Monday, October 29, 2012

Indigenous Resistance and Racist Schooling

In the article, Michael Marker talks about the forced integration of Coast Salish into the American and Canadian cultures.  When American's began taking their land, they were forced to learn the education styles of the two cultures.  Throughout the process, the Coast Salish began to lose some of their cultural heritage due to the educational decisions made by British Columbia and were placed in schools either apart from their culture or with whites only.  This all results in acts of racism and segregation, especially since the Coast Salish were unable to perform acts of their own heritage.  Families began to rebel and place their kids in the private schools consisting of strictly Coast Salish so that the racism was taken at a lesser degree.  I feel that by placing the students in the private schools made them much more comfortable of their surroundings and the overwhelming changes taking place in their lives.  Although both decisions were based off of racism-- both being unacceptable-- I feel that the American decision was better off in allowing the Coast Salish to keep more to themselves.  I think the best decision overall would have been to leave them alone and let them govern and educate themselves.  They knew what was necessary and what they needed to become better educated.

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