Decolonizing Education - Part Two

Yes, I learned nothing from my last video. I'm still eating Ferrero Rocher chocolates that I got as part of my birthday celebration on the weekend. Because there's Ferrero Rocher here, of course I'm eating it. Having said all that today. Welcome back. Welcome to my channel. If you're new here, welcome back. If you've been here before. We are continuing continuing our discussion of pre contact education. As I mentioned yesterday, the mainstream Canadian education system is failing indigenous youth. We could definitely say it's failing youth, period. But this is an indigenous centered space. So that's who we're focusing on. And what I began sharing yesterday was the characteristics of a pre contact education. Our indigenous communities had education systems. They just didn't look anything like their European counterparts. So yesterday I shared four characteristics. If you missed that video, go back and watch it. Today we're going to continue with another eight characteristics of a pre contact education. So let's talk about it. Hi everybody, my name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario, Canada. And as mentioned in the opening, we are continuing our discussion of a pre contact education and I'm using my handy dandy handout that I use in the full day seminar I do on this topic. You Yesterday we touched on the fact that before the colonizers arrived education, indigenous education systems and let's be clear, there are many indigenous cultures, many different nations, things are different, languages are different, traditions and customs are different. But as far as education is concerned there are commonalities and that's what I'm talking about. So yesterday I mentioned that pre contact education was integrated with day to day life. It wasn't. You went to school to learn for this time and then you came home and did life. Education was part of your life. You'll learn things as you went through your day to day with your parents, with other community members. Which brings us to the second point. That pre contact education involved community members. That everyone was a teacher, everyone was a student. Both of those I still see in Indigenous worldview today. Next, a pre contact education focused on survival and personal growth as opposed to career or financial success. Indigenous nations were. We didn't worry about accumulating wealth or getting money. It was getting food, having shelter, right. The. The essential. So it was never about that acquisition. And yesterday I mentioned that pre contact education was integrated with culture and tradition was not separate. You didn't go bring an elder into the school. There Was no school, there was no building. You did not go to school. You lived and existed within your education system and it involved culture and tradition. So that's the four that I shared yesterday. We have a whole bunch more to discuss today. In line with the fact that it happened every single day and that it you didn't go to school. A pre contact education system was not scheduled. It happened naturally rather than it was a 9 to 3:30. Once you woke up, your education started and once you went to sleep, your education was over for that day. Day. You were constantly learning from your friends, from the older youth in the community, from the next door neighbor, from your parents, your grandparents, your aunties, your uncles, Non stop, non stop. Next. Oh, now I'm gonna yawn. I guess, I guess I'm not gonna hit my microphone in this video. If you don't know what that joke means, watch a couple videos, you'll definitely get it. Next. Pre contact education involved active learning, curiosity, a sense of wonder. And it was experie, experimental, let's go with that word. So it, the the kid was interested in, right? You know, went to see the fisher, the fishermen and like why are you doing that? Why are you here and not over there? How. What kind of boat? Why does your boat look that way? Why is it built that? Why do you use that kind of bait? What kind of fish are you catching? Why are you catching that fish? So active. It wasn't sitting in a classroom and being lectured to. The child was involved with, you know, untie the boat for me, jump in the boat with me. Here, hold. You know, we're going to bring in the fishing nets, right? Help me do this. So very active and based on the child's curiosity, right? Like it wasn't go over there and do this. Don't go to math class like modern day, but go out into the world and see. I have mentioned before that in many indigenous cultures we believe that you don't educate a child into who they're going to be, that the child reveals who they're going to be based on their natural curiosity and what they're drawn to. Whether they're drawn to the hunters or the fishermen or the people gathering food in the bush, whatever the case may be, the craftsmen, wherever that child went. So that was part of that active learning. Another one, you share knowledge, pass through the generation. So this is something I'm starting to see happen again nowadays in that getting the elders closer to the youth and not separating those two. So in the community, like I said yesterday with my mom, not going to a Canadian education system until she was 14 and being at home with her sisters and her aunts and her mom and grandmother. You would hear the stories while you're cooking or while you're gathering or cleaning, whatever the case may be. I have often said that I received my teachings doing the dishes with my mom. She talked while she was washing the dishes and I was drying