One of the early goals of the Māori protest movement was the promotion of Māori language (te reo Māori) and culture. Both of these had been generally ignored by the education system and New Zealand society in general, and schoolchildren were actively discouraged from speaking Māori in school. The 1867 Native Schools Act decreed that English should be the only language used in the education of Māori children- this policy was later rigorously enforced. This movement was led by Māori MPs who saw the advantages of Māori becoming fluent in a dominant world language. Until Māori became largely urbanised after World War II, this did not seriously damage the language since most Māori spoke it in their rural communities. Urbanisation produced a generation of Māori who mostly grew up in non-Māori environments and were therefore less exposed to the language. In addition, many parents felt that it was much more important for their children to be fluent in English and made no attempts to pass on the language.