The readings for this week outlined the importance of the differences in Aboriginal schools and education sheds light on how this topic is important to Canadian history.

In Paige Raibmon’s article, ““A New Understanding of Things Indian” George Raley’s Negotiation of the Residential School Experience”, there is an emphasis on “cottage”[1] schools in comparison to traditional Residential schools. These “cottage” schools were focused more on education directed towards Aboriginal children, it included boat building and religion. It was a much different experience for children than the typical residential schools of this time. This article is important in expanding the knowledge of this topic because it shows what other schools and education might have been available to Aboriginal families during the time of residential schools. This article also sheds light on the past because “cottage schools” aren’t usually discussed and it gives us another perspective of education and the importance of its differences. Having these schools that weren’t quite standard residential schools with the European missionary education and mindset, allowed for some children to experiences a great sense of nurture at school and to learn curriculum that would bring them closer to their culture, opposed to being completely taken away from it.

In “Schooled for Inequality: The Education of British Columbia Aboriginal Children” by Jean Barman, the focus of the article is to look at how some residential schools operated. This article is important for expanding the knowledge of this topic because it included primary sources and accounts from people that were enrolled in those schools. Poor funding for these schools left children hunger, and teachers unqualified, this shows how little investment the government made in educating the Aboriginal children. The way these children were treated sheds light on how their education wasn’t as important to teachers and the government because they were Aboriginal, they just wanted to make them less Aboriginal. It is important to discuss what lacked at schools for these children, it can be linked to the other article we read this week, because it can be compared to the “cottage”[2] schools and how different those children were treated and what type of education they received.

In Verna Kirkness’ article, “Aboriginal Education in Canada: A Retrospective and a Prospective”, the focus was on how the education for Aboriginal children had changed over the years. There is a lot of attention put on how the education should be based more on around the aboriginal culture and should be under the control of the band. This article can be linked to others in this course because it expressed the importance of the different kinds of education and works best for certain groups of students. This article especially outlined the importance of the community and band being involved in Aboriginal education, as it works best for those children. It also helps maintain and expand the knowledge of the culture and how important it is. Kirkness helps shed light on Canadian past as the Aboriginal community is an important part of our history. It sheds light on the experiences and the difference in education for this group of people and the importance of the differences.

Residential schools were places that strived to take the Aboriginal out of the children that attended, the missionaries that ran these schools were just focused on assimilation. The education these children received was very different that in schools of European children.

Bibliography

Barman, Jean. “Schooled for Inequality: The Education of British Columbia Aboriginal Children.” in Sara Burke and Patrice Milewski (Eds.), Schooling in Transition: Readings in the Canadian History of Education, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012: 255-276.

Kirkness, Verna. J. “Aboriginal Education in Canada: A Retrospective and a Prospective” Journal of American Indian Education, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press (Fall 1999): 14-30

Raibmon, Paige. “‘A New Understanding of Things Indian’: George Raley’s Negotiation of the Residential School Experience.” BC Studies 110 (1996): 69-96.

Footnotes

[1] Paige Raibmon, “‘A New Understanding of Things Indian’: George Raley’s Negotiation of the Residential School Experience.” BC Studies 110 (1996): 75

[2] Raibmon, “A New Understanding of Things Indian,” 75