on and its implications for the New Zealand primary school. The term “patriotism” is employed in a wide sense to refer to a number of activities and concepts which vitally affected both teachers and pupils. These included citizenship instruction taught under history and civics, special patriotic and commemorative observances such as Anzac Day, and a growing preoccupation with loyalty and conformity which led to the introduction of flag-saluting and loyalty oaths. The 1920s were decisive years for school patriotism. Initially the Great War upset the earlier relationship between patriotism and the primary school. Before 1914 school patriotism had been based on character training and steeped in the mystique of Empire, particularly the imperial romanticism of Newbolt and Kipling. By 1918 these had become less important as new and more urgent considerations began to claim the attention of politicians and educationalists. War was now regarded as being a struggle between societies in which education played a crucial role. The necessity of national survival had largely ousted the ideal of the knightly crusade implicit in school patriotism prior to the outbreak of war. At the same time patriotism itself had become more intense, more zealous and more dynamic than ever before. As a result, its impact on the primary school was to be correspondingly distinctive. 1. The Zenith of Patriotic Zeal, 1918 - 1922. The first section of this thesis traces the development of patriotic fervour during the early post-war period and analyses its impact on the primary schools. Three important factors; the continuing influence of the Great War, the unresolved problem of external security and the apparent threat to society posed by militant socialism, had considerable effect on the teaching of patriotism. On one plane this led to an extension of patriotic observances in the schools, to a continuing School Journal bias towards patriotic and imperial articles, and to a growing emphasis on citizenship training as reflected in the 1919 Syllabus. On a quite different and ultimately more significant plane, however, the political, economic and social uncertainties of the early post-war period helped focus attention on the perplexing question of ensuring loyalty within the school system, for without loyalty, neither instruction in patriotism nor exposure to patriotic ritual could be successful. The gazetting of compulsory flag-saluting regulations and the introduction of loyalty oaths for teachers were measures which indicated a decisive shift in concern from the inculcation of patriotism, to the maintenance of loyalty in the teaching service. 2. The Decline of Patriotic Fervour, 1922 - 1930. The second section of this thesis analyses the reasons behind the decline of patriotic zeal in the schools. Despite the initial fervour behind the early post-war extension of school patriotism, its impact on pupils had been limited by various environmental, administrative and educational difficulties. More important however, attitudes towards the teaching of patriotism changed during the 1920s, due to the existence of several new factors. Excessive pre-occupation with teacher loyalty, especially on the part of the Government, provoked a number of confrontations and contributed in large measure to a growing public distaste for the direction school patriotism appeared to have taken. As the decade advanced, a growing movement towards the social and cultural aspects of education began to supersede the older, more narrow stress on patriotism. In a world which was beginning to find the ideal of human brotherhood more attractive, there appeared less place for the strident nationalism which had characterised patriotic instruction a few years earlier. By the late 1920s internationalist sentiment was beginning to have an impact in New Zealand, and this was to prove vital in both influencing the type of reading material available to pupils and in modifying the attitudes of politicians, education administrators and teachers. The 1920s, therefore, were decisive years for patriotism and for the New Zealand primary school. In the years immediately following the Armistice, patriotism appeared destined to play a dominant role in education. By the end of the decade, its militancy and even its raison d’etre were being challenged. As far as the teaching of political values was concerned a new order was beginning to take shape in the primary schools which, while owing its existence to the events and decisions of the 1920s, was to last until the mid-1970s.