The First Nation Essay Example

The First Nation By the Film “Education as we can see it”, it covered a variety of topics of interest to sociologists, such as culture, social inequality and gender role and the social perspective of First Nation. And I do believe that the Canadian Government attempted to destroy a culture by the aborininal residential educational system. Education is the life-long learning experience for survival. It is the teaching of knowledge, tradition, culture, beliefs, and values. The Aboriginal people had their own education system that taught children about their culture and knowledge for survival. Although they didn’t have a written language, they were able to pass on their history and identity through oral stories. The Loon’s Necklace is an example of a west coast legend that taught the children about their beliefs. Also, the organized system covered the necessary skills of survival, which included hunting, transportation, health, religion, politics, and laws. However, it was not recognized by the Europeans. When the Europeans came from the east, they regarded the First Nations people as inferior savages. In order to “save” these people, they established residential schools to assimilate the children, who were people of the future. Since then, residential schools have had a negative impact on these children. The goal of the residential schools was to assimilate the natives, have them undergo ethnic cleansing and convert them to Christianity. Taken from parents at the age of 6, by an Indian agent, the children were forced to abandon traditional ways, which included speaking in their own language. If they disobeyed, the children suffered physical punishment, emotional abuse, and even sexual abuse. Many children died of illnesses such as tuberculosis, measles and typhoid. The schools were completely isolated from the rest of society, which made it difficult for them to run away and therefore it adds up to a wholesale attempt by government to kill First