Indigenous Education and Perspectives

Question: Discuss about the Indigenous Education and Perspectives. Answer: Introduction: The essay presents a detailed description of the Stolen Generations in the context of Indigenous Australians. It analyses the effect, impact and their nature on the Indigenous population. Further, the essay focuses on the significance of understanding the historical event by the educators and reflects on its relevance. Lastly, the essay discusses the undermining effect of the event and strongly supports the use of Indigenous language. The term "Stolen Generations" refers to the event and the actions between 1890-1970, including separation of families and children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Korff, 2014). These children never met their families again and were admitted in government institutions. The non-Indigenous families adopted some of these children. In 1900s this event persuaded the Australian public to believe that the Indigenous children were poorly treated, deprived, and were at risk. They believed that the life of the children would improve if adopted by the non-Indigenous Australians or institutions that can provide them more love, care, better education and more civilized upbringing. However, the reality behind this event was different. The objective of removing these children was to introduce them to Anglo values and work habits." The rationale was to stop the passing of language, identity, cultural values to the children by their biological parents and communities such that they could be employed by the colonial settlers (Nsdc.org.au, n.d.). Children with one of the parents being white and other Indigenous were mainly targeted for this purpose. It was also believed by the Aboriginal protection boards that the outcome of this separation would be a successful assimilation of these isolated children into white society. It gave them great hopes that it would easily help in merging the mixed indigenous people with the white population (Nsdc.org.au, n.d.). However, this attempt was mainly to wipe out the Aboriginal race completely leaving only the whites. A stated by McKeich, (2006), in 1915, the Aborigines Protection Amending Act enabled taking Indigenous children away from their families neglecting the same maltreatment and negligence that they would experience any way. The act managed to remove children without the court order and parental consent. The member of the parliament of New South Wales Mr. McGarry objected this act in 1915 and described the policy as stealing the child away from its parents." It was later in 1997 that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission initiated a national inquiry into this separation. In 1997, the findings of this inquiry were released as Bringing Them Home (McKeich, 2006). The findings revealed many cases of forceful removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities. These findings thus led to the emergence of the term The Stolen Generations that describes the stories shared by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Indigenous children (half-caste) who were removed were known as the "stolen generations." Throughout this period of stolen generations, every night the children were removed from their family leaving their families horified. Later the report referred to the term as forcible removal policies (McKeich, 2006). It was estimated that between 1883-1969, in NSW alone more than 60,000 children were stolen, however, there were hardly any records found of them according to Korff, (2014). The past child removal policy has s till had its effect on the Indigenous communities. They are present as either first, second or third generation member of the Stolen Generations. In 2008, Mr. Kevin Rudd the Prime Minister of Australia had apologized for stolen generation in front of the nation. Although the Indigenous Australians of the Stolen Generations accepted the apology, it neither repaired their broken hearts nor their issues. This affected population needs more support and initiatives from the nation (Davenport-West, 2009). There is wide range of challenges faced by the members of the Stolen Generations which greatly impacts their life. Children who are taken away from their family experiences trauma. These people do not come forward due to confusion, shame, and sense of not being cared. The other reason includes family and friends who lack awareness and find difficult to be open about their grief and do not prefer to dig into the past (Davenport-West, 2009). There are reports of many children experiencing psychological issues after being the victim of physical and sexual abuse by the caregivers. These greatly affect the mental health of the children thus, preventing them from coming forward (Davenport-West, 2009). There are range of factors that determines the impact of the child abuse including the existing relationship between the abuser/s and the child, type and severity of abuse, family environment of the child, the relationship between the child and the parents or other caregivers, and if any hist ory of child abuse or care, support and love (Asca.org.au, n.d). Children with experiences of abuse are found to have common psychological effects in adulthood, which are anxiety, depression, aggression and violence. According to Asca.org.au, (n.d) members of the stolen generations are highly vulnerable to these effects. As per Davenport-West, (2009) the Indigenous children and families of the stolen generations are deprived of accurate records about their marriage, birth, adoption, and other government records. Without the birth certificate, it is difficult for an individual to prove own identity. This prevents them from accessing certain services and support existing in their favor. Also, the incomplete and missing records make it difficult for the parents and children of the stolen generations to search for their lost heritage, community and family members. Even if some members return, they are highly likely to be rejected because of their poor knowledge related to Aboriginal language, community, and cultural values. Therefore, it becomes difficult for them to fit in their culture like any other stranger and are unaccepted (Davenport-West, 2009). The impact of child removal is not only limited to the first-degree relatives rather several generations. Many generations feel the pain and trauma such as families, children, grandchildren and communities. Children raised in foster homes and those who were institutionalized were found to unable to raise their children with affection and love. Since they were always devoid of compassion and