Aboriginal Residental Schools

Residental Schools Long before Europeans came to North America, aboriginal people had a highly developed system of education. There was a great deal for aboriginal children to learn before they could survive on their own. Aboriginal elders and parents passed on not only survival skills to their children, but their history, artistic ability, music, language, moral and religious values. When European missionaries began to live amongst aboriginal people, they concluded that the sooner they could …

…administered the schools are being charged criminally. The residential school experience continues to plague First Nations education. Provincial education curriculums did not change to reflect the educational needs of aboriginal children. Today, the cross-Canada average of the percentage of aboriginal children that complete Grade 12 is about 20%, and even lower in northern regions. Aboriginal children continue to have difficulties fitting in to the existing schools, which are still designed around a culture alien to their own.