One strategy readers use to create meaning is to make connections between the text and the real world in which we live.
To practice using this Text to World strategy, you will now read a short article that reviews the situation that many Indigenous students are facing in our nation. The article “First Nations education forum looks at challenges facing indigenous students” can be found below the questions.
After you have read the article, answer the following questions in complete sentences.
Text to World Questions
1. Provide one example from the story to show that Arnold’s high school on the reservation is experiencing some of the problems described in the article.
2. Identify one solution mentioned in the article that could improve the situation at Arnold’s school. Explain how this solution would improve conditions at Arnold’s school.
3. In your opinion, what should be done to improve conditions for Indigenous students? Suggest two improvements and explain how they can help.
First Nations education forum looks at challenges facing indigenous students
Eva Ferguson, Calgary Herald
Published on: March 1, 2017 | Last Updated: March 1, 2017 6:01 PM MST
Indigenous kids in reserve schools are facing crowded classrooms, limited resources and a lack of expertise to preserve language and culture, education advocates said Wednesday at a national forum.
More than 2,000 delegates are gathered in Calgary this week for the First Nation Directors of Education National Forum discussing ways to improve education for indigenous youth from kindergarten to post-secondary levels.
Learning leaders from coast to coast, along with those from the Tsuut’ina Nation near Calgary, agreed that much should be done to support on-reserve schooling and better educate indigenous students in their language and culture, while providing them with the literacy and numeracy skills needed for the real world.
“There is a lot of inequality, a lot of gaps. There’s an imbalance on reserves, not enough books, computers, even teachers,” said Perry Bellegarde, National Chief for the Assembly of First Nations.
“We’re faced with a suicide epidemic because our young people are missing out on hope and inspiration. We need to find the balance, learn math, science, literacy, but also learn language and culture.”
Bobby Cameron, AFN’s Regional Chief for Saskatchewan and education portfolio holder for the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said he sees schools with as many as 50 to 60 kids in one classroom, squeezing together as many as three to four grade levels.
“We are the fastest growing demographic in Canada. Yet, we have classrooms with 50, 60 kids at all different grade levels. How can a teacher teach these kids what they need to know?”
Nadine Crowchild, former education support leader and now executive assistant to newly elected Tsuut’ina Chief Lee Crowchild, said while the two schools on the Tsuut’ina reserve try to limit class sizes to about 25, the schools are bursting at the seams, with classes taking place in the gym and the library.
“We need a new school, we need more resources.”
Because of overcrowding at Chiila School, the reserve’s only elementary, officials have cut back on the grade levels to now only include kindergarten to Grade 4. The Tsuut’ina Junior Senior High School now combines Grades 5 to 12 in just one building.
With limited funding being a constant challenge, Crowchild also suggested the “nominal roles” that measure student populations to determine federal per capita funding should be taken more than once a year.
“On a reserve like ours that’s so close to the city, kids are coming and going all the time, so you don’t have an accurate count of kids and your funding doesn’t always reflect your needs.”
Bellegarde estimated per capita federal funding for students on reserves is only half of what is provided by the province to students off the reserve.
And while students are challenged, teachers need more support, too, Crowchild said. While most on-reserve teachers are indigenous, many aren’t well versed enough to properly teach indigenous history, language and culture.
“We need to ensure our teachers are given that proper training at the post-secondary level.”
Crowchild added that provincial curriculum overall needs to include a more accurate depiction of indigenous history.
“History can be taught in a very one-sided, romanticized way.
“But we need to teach kids about residential schools, about missing and murdered indigenous women, so they understand the trauma that has occurred and where it came from.”
Diana Steinhauer, a teacher from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation near Edmonton, said educators on reserves could also look for ways to pass on fishing and hunting skills to students while they learn about their culture.
“It’s about learning from the land, and providing students with indigenous knowledge.”
The National Forum continues throughout the week at the Grey Eagle Resort.