Chambers

Caroline Chambers 1077

Dr. Jacqueline Ottmann
EDUC/NTST 450 Aboriginal Epistemology and Pedagogy
June 20, 2014
Aboriginal Pedagogy in the Western Educational System
Aboriginal education has become a critical issue in Canada. As the differences between
the Aboriginal ways of knowing and the Canadian education system become more apparent, new
problems on how to deal with the differences surface. Should First Nations students continue to
turn away from their own educational ways of knowing in order to benefit from the government
educational system? Can they pursue a productive education by combining their own system
with Eurocentric educational methods? Is there a possibility that Aboriginal ways of knowing
have valuable contributions to make to the Western educational system? Canada has the option
of learning from the First Nations cultures and integrating their ways of knowing to become a
stronger nation, or they can continue with a colonization mindset and carry on with a struggle
that will continue to damage the First Nations cultures, thereby damaging the entire nation.
Canadian culture can only benefit from integrating the Aboriginal ways of knowing with the
Western education system, but a shift is needed in the non-Aboriginal mindset in order for both
educational systems to flourish.
The majority of Canadians are unaware both of the effects of the residential schools and
the actual intent of the schools. The present education system leaves out the facts and events that
have created the present crisis in First Nations education. Therefore, they see the First Nations
people as a disruptive people who cannot be happy with the generosity of the Canadian

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government that has given them their present easy lifestyle of no taxes and not having to work
for their homes and education. There is very little knowledge of the aspects of aboriginal culture
that value education, family, community and environment. The present mindset is both a result
and a continuation of the colonization practices that established the residential schools.
As Europeans explored and populated the North American continent, they sought to
establish their own systems of government, education, and religion. Philosophers such as
DeCarte (1999) produced a society that believed that reason, the process of proving information
to show that it is believable, was the basis for true knowledge, [b]ecause reason...is the only
thing that makes us men, and distinguishes us from the beasts... (2000, p. 21). This influence
opened the door for people to believe that others who do not think the same way can be thought
of as less than human. Kants philosophies led people to believe they had become enlightened.
The resulting mindset was that people who believed differently belonged in the dark ages;
rational thinking and Eurocentric education was much more advanced. These systems
conflicted with those of the people groups already on the continent. Stairs contrasts these two
perspectives by saying that while Eurocentric thinking validated knowledge based on objective
proof and expert opinion, indigenous communities validated knowledge on the basis of life
experience and community consensus. (Battiste, 1995, p. 144). For the European settlers, the
indigenous perspective of how to gain knowledge did not qualify as enlightened.
Beliefs of superior knowledge, combined with beliefs of a superior religion justified, to
the Canadian government and the religious authorities, the establishment of residential schools
that would aid Aboriginals in becoming civilized and worthy citizens of the country. The
attitude of superiority is seen in the writings that describe the rational behind the residential

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schools, and efforts to emphasize the importance of their continuance. Milloy quotes church texts
and texts from the Department of Indian Affairs:
The aboriginal people were...sunk in ignorance and superstitious blindness, a well
of darkness from which they were in need of emancipation. Enlightened Canadians
would have to elevate the Indian from his condition of savagery from their present
state of ignorance, superstition, and helplessness. They would then reach the state of
civilized Canadians: one in which their practical knowledge and labour would make
them useful members of society, intelligent, self-supporting citizens. (1999, p. 25)
Not only was this belief justified in the Canadian mindset, Canadians believed the Aboriginal
population felt the same way. A pamphlet produced by the Anglican church in 1939 states that
the parents of children attending the school had already seen with...[their]own eyes...that many
of the Whitemans ways of life are superior to...[their]own (Milloy 1999 p. xii).
The belief in the superiority of European civilization led to a refusal to recognize the
legitimacy of Aboriginal customs, beliefs and educational practices, and undermined the peoples
belief in themselves. Milloy (1999) reports that the governments purpose in the mid 1800s for
the residential school was that upon graduation, those children would be the civilized
Aboriginal people of the future: they would recommend themselves to the confidence of...their
White Friends, and at the same time be rendered to occupy places of trust and profit (p. 20).
However, this misplaced intervention was the beginning of todays crisis in Aboriginal
education. A report by the Canadian Council of Learning states that [t]he 1996 Royal
Commission on Aboriginal Peoples concluded that many of the current challenges facing
Aboriginal communities, including violence, alcoholism and loss of identity, spirituality and

