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Pacific students in New Zealand (NZ) quickly learn that they are not very smart. The statistics tell them this. They also come to believe that they do not try very hard. The talk of equal opportunities tells them this, especially when it is coupled with negative statistics. This is not surprising. Education in NZ has been embedded in notions of egalitarianism and merit throughout its history, and this has been accepted in a "common sense" way. Many New Zealanders still believe that an individual's ability to be successful is based on their merits, generally viewed as a combination of factors including innate abilities, working hard, having the right attitude, and having high moral character and integrity. New Zealanders not only tend to think that is the way the system should work, but most actually accept uncritically that this is how it does work. This paper discusses the historical understandings of merit and equality of educational opportunity in NZ and how these understandings have informed historical education policies for Maori and Pacific students in NZ.