{"id":445,"date":"2006-07-06T12:05:17","date_gmt":"2006-07-06T20:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrator.rab.olt.ubc.ca\/ross\/2006\/07\/06\/natives-to-get-more-control-over-schools-globe-and-mail-misses-the-curricular-point\/"},"modified":"2006-07-06T12:05:17","modified_gmt":"2006-07-06T20:05:17","slug":"natives-to-get-more-control-over-schools-globe-and-mail-misses-the-curricular-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/2006\/07\/natives-to-get-more-control-over-schools-globe-and-mail-misses-the-curricular-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Natives to get more control over schools; Globe and Mail misses the (curricular) point"},"content":{"rendered":"

An editorial in today’s edition, the Globe and Mail<\/i> raises concerns about the historic pact signed by B.C.’s aboriginal groups and the provinical and federal goverments, which will allow First Nations people direct control over their children’s education (covering everything from curriculum and exam to liscensing teachers).<\/p>\n

The editorial states that “Natives need ways to be better integrated into Canadian society, not more ways to keep apart.”<\/p>\n

The flaw in this logic is assuming that giving First Nations direct control over the education of their children will lead to social or cultural divisiveness.<\/p>\n

It is obvious that the current arrangement\u2014in which the federal government has control of reserve schools but apparently neglects them\u2014is a failure that has contributed to the very lack of social and economic integration of First Nations people that the Globe and Mail<\/i> laments.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail<\/i>‘s news coverage of the story<\/a> today, by Petti Fong and Bill Curry, take the same line as the editorial, with an opening paragraph that seems aimed at inciting the idea that the new pact will lead to a denegration of the dominant culture in Canada.<\/p>\n

Fong and Curry declare that “in new native school curriculums, John Cabot and Samuel Champlain will be minor footnotes in Canadian history, and Shakespeare a bit player in English classes.”<\/p>\n

The content of any curriculum is not a zero-sum game. So, when Christa Williams, executive director of the First Nations Education Steering Committee, states that “The point [of new Native developed school curriculum] is to give kids material they can see themselves reflected in,” this does not automatically make the heros and events that dominate the curriculum social studies curriculum “minor footnotes.”<\/p>\n

In fact, it illustrates a principle that should be at the core of the curriculum for all students in B.C., Canada, and everywhere else, that is, how do we create curriculum from which students can construct meaningful understandings of their<\/i> world and learn how to have agency within it.<\/p>\n

In B.C., 79 per cent of students graduate, but for students attending schools on reserves, that number drops to 43 per cent. What does this fact say about the experiences Native students are currently having in B.C. schools?<\/p>\n

One way to think about the new accord is that things couldn’t possibly be worse, so why not?<\/p>\n

A better approach would be think about how local control of schools and a focus on making the curriculum directly relevant to the social, cultural, historical experiences of the students might produce not only educational improvements, but actually strengthen our pluralistic society helping students to better under their place in the world and how they might take actions to transform it.<\/p>\n

It’s that what democracy is suppose to be about?<\/p>\n

Natives to get more control over schools\u2014B.C. agreement could be extended to other provinces<\/a><\/p>\n

PETTI FONG and BILL CURRY<\/p>\n

VANCOUVER, OTTAWA — In new native school curriculums, John Cabot and Samuel Champlain will be minor footnotes in Canadian history, and Shakespeare a bit player in English classes.<\/p>\n

After six years of negotiations, the federal and provincial governments signed a framework agreement in Vancouver yesterday to give schools on reserves more control over their curriculums.<\/p>\n

Pupils in native schools will still have to meet provincial standards in such subjects as reading and math. But instead of learning Shakespeare, literature courses will teach the works of native playwrights such as Drew Hayden Taylor and authors like Eden Robinson.<\/p>\n

“The point is to give kids material they can see themselves reflected in,” said Christa Williams, executive director of the First Nations Education Steering Committee.<\/p>\n

“When we look at history books, we’re not going to see it from the perspective of the people who came to Canada as visitors, but we will blend it in with a longer, broader history.”<\/p>\n

Ms. Williams said the whole point of revising the curriculum and other examination standards is to try a different approach to getting native students successfully through school.<\/p>\n

The problem of high dropout rates among native youth has been an issue both federally and provincially. In B.C., 79 per cent of students graduate, but for students attending schools on reserves, that number drops to 43 per cent.<\/p>\n

“Anything has got to be better that what we have now,” said Grand Chief Ed John of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. “Our kids are dropping out like flies, we have to figure out a way to turn that around. What better message to have in the community than to take responsibility for your kids?”<\/p>\n

The agreement will give parents, teachers and others in the native community the chance to provide input on what should be taught in schools on reserves and how, Mr. John said yesterday.<\/p>\n

British Columbia is the first province to sign on to the framework agreement. About one in five of the province’s 200 native schools have already expressed their intent to negotiate individual agreements with the federal government. Once those individual agreements are done, Ottawa will transfer money directly to the native schools to run their education programs.<\/p>\n

The federal government pays for education on reserves. Last year, it spent about $1-billion across the country and $175-million in B.C. for 16,000 students in native schools. About one-third of native students attend schools on reserves while the rest are in public schools.<\/p>\n

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said he wants to take the B.C. model across the country so that eventually all native communities can opt out of education provisions of the Indian Act and create their own curriculums.<\/p>\n

Mr. Prentice said native schools can pool their money to focus on specific needs, whether it be school supplies, teachers or psychologists.<\/p>\n

He said the measures are consistent with what he has been promising since his days in opposition, which is to provide clear standards for native parents to judge their children’s schools.<\/p>\n

Within six months, at least 60 native communities will take up the offer to assume authority to run their schools, the minister predicted.<\/p>\n

Ottawa is already talking with governments in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec to extend the agreement into those provinces.<\/p>\n

Mr. Prentice played down any similarity between yesterday’s announcement and the promises to reform native education in the 2005 Kelowna agreement.<\/p>\n

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who had harshly criticized the Conservative government for not committing any money for the Kelowna accord for natives, said the agreement signed yesterday reflects the “spirit” of the agreement and is an important step toward closing the gap in education between natives and non-natives.<\/p>\n

“Our goal is to make sure young first nations kids across the province get the education they need to deal with the world they live in in a comprehensive and topical way,” he said, “and in a way that grounds them in their own culture and their own traditions so they have the sense of confidence to deal with the world they live in today.”<\/p>\n

The agreement applies from kindergarten to Grade 12 and could be extended to include early childhood development and postsecondary education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An editorial in today’s edition, the Globe and Mail raises concerns about the historic pact signed by B.C.’s aboriginal groups and the provinical and federal goverments, which will allow First Nations people direct control over their children’s education (covering everything from curriculum and exam to liscensing teachers). The editorial states that “Natives need ways to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2152,662],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education-reform","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ross\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}