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language, can be tied to the residential school experience (Redefining How Success is Measured
in First Nations, Inuit and Mtis Learning, Report on Learning in Canada 2007 (Ottawa: 2007)
(p. 10). It also states that [a]ccording to the 2001 national census, the proportion of Aboriginal
people that did not attain a high- school diploma was more than 2.5 times higher than the
proportion of non-Aboriginal Canadians (p. 8). According to these statistics enlightened
Canadians had very little to offer the aboriginal population that would better their lives.
The foundation of Eurocentric superiority that was laid at the meeting of two cultures has
established an unchallenged, unconscious belief in Canadians that the present educational system
is superior. It seems unlikely that present day Canadian leadership of government or church
would use the descriptors of the past for any of todays people groups in Canada. In his
discussion of the development of culture and civilization, pertaining specifically to European and
Aboriginal cultures, Flanigan states that the distinction between civilized and uncivilized
societies has virtually vanished from the discussion of aboriginal politics and history in
Canada (35). While the overt language of colonization may have stopped, the mindset behind
the words continues. There is still a refusal to recognize and respect aboriginal culture and ways
of knowing, and the assumption of superiority continues today. Monture (1999) attests to this in
the writing of her book Moving Forward, Dreaming First Nations Independence. At the time of
writing, she had five years experience teaching law in a Canadian law school in Ottawa, after
which she joined the Native Studies department as a professor at the University of
Saskatchewan. She had earned a place in a profession that typifies Eurocentric ways, and was in
a traditionally respected position in Western society as a professor. However, she struggled in
writing her book because she was working in an environment where the views of First Nations

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people are not respected (Monture, 1999, p. 158). L.M. Findlay refers to those in leadership
positions in educational facilities by saying that [t]hese self -styled guardians of academic
excellence feel obliged to exclude or depreciate the possibility of Aboriginal knowledge,
Aboriginal understanding of power, accountability and leadership...Universities remain
massively complicit with neocolonial forces in society (Battiste, 2000, p. xi). If universities
continue to perpetuate colonialism in this way, Canadian society will continue to be unaccepting
of aboriginal ways of learning. Findlay also writes that the unreflective dominance of
[Eurocentric] discourses in academia has led to the historical and contemporary immunity to
understanding and tolerating indigenous knowledge. (Battiste, 2000, pxx).. This immunity to
understanding and tolerating different aspects of Aboriginal education is clearly reflected in
comments of readers opinions in news reports on Aboriginal issues. Regarding the CBC News
article New First Nations Education Act an illusion of control by Nepinak, a reader named
Tharkun writes:
I wish people like Nepinak would just plainly outline the curriculum they envision from
kindergarten to grade 12. Statements like "Only through the development of our own
education systems based in our indigenous pedagogy and ways of being will our students
thrive in a school system." are meaningless. What does that even mean in terms of the
curriculum? The whole point of this debate is that First Nations are disadvantaged because
they don't receive the same level of education as the rest of the country. That will always
be true if core classes (math, english, the sciences) are sacrificed for "indigenous classes".
If the core classes are kept then this is just a matter of replacing a few elective classes with
indigenous classes and tweaking the elementary school curriculum. If Nepinak has a clear

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idea of how to teach all the same core subjects that other students get while
accommodating whatever his ways of being require then he should clearly outline it for us.
If he doesn't have an idea of how to do that then he is not much help (2014, Tharkun)
Tharkuns comments express the opinion of the average Canadian who cannot conceive of
education that does not conform to a Eurocentric educational framework. The belief is that some
simple tweaking should fix up the system to be able to incorporate indigenous curriculum,
which, to his frustration, has not been defined; his Western mindset is unable to absorb a
description of an educational system that is not like his own. While his opinion recognizes the
crises in First Nations education, it also reveals the expectation that Aboriginal educational
leadership must work within Western perspectives to offer useful suggestions for a meaningful
way forward. The average Canadian remains unaware that the initial purpose of Aboriginal
education was not education but assimilation. If significant changes are not made to the Western
education system to integrate Aboriginal ways, that purpose of assimilation will remain the
same.
There is an underlying assumption that Canadian education, because it is superior will
lead the way in finding solutions. Montures opinion stands in sharp contrast to that assumption.
She writes that. [i]t requires the commitment of Canadians to allow Aboriginal Peoples to lead
the way to the future. Canada does not have the answer for us, and it is essential that Canada
recognize this because to do otherwise is not only to continue colonial relations but also to
entrench colonialism even further in the relationship between Aboriginal nations and
Canada (Monture 1999, p. 22). It is this aspect of allowing Aboriginal people to lead in
education that may possibly be the door to a future where both systems thrive. Tharkums

