Module 2, Post 5

About a decade ago (way back during my undergrad years at UBC) I was a special needs worker at an off-campus after school care center. One day a fellow co-worker and I made a wrong turn onto a First-Nations reserve and she commented…”I honestly thought they lived in Tipis, not modern houses!” I wasn’t surprised because I had a few acquaintances and friends who were first nations.

Looking back on that incident and knowing what I now know she said what she did because of the stereotypes that are so entrenched in the dominant society about first-nations. Some may call this ignorance, but I would go further and state that it shows how powerful the dominant society has been in defining aboriginals and first-nations, that even a non-white Canadian would believe the stereotypes.

For my final post on Module 2 (which is late, but better late than never)…I decided to do a little comparison about how the dominant society perceives first-nations and how they represent themselves:

http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/hemet/hemet-headlines-index/20121203-region-native-american-exhibit-addresses-stereotypes.ece

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHCGuvE2mbk

I need to look into this a little more because the idea of stereotypes can be terribly reinforced through photographs or broken apart through them.

In my discussion post this week in the course, I wrote about the fact that the flood literally took the wind out of my sails. We were not directly affected, but I was affected my being a Calgarian.

While I struggled to get into my UBC Blackboard Connect course to read my readings – I was on my usual twitter feed and and I noticed the tweets about FNMI research, learning and edtech. The timing was on Monday night, and it was #cdnedchat.

Here is a quick storify I created with a summary of the chat. At the end – I suggested meeting for a Google Hangout later this summer. That’s where it ends…towards a synchronous f2f meeting of like minded folk from across Canada with a wide variety of experiences.

I was so happy that the readings suggested – and I learned – that “learning and research” doesn’t only happen in the classroom.

[View the story “#Cdnedchat – FNMI Focus – Monday, June 24, 2013” on Storify] Thanks – Verena 🙂

Module 3 post 3

We all are told on a regular basis that the education paradigm of this country and more specifically needs to change. Most of this need for change is credited to austerity measures deemed necessary to cut debt etc. and is often sold as a way to revolutionize and update the education system. The question of the necessity of austerity often devolves into a debate between neo-liberals who believe the government needs to function more like a corporation, and Keynes devotees who believe that the myth of growth is dysfunctional and in times of recession and debt, government spending is more necessary than before to stimulate and sustain the economy.

Andre Gorz writes about the disappearing working class:

http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7wxpl7sYYCYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=keynes+is+dead&ots=K5C7Gc7gQf&sig=Is3spdr6XOKYW2BYW1fuO9M14k0#v=onepage&q=keynes%20is%20dead&f=false

Proponents of Globalization, Hirst and Thompsons projection never mention the possibility of austerity measures etc. yet examine the possibility of states being “hollowed out” by the new economy:

http://eatonak.org/IPE501S2013/downloads/files/Hirst_and_Thompson.pdf

But the new paradigm requires What if Neo-liberal education policy affects first nations most of all. The current reserve existence is mostly one of abject poverty, substance abuse and general apathy and a lack of basic education.  Nelson Mandela once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Similarly, Michael Mendelson believes that the first step in influencing a positive change in reserve culture should start with education:

http://caid.ca/IndStuFirNatEduRes2008.pdf

Is education supposed to be based in classism and elitist culture? As a nation, since we supposedly value multiculturalism and individual rights, how can we stand by and allow one student to receive a more enlightened education simply due to elements such as their social status, wealth etc.? This article speaks about how the recession created a situation where Canadian university administrators were forced to modify their business models to more closely reflect the industrial capitalist one in order to survive:

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=9b62385f-fe0d-483d-9734-513e8805e51d%40sessionmgr113&hid=123&bdata=JmxvZ2luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=eric&AN=EJ485667

However there is a minority (I say minority because austerity is widely thought as the only current solution to nationalized fiscal problems with regards to the World Bank etc.) that believe that austerity, and the measures therein are extremely damaging to both the economy and subsequent recovery:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntharvey/2013/01/30/the-coming-recession/

Again, we are left with the question of “Why?” If education, and government involvement/spending is the crutch that we can use to lift our most desperate citizens from a systemic and destructive quagmire of exploitation, why can’t this benefit everyone?

Model 2, Post 4

I can’t seem to catch a break this summer…what with renovations, a leaky basement, work, two kids, and grad school…I’m surprised I can still stay awake! Sorry this is late, but at least I’m getting it in here…as my dad always says “it’s better to arrive late and alive than never to arrive at all”.

Getting back to photography and first nations identity…there have been a number of first nations photographers who have piqued my interest: Nadya Kwandibens. Her work on ‘Concrete Indians’ is an eye opener.

As one curator has stated of her work: “Kwandibens’ photos actively depict the Indian with passion and integrity. She captures an Indigenous spirit (individual and collective) and resuscitates characters overshadowed by the burden of false impression. Her aesthetic, whether shot in black and white or color, is cinematic. Her portraits carry personal and collective strengths forward and create lasting impressions.”

That’s exactly what needs to happen across the board when it comes to self-representation for Indigenous people! There’s no way any of the NGS photographers could do what she does. And coming from me that’s a huge statement, because I consider NGS photographers the cream of the crop (right up there with Magnum photographers, though in all fairness many NGS photographers are also Magnum photographers).

