Aboriginal Education: Has It Improved?

Xiangli, Li (Bill)
Student No. 214022362

AP/ESL 1450 R Thinking about the Contemporary Canada
Mansour Safdari
January 2015, Winter

Outline
Introduction:
Ⅰ. Attention grabber: quotation back by the statistics. Ⅱ. Intro: With the progress of Canadian education, There is an increasing attention to the needs of Aboriginal children. Focusing on present-day Aboriginal education can reflect the status quo more precisely and will also bring benefits in overcoming the current obstacles for that Aboriginal students faced by native students. Ⅲ. Thesis: Through historical analysis and current situation, the paper will show that those some improvements have been made by the Canadian government, further changes are necessary to meet the requirements for the Aboriginal school-children.
Body paragraph: Ⅰ. First and foremost, Along with the changes in Aboriginal education, I would like to ask “Has it improved?” And then I will start with the historical obstacles and gaps between Aboriginal children and native children. Ⅱ. Secondly, I would like to briefly show the difference between the past and present Aboriginal education and tell the readers what they are like. Like residential schools and educational system.More importantly, I would like to discuss the influences on the Aboriginal kids now. Ⅲ. Finally, I would like to demonstrate the progressions in education that the Aboriginal people has made, such as present curriculum for Aboriginal children and then from the view of status quo, I will give some suggestions such as provide more funds for facilities and supply more teachers who are capable of teaching Aboriginal children.
Conclusion:
Ⅰ. After summarizing my point, even there are some restrictions on Aboriginal education, but with the efforts of Aboriginal people and the government, I believe that it will be better day by day. And with more relating to resources for Aboriginal education. I am confident of the bigger improvements they will make.

“Today, Aboriginal students represent a significant proportion of Canada’s school-age population, especially in western provinces. The Aboriginal share of the school-age population (6.2 percent of the ages 5 to 14 cohort in the 2006 Census) is much higher than the Aboriginal share of the total Canadian population(3.8 percent).”(John,Megan 2009) As the statistics demonstrated, there is an increasing number of Aboriginal children receives education from Canadian government. The reason why the government would like to help Aboriginal children is that education is quintessentially crucial for children, especially for the early-child when they are ready to confront with the new perceiving to this world. And for resolving the problem in racialism, the Canadian government promotes a style of education and called it “anti-racist education”. Anti-racist education could provide an equality foundation to forge coalitions between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities in order to search for the common social justice in education. This would be very helpful for the Aboriginal children who wants to acquire equal information from white or non-white instructors. However, has the unequal issues between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in Canada been resolved?

While Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal education gaps have widened over the last generation and are undoubtedly a serious obstruction to Aboriginal progress, it is important to avoid racialism and fatalism. There are significant examples of relative success. “Some provinces, notably British Columbia and Ontario, are achieving results much better than the national average. (This doesn’t imply these two provinces should rest on their accomplishments.) Within all provinces, particular schools – both band-operated on-reserve and provincial off-reserve – and particular provincial school districts have been diligently tackling Aboriginal education for decades, and are achieving impressive results that deserve to be known far more widely.”(John,Megan 2009) We are very happy and feel honored that the society is getting more and more fair through unremitting efforts. With the development of Aboriginal education and curriculum processes, classroom resources began to include some information about Aboriginal people but not how Aboriginal perspectives and understandings help us learn about the world and how they have contributed to a stronger society. More importantly, Nowadays, with the education transformation, the province is attempting to embed Aboriginal perspectives into all parts of the curriculum in a meaningful and authentic manner.

Undeniably, in the past, the children between ages of three to age sixteen. They had to be extracted from their parents and their home, mostly forcibly, and then they were placed in the residential schools. Not only were the Aboriginal children educated separately from the dominant society, they were also educated apart from their own Indian culture. However, those who spent much of their childhood in residential schools were deprived of valuable opportunities to experience family life and child-life. But fortunately, these kind of residential schools were demolished by the early 1980s, and the government and schools had issued authentic politics for the Aboriginal children, for example, they were forced to learn about English culture in the past, but now, it is totally different and free to them, “They learn to appreciate the importance of story in reflecting and shaping Canadian culture and worldviews, including those of Aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal worldviews are an integral part of the English Language Arts curriculum, as all students learn about themselves and others as British Columbians and Canadians”(John,Megan 2009)

Nevertheless, Is there any new problems for Aboriginal children now? Aboriginal people are gradually making gains. Children are staying in school longer and attending post-secondary institution in greater numbers. In spite of efforts by Aboriginal peoples to enforce change through policy, disquiet persists in Aboriginal education. “There are far too many Aboriginal students lag behind non-Aboriginal students, and the conditions under which Aboriginal children were schooled inequitably in the past still exists for the children being educated today. The problems and issues have only become more complex as Aboriginal peoples implement their own vision of education in a contemporary world.”(J. Hare and J. Barman,p.331-359, 2000) It is in this historical connection that the complicated and clashing conventions influencing Aboriginal people groups are rooted. Aboriginal people groups must move and forget past the residential school period as an approach to clarify their current educational problems. They must make self-determination on their objective as they plan a future for their descendants that are steady with their own vision of education.

In spite of various hindrances, Aboriginal education has made incredible progress. Expanded educational alternatives for Aboriginal kids mean children living on-reserve frequently go to a school that is built and operated by their own particular community. Other on-reserve families decide to send their kids to provincial or private schools. Most Aboriginal youngsters living in urban settings now go to class nearby non-Aboriginal kids as usual. Children in some urban regions additionally have elective Aboriginal-oriented facilities accessible to them. What kind of curriculum they learn at Aboriginal school? In K-4 and middle year, They learn Art, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Science and Social Studies, When they get into senior year, they will learn more, such as Business, Drama as well as Technology Information. It is obvious to see that Aboriginal children can learn the same as native children, and educators will assist with the integration of Aboriginal perspectives into all subject areas. These movements have contributed to the achievement of Aboriginal kids are encountering at the fundamental, secondary, and higher levels.

However, as the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples calls attention to: “All these progressions are insufficient to completely close the gap between the education got by Aboriginal students and that of other Canadians.”(RCAP, 1996b, Vol.3, o.561) The state of Aboriginal education stays distressing, and it should not regardless be seen as a panacea for healing Aboriginal concerns. Specifically, we could training more newly-graduate teachers who are capable for teaching Aboriginal children, and provide more facilities such as laptops, libraries, labs to educate Aboriginal children in order to compete with the rest of Canadian students.Education is a basic and crucial tool that contributes to self-esteem and self-determination, however it ought to additionally be seen as a method by which Aboriginal people groups can basically inspect the more extensive issues that influence their lives.

Word Count: 1200 words

References
Lafrance, J.,& Collins, D. (2003). Residential Schools and Aboriginal Parenting:Voices of Parents. Native Social Work Journal, 4(1), Pp.104-125. Laurentian University Press
Binda, K.P. and Sharilyn Caillou, eds.(2001) Aboriginal education in Canada: a study in decolonization. Mississauga, Ontario: Canadian Educators Press
Backhouse, Constance. (1999). Colour‐coded: A legal history of racism in Canada, 1900‐1950. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Richards, J., & Scott, M. (2009). Aboriginal Education: Strengthening the Foundations. Canadian Policy Research Networks, 64-64. Retrieved from www.cprn.org
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