Charles Ungerleider, Professor
Emeritus, The University of British Columbia
[permission to reproduce granted if
authorship is acknowledged]
I
am surprised at the number of Indigenous students whose families allow them to
attend public schools in Canada. If I was a parent whose ancestors attended
residential schools and was suffering from the
inter-generational trauma that taking children from their families created, I
would think twice about sending my children or grandchildren to schools
established by settlers.
Most
Canadians consider residential schooling as abhorrent, if not criminal. In
fact, given their intent and the mistreatment of children and youth in their
care, we should not call them schools. Although residential schools no longer
exist, the public schools Indigenous children attend are settler institutions that
do not reflect Indigenous epistemologies, language, or culture. As recognized by the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission:
Much of the current state
of troubled relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians is
attributable to educational institutions and what they have taught, or failed
to teach, over many generations. Despite that history, or, perhaps more
correctly, because of its potential, the Commission believes that education is
also the key to reconciliation. (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,
Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future p. 234)
There are schools and school systems that are trying to shed the
negative teachings of the past and incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and
being, but the efforts are nascent and sporadic.
Even if curricula reflecting Indigenous perspectives were widely
available (which they are not), most non-Indigenous teachers do not understand Indigenous
epistemologies sufficiently well to be able to adapt to new pedagogies and
curricula to include them
An increasing number of schools are trying to incorporate Indigenous
symbols, but I suspect that most Indigenous learners do not see themselves
reflected in schools because the symbolism is not complemented by Indigenous
content. My hunch is that there are Indigenous learners whose parents conceal
the identities of their children because they are fearful of mistreatment.
Although the intentions are different, in rural and remote communities without
a secondary school, there are students who must live away from their families
and communities to attend school. I would not be comfortable sending my
children away to school. But, if I did not send them, a social service agency
would likely threaten to take them from me and make them Crown wards.
These are but a few of the impediments facing Indigenous learners that
schools and the broader society must remove. But, unless they are removed, Indigenous
parents are justified to distrust settler schools and only reluctantly allow
their children to attend. Addressing the historic mistreatment of Indigenous
people by settlers and the part that residential schools played in attempting
to systematically eradicate Indigenous language and culture is a necessary step
but one that is not sufficient.
Schools must acknowledge and value the knowledge that Indigenous
children and youth bring to school. Instead of disregarding such knowledge, and
in the process disparaging it, schools must use that knowledge as a foundation
upon which to build. Children and youth, Indigenous and non-Indigenous are more
likely to succeed when the knowledge they possess and the competencies they
have are incorporated in the fabric of schools.
If Indigenous elders and knowledge-keepers were formally invited to
participate in schools, they could help educate both students and the
professional staff. That would be another step toward reconciliation. Land and
nature play important parts in the lives of Indigenous people. Using land-based
learning as the staging point for instruction rather than an extension to
current approaches would recognize its value.
We need to fast-track the preparation and hiring of Indigenous teachers.
Doing so won’t transform the curriculum and pedagogy but it will provide students
with models of Indigenous leadership. There are examples of Indigenously
focussed teacher education programs in existence for some time. While those
continue, the registrars of teacher certification at the provincial level
should authorize graduated certification to enable Indigenous people to combine
employment with study to earn laddered certification.
The preparation of non-Indigenous teachers has improved in recent years in
most faculties of education, but there is room for improvement. But
improvements will remain limited until there are Indigenous faculty members who
can help transform teacher preparation in more fundamental ways.
None of the suggestions I have made are new or radical. However, they
are not part of the fabric of public schooling. Until they and other changes
are incorporated, Indigenous parents will reluctantly allow their children to
attend school, but they are unlikely to fully embrace schooling in settler
institutions.