them. That it wasn't separate, it wasn't sit down. It's no time to receive teachings, which is such a colonial way of looking at it. It's just part of the journey. It's one of the reasons why I push back on. Many of my seminars don't have an agenda. You're going to learn a lot. But I'm not compartmentalizing the journey into like, time, a timeline. That's just a very colonial way of looking at it. And by the way, if you're hiring indigenous facilitators or right teachers, keynote speakers, whatever the case may be, don't impose those colonial restrictions on them because you're going to learn way more if you let them just be who they are. So not scheduled. Happened around naturally rather than in scheduled hours. Active learning, learning, curiosity, sense of wonder. You share the knowledge passed through the generations. And I actually used this word earlier unintentionally. But the entire education, pre contact education system was not about acquisition. It was not about self. It was not about the individual. It was about unity and community service. If you've watched any of my videos, you have heard me say, with the gift comes responsibility or well, being a member of a community was seen as a gift. And we all had roles to play and jobs to do. I know when my children were little, they had chores and I explained it to them not as I'm assigning a chore to them, but as part of the family and running the household. We all contributed. So they had their part to play. They were a valuable puzzle piece. So that's a continuation of that pre contact education system. It's not about how much money I can make, but rather how are you supporting this community and are you in unity with that community? Are you working just for you, or is it for the benefit of. All right, so that huge, huge indigenous worldview, mainstream worldview, huge cultural difference. Another one that is really super big. You probably could have guessed this, but I'm just going to make highlight it. There were no grades, there were no tests outside of the natural ones. Y' all learned if you were good at climbing a tree because you didn't fall out of it, y' all learned if you were good at catching fish because you had fish to eat that night, y' all learned, or you were testing on whether you were a good judge of reading, the weather and in the environment, if you didn't get too hot or too cold, that you had dressed appropriately, that you had the appropriate shoes on. So natural tests and to the horror of many non indigenous mainstream people, you still see this in indigenous parenting, where they'll learn is really common response. Actually I touched on this earlier, but just to specify it, that the student's path was revealed, not decided upon. Letting the child one wander, letting them see what they were cure, watching to see what they were curious about, what they asked, questions about them, revealing their natural spirit. And anyone, anyone, I don't care what cultural background you are, if you're doing something you enjoy doing, it is really easy to do it well because you want to learn, you want to do it better, you love it as opposed to doing something because it's assigned to you, especially if it's a task you don't enjoy. That's pretty much painful. We touched on this as I was sharing all about responsibility, right to self, family, community in the nation. So you are responsible for doing certain things for your own personal growth. You are responsible for doing certain things that supports the health and well being of your family. You are responsible to do certain things that because you're a part of a community and then the bigger nation. This is so getting lost in mainstream. It's all about me, me, me and what I need and what I want and forgetting the social contract, forgetting that as part of a community you commit to doing certain things for the betterment of the community. I wish we could, for the sake of mainstream, I wish we could remember that one a little bit more. And I just shared it casually a second ago. There was no school, no classroom. Everything was out on the land. It was community based. It was what you learned to being here. And I love that now I can honestly say I can. I'd be willing to bet there's a whole bunch of people watching this, going, well, we can't do that. My grandchildren are homeschooled. And it is so in line with this model. The child driven not separate from day to day life, involving everyone as a teacher like it just does my heart so good. So nothing will change if you insist that nothing can change. So if you're watching this, especially if you're involved in the education system, remember we're supposed to be grading. We know that mainstream Canadian education is failing Indigenous students. Well, these are the things they need to thrive. How well is mainstream doing? Mainstream? Is it not scheduled? Does it involve active learning? Is knowledge being shared and passed through generations? Are they focusing on unity and community service rather than acquisition? No grades or tests? Well, we know that one. Is the student path revealed or are they put in boxes? Do does the idea of responsibility is that being reinforced and is it landing community based as opposed to classroom? I think you know the answers as well as I do. We have one more video to consider. The last eight aspects of pre contact Indigenous education. I think it's time that we re design the education system Indigenous based. Maybe I'll share that conversation in my last video. Probably a good idea. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye bye.