Reading: Learning and the Importance of Knowing: Student Perspectives on Centralising Indigenous Knowledge in their Preparation as Teachers
Question: What is the importance of knowledge in understanding the indigenous perspectives on the social practices of racism, dominant cultures superiority, ignorance and the blame factor?
Reading: The Challenge to Deculturalisation: Discourses of Ethnicity in the Schooling of Indigenous Children in Australia and the USA
Ethnicity is a phenomenon that surfaces in different institutions worldwide. The education sector is among these institutions. In the United States and Australia, indigenous children are susceptible to ethnicity in their schooling. The discourses of this ethnicity are significant to the schooling of these children. Settler societies in Australia and the USA evoked differential opinions concerning indigenous populations and incoming populations. In most cases, these opinions and invasions disrupted the organizations and operations of the original inhabitants. On the other hand, the process of society settling established resistances, which were mainly because of indigenous self-determination. Eventually, because of the existence of different groups with different beliefs and norms, ethnicity gradually developed. However, ethnicity tends to favour the notion of white superiority as the indigenous communities suffer. In Australia and the United States, ethnicity and its discourses surface in the education systems. The Eurocentric and ‘Whiteness’ curriculums have different contributions to ethnicity in those regions (Miller et al 70). Occasionally, Anglo-centric schooling and indigenous self-determination also surface in the education systems. The levels of ethnicity in the education system, especially among the indigenous children have various discourses that come along with it.
Question: What challenge does the discourses of ethnicity in the schooling of the indigenous children in the USA and Australia pose to deculturalisation?
Reading: Cherbourg State School in Historical Context
The Cherbourg State School, which is located in the Aboriginal community with all of the students being indigenous Australians, faces different experiences brought about by the endless grappling of the community. Furthermore, the community faces many social issues brought to existence by historical processes of disempowerment and dispossessions ("Cherbourg State School in Historical Context" 110). The historical processes of the community are elemental to the development of the Cherbourg State School. The historical context of the Aboriginal community covers social, political and economic aspects, which have significant effects on the development of institutions and the overall way of life of that community. The school also has its role in shaping the minds of the indigenous students regarding political, social and economic issues of the community. The community leaders, the parents, the school administration, the students and teachers all play a role in building a school.
Question: How does the historical context of the Aboriginal community affect these people and their attempts of developing the school?
Works Cited
Miller M., Dunn T. , and Currell K. "Introductory Indigenous Studies in Education."Learning and the importance of knowing: student perspectives on centralising Indigenous knowledge in their preparation as teachers. Pearson Education, 2005. 60-79. Print.
Hudson H., and Ahlquist A. The Challenge to Deculturalisation: Discourses of Ethnicity in the Schooling of Indigenous Children in Australia and the Usa. Flaxton Queensland: Post Pressed, 2004. 39-56. Print.
Sarah G. "Cherbourg State School in Historical Context." The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 37 (2008): 108-119. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.