warmth, they failed to bring their children appropriately (Davenport-West, 2009). The Indigenous Australians are more likely to ha ve poor physical and mental health when compared to the non-Indigenous Australians. The chronic illnesses that are highly prevalent among the Aboriginals are heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, drug and alcohol abuse, higher rates of smoking and premature birth. They experience a variety of emotional and mental health concerns and are highly represented in death and disability index. Diabetes and heart diseases are inherited conditions. Therefore, inability to track back the lost family members also poses a health risk (Davenport-West, 2009). Members of stolen generations have poor contact with the criminal justice system being in the foster care system and institutionalization. However, the police system pays greater attention to the Indigenous children as they grow into adolescence which is the outcome of the Bringing them homeReport according to McKeich, (2006). The Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander communities have a rich history with their cultural values, customs, be liefs, and language. Children adopted by the white Australians are devoid of their rich history and cultural knowledge and never felt themselves to be the part of the Indigenous population. Hence, they were discriminated and not treated as a part of the non-Indigenous society. Therefore, the knowledge of this history should also be present among the educators to teach, support and encourage the children to accept the Indigenous culture (Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in kindergarten, 2005). The children removed from their families face a range of difficulties in schools. In Australia, the mainstream schools fail to meet the needs of the culturally and linguistically diverse group of students. They experience, difficult learning situation as they are expected to conform or assimilate like other white Australian children in the schools. Consequently, these children show the high rate of absenteeism and eventually leave school permanently. Due to child removal, the Indigenous people have lost their culture, language, and family. As a result, the Aboriginal people fail to pass on their language, cultures and traditions to their next generation. This is leading to dying of their culture and language. The learning style of Indigenous children differs from the non-Indigenous children. The Indigenous children also have legit, strong culture and pedagogies (Nichol, 2011). According to the theory of Universal Grammar put forward by Noam Chomsky, children are born with instinctive grammar capabilities. In the brain, these children are found to use the mechanism of "Language Acquisition Device'." It facilitates the learning of any language. For every child, the first three years of life are the critical period of learning. It becomes difficult to learn a new language after this age (Lemetyinen, 2012). Thus, critical learning period may also be the reason creating difficulty in learning an Indigenous language after the initial three years in children. This is the hurdle for the members of stolen generations when learning an Indigenous language. The only way to keep children engaged in learning an Indigenous culture, history and languages are to teach them through the medium of stories, art and music (Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in kindergarten, 2005). The stolen generation have the long-term effect on the Indigenous children. However, multicultural ways of teaching can be adopted by the schools and educators to have a positive imp act on the children learning the Indigenous culture. This also assists in greater acceptance and inclusion of Indigenous culture among these children (McKeich, 2006). The essay has exhaustively discussed the impact of stolen generation on the Indigenous Australians. The essay has focused on the significance of understanding the historical event by the educators. The essay has discussed the undermining effect of stolen generations, and it strongly supports the use of Indigenous language. It made me cringe studying the way Aboriginals were treated for several years. Studying about their trauma and the painful past of Australia made my heart drop. Throughout the past decades, these populations have faced hard times. Research on this topic has helped me in gaining in-depth knowledge about the history of Indigenous Australians. The government can never rewind what has been taken away from the Indigenous people, and I feel that the apology was not enough. However, the apology and confession of wrongdoing indicate steps being taken in the right direction. References Asca.org.au,Childhood trauma and abuse can have many effects on adult health. Retrieved 10 January 2015, from https://www.asca.org.au/About/Resources/Abuse-related-conditions.aspx Davenport-West, R. (2009).Between Two Worlds Understanding the Stolen Generations.https://www.stolengenerationsvictoria.org.au/. Retrieved 8 January 2015, from https://www.stolengenerationsvictoria.org.au/sitebuilder/careers/knowledge/asset/files/54/stolengen_btwa5%283%29.pdf Korff, J. (2014).A guide to Australias Stolen Generations.Creative Spirits. Retrieved 20. December 2016, from https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/a-guide-to-australias-stolen-generations Lemetyinen, H. (2012).Language Acquisition Theory | Simply Psychology.Simplypsychology.org. Retrieved 11 January 2015, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/language.html McKeich, A. (2006).Stolen Generation's Victoria- Second Step(1st ed., pp. 1-78). Retrieved from https://www.stolengenerationsvictoria.org.au/sitebuilder/careers/knowledge/asset/files/42/secondsteppdf.pdf Nichol,. (2011).INDIGENOUS PEDAGOGY AND DEVELOPMENT(1st ed., pp. 103-125). Retrieved from https://download.springer.com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/static/pdf/248/chp%253A10.1007%252F978-94-6091-373-0_7.pdf?auth66=1421260076_a59bca1529e05345a224769fa4a52033ext=.pdf Nsdc.org.au,.The History of the Stolen Generations - National Sorry Day Committee. Retrieved 7 January 2015, from https://www.nsdc.org.au/stolen-generations/history-of-the-stolen-generations/the-history-of-the-stolen-generations Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in kindergarten. (2005) (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/childhood/parents/support/supportingatsikinder.pdf Yunkaporta, T. (2009).8ways - Aboriginal pedagogy research review.8ways.wikispaces.com. Retrieved 11 January 2015, from https://8ways.wikispaces.com/Aboriginal+pedagogy+research+review