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comments reveal that he sees an urgent need for reform, but also reveals his impatience that
leadership doesnt see the obvious solution. If we are to move forward, these unconscious
assumptions must be addressed. Deloria asserts that [i]t is only in realizing that there is a tacit
infrastructure and then questioning it that a high level of creative thought can become possible
regarding the potential of Indigenous educational philosophy (Cejete 1994, p.20). Cejete
envisions a system of developing a contemporary culturally based education process founded
upon traditional tribal values, orientations and principles, while simultaneously using the most
appropriate concepts, technologies and content of modern education (1994, p. 17).
It is the benefits of the Aboriginal ways of knowing within the existing education system
that most Canadians have yet to realize. Battiste (1995) states that [t]here has been malaise over
the decontextualized nature of much North American schooling ( e.g., Cole 1988; Resnick
1987), and a search for more socially functional methods of learning (e.g., Bruner 1986; Lave
1988; Rooff 1982). The native traditions of contextualized and shared learning may offer clues
for schooling directed towards more effective living in our environment and with each other
(Stairs 1988c). (1995, p. 150). The need for more socially functional methods of learning may
open the door to acceptance of Aboriginal ways of knowing. Battiste also writes that Canadian
education has much to gain as well as to give in brokerage with Native cultures...genuine twoway brokerage between native culture and formal schooling validates Native ways of learning,
responds to urgent mainstream needs, and is our collective path to success in Native
education (1995, p. 150)
One of the ironies of a truly blended education is that the appearance of the
outcome cannot be predicted. At the conception of the residential school, the goal was to have a

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very predictable outcome: the civilizing of the Aboriginal culture to become trustworthy and
profitable. It is likely, though, that none of the bodies involved in planning the education of the
indigenous people would have predicted the present outcome of its influence. However, as with
anything that involves the growth of peoples understanding, the change that comes from the
blending of these two educational perspectives will be fluid, each stage of growth will be
dependent on characteristics that grew out of the last stage. As educators with a Western
education and worldview begin to integrate aboriginal ways of knowing, a synergistic blend will
result that may be unpredictable. As Aboriginal leadership and educators gain freedom to look at
Western educational systems without the threat of assimilation, they will find ways to integrate
those concepts through their own perspectives. The result of the growth is unpredictable, and the
blend of these two systems would be also. However, if respect of the two systems for each other
remains a foundation and a focal point, the chances of a positive fruitful outcome for both
educational systems and cultures remains high.

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References
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Vancouver: UBC Press.
Battiste, M. A. (2000). Reclaiming indigenous voice and vision. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Belanger, Y. D. (2008). Aboriginal self-government in Canada: current trends and issues (3rd
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Bowles, Richard P.. The Indian: assimilation, integration or separation?. Scarborough, Ont.:
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measured in first nations, inuit and metis learing. Retrieved from http://www.ccl-cca.ca/
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Cardinal, T. (2004). Our story: aboriginal voices on Canada's past. Toronto: Doubleday
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education. Durango, Colo.: Kivaki Press.
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University Press.
Kant, I. What is enlightnemen. Retrived from http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/CCREAD/etscc/
kant.html

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Fontaine, T. (2010). Broken circle: the dark legacy of Indian residential schools : a memoir.
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Milloy, J.S. (1999). A national crime the Canadian government and the residential school
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News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/new-first-nations-educationact-an-illusion-of-control-1.2607178
Smith, D. (1993). The seventh fire: the struggle for aboriginal government. Toronto: Key Porter
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