I recently introduced my class to Thomas King's "Truth about stories" Massey lectures after they read an excerpt from his book, "Truth and Bright Water". At the same time, in another class, we are talking about ideology and where they come from, who creates them, and how we are influenced by them. Thomas King always is an entertaining and engaging speaker and writer and I always enjoy introducing his ideas to my classes. What I take from those lectures is that we create our own reality with stories. Stories is all we really are. Which stories do we tell ourselves in order to construct meaning and understand our world? religions are stories, history is a story (something I've known for a long time). I asked my ideology class what stories the colonists told themselves in order to justify genocide of the First Nations people they met. I don't really know the answer to that question but it's an interesting one.
I was listening to a podcast yesterday, "Unlearn and Rewild" where Buffy Ste. Marie said that if we tell ourselves that they committed genocide because of racism, we are missing a big chunk of the real reason. Buffy said that they did it and are still doing it because of colonialism and every person who is acting in this spirit of colonialism feels helpless to change the path of what is happening. I thought that was a really important insight. I say that because even though I know as a teacher that the way we are teaching in schools is harming students, especially First Nations and Metis students in my school, I continue. And it's driving me crazy! I've seriously considered giving up education entirely and focus my attention on really helping people. The problem is, that even though the arguments of unschooling and deschooling education are compelling, I really think there might be a chance to change things for the better. How will things change, though, if the people who see the need for change and see what needs to be changed, leave? Maybe someday I will come to believe what Gatto and others like him believe and will give up and leave for other things. However, I don't want to give up so easily just yet. If we see what needs to be changed and the system makes it difficult to change, what is it about that story that we could start retelling? I think Thomas King is right, that we are a collection of stories and the stories we choose to tell define who we are. There are thousands of self-help books out there (Tony Robbins, Bob Doyle, Rhonda Byrne, to name a few) that espouse the same idea: that to change your story can potentially change your life. However, what do you do when you are a victim of someone else's ideology? If your story was changed because of the actions of another, like in the case of a cultural genocide? I don't actually have the answer to that question but I would like to find some strategies that are helpful. I was at a teacher's convention here in Alberta this week and one of the speakers talked about the 94 recommendations of the truth and reconciliation committee and suggested that might be a good place to start. One of those recommendations is education of the general population about the truth about what has been done and what continues to be done. The speaker that came to my class also said that: that all he personally wanted is a chance to tell his story and to make sure the story was passed on to future Canadians so that the truth was known and the past could be laid to rest. I hope we are at a great junction where the stories will start to change. I hope that the work and the lives of all these people that are trying to sooth the past wounds will come to fruition. I feel like my story is part of a greater awakening and I hope that more people see the truth, whatever that might be. I know my story is intertwined with these stories now forever because once you see or hear a story, you cannot forget.
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AuthorMasters in Education student at the University of New Brunswick, I am avidly interested in the future of education, especially for First Nation, Metis and Inuit students in Canada. I believe change is going to come from these sectors who have the most room for growth and the most interest in seeing the status quo changed. Archives
March 2016
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