Can Indigenous Education SAVE THE WORLD?
I have been giving this subject much thought recently, particularly as my twelve-year-old son queries me about the discrepancy between what he is learning in school about Aboriginal peoples and what he experiences in his life as a First Nations person. What is Indigenous education? This is not an easy question to answer, and one to which numerous scholars have devoted a good portion of their career. I agree with Gregory Cajete, a renowned Tewa educator, when he states that one of the defining characteristics of Indigenous education is that it is inherently environmental. It is about learning and sharing one’s lifeways to ensure proper relations with all of Creation. Creation includes people, animals, plants, forests, mountains, seas, rivers…the Environment, so to speak. It also includes all the processes of Creation (transformation, re-creation, etc.) which occur on a continual cycle and require our constant attention. Aboriginal views of Creation extend beyond the western construct
