To begin with, this course has greatly enhanced the depth of my understanding about Indigenous culture and education. Personally, there are numerous aspects of the curriculum that have intrigued me. With that being said, one element of the course content that I found significant was the lesson done in week 9 about post-secondary education for Indigenous people. Unfortunately, the number of Aboriginal students completing secondary school and participating in post-secondary education is substantial lower than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. It is estimated that only 39% of Aboriginals aged between 25 and 64 have completed postsecondary education, in comparison to the overall average of the Canadian population which is 54% (Restoule, Mashford-Pringle,
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The challenges and struggles about PSE are fresh in my mind, I am living them on a daily basis. When I think of the challenges that I have endured to arrive at this point, the main ideas this conjures are financial woes and acquiring the strongest marks possible regardless of the stress that surrounds it. However, this is not the case for everyone, my perspective on university hardships is a very narrow view. There are countless difficulties individuals endure to reach post-secondary education. Moreover, Indigenous peoples face specific obstacles that others do not. For instance, the history of colonization and what it entailed for Indigenous people, continues to play a role in their attempts to partake in PSE. As we learned about the horrors and history of Residential School’s. The assimilation techniques utilized, and the treaties signed that enabled it to endure, scarred generations and continues to. This resulted in altering the trust Aboriginal students and their families have towards the Canadian education system (Restoule et al., 2013). Therefore because of their wariness, the number of Aboriginal students applying for PSE is reduced (Restoule et al., …show more content…
As a result, the university investigated how to alter this. Therefore, one of their initiatives was The Support Program for Aboriginal Nursing Students (SPANS) (Kulig et al., 2010). The ultimate goal of this was to improve the number of Indigenous students entering and completing a nursing program (Kulig et al., 2010). In fact, the university collaborated with Red Crow Community College, Blood Tribe Department of Health, Aakom-Kiyii Health Services (Piikani Nation), Siksika Health Services and the Blackfoot Confederacy. This was significant because the university acknowledged that there was a cognitive dissonance between the Eurocentric belief/approach to science education with Indigenous student’s worldviews (Kulig et al., 2010). This confusion hindered Indigenous student’s success in the sciences, that often teachers may have interpreted as inability to learn the subject. By addressing this issue, the university explored how to effectively incorporate Aboriginal sciences along with the traditional western ones in the program. Due to this, the number of Indigenous students surged substantially. Prior to this, there was approximately 2-3 Aboriginal students in the nursing program, by making these alterations the number rose to 30 students (Kulig et al.,
The challenges and struggles about PSE are fresh in my mind, I am living them on a daily basis. When I think of the challenges that I have endured to arrive at this point, the main ideas this conjures are financial woes and acquiring the strongest marks possible regardless of the stress that surrounds it. However, this is not the case for everyone, my perspective on university hardships is a very narrow view. There are countless difficulties individuals endure to reach post-secondary education. Moreover, Indigenous peoples face specific obstacles that others do not. For instance, the history of colonization and what it entailed for Indigenous people, continues to play a role in their attempts to partake in PSE. As we learned about the horrors and history of Residential School’s. The assimilation techniques utilized, and the treaties signed that enabled it to endure, scarred generations and continues to. This resulted in altering the trust Aboriginal students and their families have towards the Canadian education system (Restoule et al., 2013). Therefore because of their wariness, the number of Aboriginal students applying for PSE is reduced (Restoule et al., …show more content…
As a result, the university investigated how to alter this. Therefore, one of their initiatives was The Support Program for Aboriginal Nursing Students (SPANS) (Kulig et al., 2010). The ultimate goal of this was to improve the number of Indigenous students entering and completing a nursing program (Kulig et al., 2010). In fact, the university collaborated with Red Crow Community College, Blood Tribe Department of Health, Aakom-Kiyii Health Services (Piikani Nation), Siksika Health Services and the Blackfoot Confederacy. This was significant because the university acknowledged that there was a cognitive dissonance between the Eurocentric belief/approach to science education with Indigenous student’s worldviews (Kulig et al., 2010). This confusion hindered Indigenous student’s success in the sciences, that often teachers may have interpreted as inability to learn the subject. By addressing this issue, the university explored how to effectively incorporate Aboriginal sciences along with the traditional western ones in the program. Due to this, the number of Indigenous students surged substantially. Prior to this, there was approximately 2-3 Aboriginal students in the nursing program, by making these alterations the number rose to 30 students (Kulig et al.,