Failing grade for schools

Page 21

A study examining how Canadian elementary and secondary schools teach students about Aboriginal culture and history gives the nation's education systems a failing grade.

The study involved surveying 519 first year college and university students from 18 different colleges and universities across the country about what and how they had been taught about Aboriginal people. The results showed 78 per cent of those surveyed were dissatisfied with the education they received about Aboriginal people in elementary and secondary school, while 81 per cent said what they had been taught didn't adequately prepare them for their civic responsibilities as adults.

The study was conducted by the Coalition for the Advancement of Aboriginal Studies (CAAS), a national grassroots network of educators working to improve the way information about Aboriginal people is taught in Canadian schools.

The report was prepared for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF) and was originally scheduled for release in late September, but the release date has been put off until Nov. 18.

"We've produced a 250-page document, which is almost like the RCAP (Royal Commission on Aboriginal People), on what has to happen in Canadian classrooms, and how it has to happen," said CAAS co-ordinator Ann Pohl.

"It's done by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal educators, but the non-Aboriginal ones are people who've been engaged in this kind of solidarity work for a number of years . . . around the country. And so it really presents a comprehensive picture of why things have to change, how they have to change, and models for beginning to change them."

There has been a delay in getting the study released, Pohl believes, because the report's a bit more than the CRRF had expected, both in terms of length, and content.

"Our report is pretty political. It's very political, actually, And it's very earnest, and the data is good," she said. "I think part of the problem they had with our report is they just weren't prepared for anything this detailed or long or whatever, and this complicated on this kind of subject.

Because we do, sort of, provide context for why things have to change and all this kind of stuff. And so I think part of it was that. But part of it, I think, is there's some concerns about some of the positions that are taken by the different authors in the report."

Pohl stressed, however, that despite the delay, improving the way students are taught about Aboriginal people "is a very, very important issue to the staff at the foundation."

Although the entire report isn't due to be released until November, one chapter of the document was scheduled for an earlier release. Graham Reynolds, a CAAS member and the author of one of the chapters of the report, was scheduled to present his chapter at a symposium at the University of Toronto in early October.

The chapter written by Reynolds, a professor of history at the University College of Cape Breton in Sydney, N.S., dealt with the need to expand the definition of history to encompass other disciplines, such as sociology and anthropology.

For more information about the Coalition for the Advancement of Aboriginal Studies, visit the CAAS Web site at www.edu.yorku.ca/caas.