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/8thfire/2011/11/nadya-kwandibens.html

http://www.redworks.ca/

It’s possible that the paradigm of education as we know it needs to change to better reflect the evolution of student expectations. But, at the same time I believe a significant amount of the expectations that we have been told have roots in Neo-liberal attempts to privatise in order to make the system cheaper.

This manual put out by the Canadian government about Corporate Social Responsibility speaks in direct contrast to most Neo-liberal policies:

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/csr-rse.nsf/eng/rs00591.html

The bottom line is that teachers, and especially effective teachers are a necessity that can’t be replaced by anything. Instead of focusing on that one (or more) teacher we hated growing up, we should try not to forget that teaching creates all other professions. Consequently, if we decrease the quality of education in the name of profit, everything we have, know and use to define ourselves will suffer as a result. Most of us remember that mentor, tutor or teacher that took the time to figure out how to best explain a difficult idea.

http://edweb.csus.edu/equity-center/assets/teacher-quality.pdf

Treating any system as an exploitable resource will lead to negative side effects such as instability, lack of consistency and a worsening bottom line and inferior product line. While in other industries this might create an unsustainable business model which will then cause the company to fail and another to fill its place, what we have to ask ourselves if that is what is most beneficial for our students?

The airline industry is a perfect example of something that used to be sustainable but was exploited mercilessly to detriment of the service provided:

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-few-statistics-on-the-decline-of-the-us-airline-industry-2011-7

Do we want our schools to become something akin to the American system where the lowest bidder is allowed to slowly exploit and pick apart the system to the detriment of future generations or do we want something more positive and sustainable?

One can’t approach the misguided idea of “owning” research through opinion, bias etc. without considering the implications of neo-liberalism economics on public educational policy. Public education at its inception was implemented by the English in a necessary response to the shifting power paradigm taking place in Europe, personified by the destruction of the status quo during French Revolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education

History of education in England

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_England

Put more simply, the rebirth of the republic in France had put the aristocracy/Bourgeoisie in danger and the English devised a public school system to help “educate” the public and convince them that their heads were of more use attached to their bodies.

http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=M2LXYFWBZFEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA84&dq=the+origin+of+english+public+schools+social+control&ots=BmOUYYXWkY&sig=BTMc_l4JGfR4qq0MGqY7gqkPYJ8#v=onepage&q&f=false

Of course at the beginning the schools were only offered to those of the XY gender distinction but that was in line with the contemporary attitudes of the time. What’s really amazing is the durability of the model that this educational policy helped create. Effectively, a system of social control so effective that now, 200 years later when the ideas are severely outdated, people  are only now starting to question or move beyond. However, as with any revolution, the danger of casting off the good parts of the status quo right along with the bad and currently the people defining public educational policy first in the United States, and now Canada. Educational policy in Canada has started the evolution that has decimated the public system in the United States which is strange since our public education system has always been heralded as successful so where is the need for change stemming from?

Canada’s education system rating

http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/education.aspx

Canada’s Educational system in comparison with other countries via CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2010/12/07/tech-education-oecd-rank.html

The difference between Victorian times and now is the unfortunate complacency of the public. The expectation of public education still exists, but the power doesn’t belong to the people anymore because they aren’t starving yet and as such have lost their militancy towards equality with the upper classes. Especially in Canada where not counting the various hockey riots, real and visceral revolution hasn’t threatened the status quo since the days of the Metis uprising and Louis Riel. For a comparison, all we need do is look south. The United States of course had it’s civil war, but if we go farther south, Mexico, historically has had eight revolutions although they were usually instigated by the peasant class starving and having enough of the exploitation by the upper class.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mexico

The change in American schools began with the success of independent schools and later evolved into the more dangerous hybrid, charter schools.  Charter schools exist in Canada currently, but have been much more successful in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_school

Naomi Klein speaking with reference to education and her theory and book, “The Shock Doctrine”:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-klein/the-shock-doctrine-in-act_b_77886.html

A study sponsored by UCLA on the damage caused by the public accepting charter education as a viable alternative to public:

http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mycfL5GAt2YC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=Problems+with+charter+schools&ots=Nzt4dp-qb9&sig=szK1nEQnHW2hIegUfzzrehaKzlM#v=onepage&q=Problems%20with%20charter%20schools&f=false

Returning once more to the need to compare the exploitive nature of colonial and neo-liberal policy, Colonial powers observed, adapted and implemented the original Victorian model of subduing the possibility of public discontent through public education and indoctrination. Neo-Liberal strategists, recognizing the strength had been removed from the public once more, adapted again and have worked to undermine public education with two projected results:

1) When education becomes too expensive, either through the implementation of an unfair public vs. private system, the population as a whole is easier to control, manipulate and subjugate.

2) The first step of undermining public education through removed educational funding, can be used implement the next steps in the neo-liberal agenda, by funding increased social control measures in an effort to solidify their position.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.195.1700%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&ei=3y7LUYDsF630igL33oGgBQ&usg=AFQjCNFae1ULoh1sr8GxkqTTFPtr5bxJBg&sig2=6Ezbq1WpikNMKmbc5yt7Sg&bvm=bv.48340889,d.cGE

How bad does it need to be before we the public decide to act?