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Indigenous Education, Providing an understanding and awareness around…
Indigenous Education
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History
As Senator Murray Sinclair discusses, these models of education were put in place to kill culture, essentially a cultural genocide, a serious disruption to the sharing of Indigenous knowledge.
To generalize, residential schools affected the passing down of knowledge within Indigenous generations from parents, role models and elders within their communities. This affected their understanding of their culture and language.
Parents lost confidence in their ability to parent and raise their children. The children struggled with confidence due to a forced lack of parent and role model involvement within their lives. This of course is just talking about the generation directly affected by residential schools. The disruption of culture and parent involvement has created a spiral affect and trauma within many generations of Indigenous peoples.
Residential schools affected more than just those who attended, the cycle of trauma and stigma around education has been a huge impact on language loss and educational success in general within Indigenous populations.
Anuik (2018) shares how an exclusive historical focus on formal education can diminish three major factors in Indigenous learning in his article Language, Place and Kinship Ties: Past and Present Necessities for Metis Education. The three ways of learning affected by formal education discussed within the article are: ecological teachings and traditional knowledge, skills learned outside the formal institution and teachings that nourish lifelong learning in communities.
The root of stigma surrounding Indigenous languages and the education around these languages can be traced back to colonization and residential schooling systems.
Post European contact, educational rights for Indigenous children was taken away from the family and mostly delivered from a Eurocentric Christian standpoint, delivered in English or French
, residential schools affected and prevented the passing down of knowledge within Indigenous generations from parents, role models and elders within their communities. This affected their understanding of their culture and language. Students would come home and have forgotten their own Indigenous language. There was a lack of motivation to relearn their languages as they were taught to feel ashamed of their culture and language at school.
Policy
The full spirit and intent of the ICIE 1972 policy, however, has never been supported in a meaningful manner. Successive federal governments have consistently failed to provide the necessary support to fully implement the comprehensive First Nations learning environments and systems envisioned by First Nations that would lead to an overall improvement in learning outcomes.(p.3)
“Unless a child learns about the forces which shape him: the history of his people, their values and customs, their language, he will never really know himself or his potential as a human being. Indian culture and values have a unique place in the history of mankind. The Indian child who learns about his heritage will be proud of it. The lessons he learns in school, his whole school experience, should reinforce & contribute to the image he has of himself as an Indian.” - ICIE 1972 POLICY PAPER
Statistics around Indigenous people from a socioeconomic and education point of view draw clear evidence on the impact of this disruption of shared knowledge, experience and culture.
It is stated in the NIB policy paper that Indians must have the freedom to choose between many options and alternatives in the educational process (Pg.4). Who is to provide these options?
bringing something to policy is growth in itself, it is actually the implementation of these policies and models that educators need support in.
The goal of colonial education models was to disrupt Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. Indigenous ways of knowledge passed through experiences in such things as harvesting, storytelling, and experiences within the community were seen as savage. According to Milloy (1999) the goal of residential schools was to emancipate Indigenous children from savagery: their present state of ignorance, superstition and helplessness and to bring them to a state of civilized Canadian (p.25).
many Aboriginal people cannot afford to make life changes to better their future and the significant economic growth that would occur if the educational gaps were closed within Aboriginal people needs to be discussed more openly amongst educators. Educators need to know the power the hold on the impact of these people and their futures within our country.
Grading the Gap :it is clear there is a theme of inequality in educational funding within Canada. Overall, First Nations students on reserves receive significantly less funding than students within the rest of the country. This lack in funding can have a significant affect on student confidence, graduation rates and economic statistics.
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• The lack of basic needs: textbooks, supplies, space.
• Overcrowded classrooms. One of the cases presented had students using an old janitors closet as a classroom.
• Lack of required technologies: no computer labs, no science labs.
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• No funding for extra-curriculars: no music, drama or art programs. This surprised me as music and art are such an integral part in many Indigenous cultures.
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• Many students are required to travel far distances to continue school after a certain grade. I am curious what the drop out rate after school within the reserve stops is?
the funding provided by Trudeau for Indigenous education is a good start towards providing adequate resources within Indigenous schools, however it is still not enough. I found this to remind me of the critique on the government's progress since the 1972 policy paper found in the AFN's policy goals. "The full spirit and intent of the ICIE 1972 policy, however, has never been supported in a meaningful manner. Successive federal governments have consistently failed to provide the necessary support to fully implement the comprehensive First Nations learning environments and systems envisioned by First Nations that would lead to an overall improvement in learning outcomes" (p. 3).
John S Milloy (1999) discusses how policies around Indigenous education during colonization were centered around the idea that the parenting process in Aboriginal communities needed to be disrupted in order to be able to educate Aboriginal children effectively.
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Providing an understanding and awareness around Indigenous beliefs within community building in classroom