Cultural Renaissance Education Essay

Indigenous people across Canada have been suppressed by the government, system, and settlers still to this day. The residential school system was a system of boarding schools that were established by the Canadian government and administered by various churches to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. Many of these children suffered physical, sexual, and emotional abuse from school staff. Even though residential schools have been abolished they can still affect indigenous people today. The book “Indian Horse” clearly represents the intergenerational trauma of Indigenous communities in Canada.

In order to get rid of cultural assimilation policy, and to support self-determination, language revitalization, and cultural maintenance, “Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples” has been published. It announces the closer relationship between government and native people in Canada. In the report, they are willing to take self-governance instead of assimilation policy, and it shows a connection between self-governance and education. In this regard, they will pay much attention to the “education for self-determination”. However, this report is not only expresses the will to abolish cultural assimilation and achieve cultural maintenance, but also the desire to take control of their own education in a long term (Canada, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.

Before the Indian Act most of the young members of the First Nations followed the traditions and beliefs of previous generations, however, this changed with the introduction of Residential schools through the Indian Act. By 1948, there were 78 schools operating with nearly 10,000 students enrolled. This education network was established by the government but was controlled by the Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches. The objective of this school system was to teach young aboriginals how to integrate themselves into the “normal” Canadian life. In other words, this whole system was a major cultural genocide.

Over many years the commonwealth and the state education departments have put enormous time and effort into producing a wealth of Aboriginal education resources. When developing school-based resources or selecting texts or materials, teachers should carefully evaluate their educational value for embedding Indigenous perspectives. Chris informs us that you can never have too many resources when teaching, especially within the Aboriginal community. He explains that so many resources can be found outside in the Indigenous community. The curriculum is an essential resource for educators to enforce in the classroom to ensure the students are achieving the outcomes for the year.

Wouldn't having knowledge in these areas be more beneficial than detrimental to our society? Although I acknowledge that there is an abundance of diversity and richness within the Indigenous community that cannot be covered entirely, I still feel that the educational curriculum falls short in this regard. When Weenie says “…we cannot assume that all our students have foundational knowledge of our culture. Due to colonization cultural transmission has been disrupted and much of our work is about restoring and revitalizing.” (Weenie, 2019) This quote stood out to me.

Competency 5 Applying Foundational Knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit A teacher develops and applies foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit for the benefit of all students. a) understanding the historical, social, economic, and political implications of: a. treaties and agreements with First Nations; b. legislation and agreements negotiated with Métis; and c. residential schools and their legacy; b) supporting student achievement by engaging in collaborative, whole school approaches to capacity building in First Nations, Métis and Inuit education; c) using the programs of study to provide opportunities for all students to develop a knowledge and understanding of, and respect for, the histories, cultures,

Countless numbers of Native individuals are traumatized and their unhealthy mindset and physical traits are typically passed on. Many of these Indigenous people probably do not even realize the harm that their actions cause to their future family members which is one of the root issues that makes people struggle to end the cycle of abuse. Thus, it is important for one to recognize their negative behaviours toward others. Fred mentioned that residential schools were not their fault, “We’re not responsible for what happened to us. None of us are,” (120) which is absolutely true, however, he also said, “But our healing—that’s up to us,” (120) and this further proves that in order to end the cycle of traumas, one should take the initiative.

The main purpose of the American Indian Center is to “respond to the self-defined educational needs and goals of the current American Indian student. To this end, the American Indian Center, utilizing both internal and external resources, empowers indigenous people through quality educational programming. Additionally, the center 's outreach activities promote awareness, better understanding, and sensitivity to American Indian

Critically Analyse components of the Closing the Gap campaign and identify how these components impact life opportunities of Indigenous Australians The Closing the Gap campaign aims to improve things relating to Indigenous education, employment, health and life expectancy. In regards to education Indigenous school completion rates are significantly low (Helm, 2011). There are a variety of reasons that many Indigenous students do not complete school some of the reasons are that some live in remotes areas which means lack of access to schools, lack of jobs to seek and there are not many adults who have completed secondary education. The Closing the Gap campaign has come up with ways to encourage Indigenous students’ engagement in school which should want them to go to school more often.

For many indigenous nations, surviving in the aftermath of residential schools is troubling as many suffer from historical trauma (Anisman, Bombay & Matheson, 2014, p. 320). Other than experiencing mental and physical health problems due to various forms of neglect and abuse, the indigenous population in Canada will continue to suffer as “attending residential schools across several generations will have cumulative effects” (Anisman, Bombay & Matheson, 2014, p. 320). In fact, historical trauma will further undermine the well-being of contemporary members of indigenous nations throughout Canada as historically traumatic events will accumulate across generations (Anisman, Bombay & Matheson, 2014, p. 322). It is, therefore, hard for indigenous nations to forget that they have lost their identities, culture, rights, land, and language under the Canadian government and fellow Canadian who they are constituting a political community

Imagine being ripped apart from family members, culture, tradition, and labelled a savage that needs to be educated. Imagine constantly facing punishment at school for being one’s self. Unfortunately, these events were faced head on for many First Nations people living in Canada in the late 20th century. These First Nations people were the victims of an extensive school system set up by the government to eradicate Aboriginal culture across Canada and to assimilate them into what was considered a mainstream society.

“Historical trauma coupled with ongoing present-day traumas such as anti-Indigenous racism and a lack of clean drinking water has had a massive negative impact on Indigenous communities, resulting in (and combining with) issues such as addiction, limited education, incarceration, violence, abuse, suicidality, homelessness and poverty” (Seto). The effects of boarding schools are evident in the high poverty rates, unemployment, substance abuse, and suicide among Native Americans. The boarding school system has also contributed to the erasure of Indigenous languages, cultures, and knowledge systems, which are essential for the well-being of Indigenous communities and preserving their unique and beautiful ways of

Janet Smylie presents the current challenges facing indigenous Canadians in Westernised educational models. The author outlines the impact of colonisation on indigenous sociocultural belief systems highlighting this as a mitigating factor in the low levels of indigenous youth literacy. Smylie summarises the need to incorporate conceptualisation of Aboriginal culture, learning styles and perceptions when drafting framework for literacy outcomes. Additionally, the author highlights the need for self-determination by utilising the knowledge within communities to officially establish intrinsic connection between health and literacy outcomes in indigenous communities. In particular, embracing indigenous values such as metaphysical beliefs and traditional

-What are the challenges faced by indigenous languages and efforts to revitalize them? -What is the role of indigenous women in their communities and in advocating for indigenous rights? -How has residential schooling impacted indigenous communities, and what are the long-term effects?

I particularly agreed with the authors’ argument about blending cultural and academic knowledge (McKinley & Brayboy, 2005, p. 435). I think it is institution’s responsibility to respect their cultural knowledge but also provide appropriate academic knowledge, relative to Indigenous students to be able to actively engage in reciprocal learning with their cultural knowledge, which, then, adds value to their survivance practice. I find that this piece opened up a new way of looking at the challenges which Indigenous students encounter and the ways to move forward with the situation through changing the perception of education not only from Indigenous students, but also from the perspectives of non-Aboriginal members in institutions by providing a way to