|Assignment #2 |
|Educational Issues and Social Change I: Historical Social Perspectives |

Assignment #2

Question #1

Compare the “hidden curriculum” identified by S. Contenta with the underlying norms and values of “Indian education” highlighted in the video the Mission school syndrome and in the readings by Titley, Levaque, Gresko and Wilson. (750-1000 word)

Although education was meant for all children, education for Aboriginal children clearly had a hidden curriculum. It has been mentioned in all of the readings and the movie that the main objective …show more content…

It wasn’t until the turn of the twentieth century that the missionaries finally conceded that some industrial and residential schools were a lost cause and would no longer invest money into them. “The failure of coercive efforts of the state to impose forms of public schooling on Canadian natives was evident by the early twentieth century in escalating death rates of native students and the refusal of Native parents and student refusal to cooperate educational initiatives outside their control.”[7] For Aboriginals, this might have been too late. To this day, many still feel that these schools subjected them abuse, leading many to alcoholism, drugs and suicide as described in the video.

In the missionaries’ point of view, they suggest their intentions and accomplishments of residential schools were totally unselfish and they made many sacrifices to elevate the indigenous population. “An oblate missionary must live with the people, learn their language, preach the Gospel, teach Christian virtue by word and example and try to change the attitudes and practices which impede the acquisition of Christian virtues. At a social level, the Oblate attempts to change the conditions of poverty which contributes to human dignity.”[8] They also argue without their help, education for Indians “would have been delayed quite some time”[9], or even non-existent to this day. In the opinion of Yvon Levaque, it was necessary for the missionaries to intervene