EDUCATION

For Indigenous Peoples living in the Plains, the buffalo provided everything that the family and community needed to survive: shelter, food, clothing, and the materials needed for ceremonies. The importance of the buffalo to the Plains People can be compared to the importance of salmon for the people of the West Coast, caribou for the people of the Subarctic Region, 

the three sisters—beans, corn and squash—for the Iroquois 

Confederacy, and the eel for the people of the Maritime Region.

 

Learning is one of the teachings of the Medicine Wheel. From birth to death, learning is a lifelong process. One of the most beautiful aspects of life is that each new day brings an opportunity to learn something new. From a traditional Indigenous perspective, all parents want their children to learn more than they themselves did and to progress further along in this pathway of life. Our traditional education was different from classroom instruction. Our teachers were parents, aunties, uncles, elders, and older siblings. Mother Earth and animals were also our teachers.

 

Contemporary education is a new provider for Indigenous

peoples and their communities. Education is everything; it offers new opportunities in life. Obtaining an education can help you get the job you desire so that you can provide for yourself and for your family. Education allows you to pursue what you love while developing your ability to choose the career you wish to have in life. Education provides you with a sense of 

accomplishment because it takes hard work and determination 

to reach your educational goals. The kind of education that 

addresses social and economic injustice, discrimination, and the misconceptions that were imposed upon us by the Western 

European society is the greatest tool for fighting oppression. 

This kind of educational approach requires learners to follow 

foundational principles such as strength, courage, honesty, and compassion—with no reference to a particular religion.

 

Indigenous Peoples and people from ethnic minorities are 

experiencing an amazing evolution. For the first time in our 

collective history, our traditional beliefs, values, and practices 

are being advanced in all disciplines of human learning. Today, 

traditional knowledge and practice are respected and valued 

at the majority of academic institutions, as indicated by the 

presence of Ethnic Studies, Native American Studies, Indigenous Studies, African American Studies, and Chicano Studies at various institutions of higher learning. Prior to the late 1960s, this knowledge was not taught at mainstream academic institutions.

 

Today, the academic world recognizes the importance of

preserving and maintaining Indigenous languages. As an example, at the University of South Dakota, students are now able to major in teaching the Lakota language. Young people throughout North America are beginning to see the importance of our Indigenous languages. Modern technology has enabled a young Squamish man in British Columbia to develop a website where anyone can learn the Squamish language online.

 

New forms of expression are being realized through filmmaking and social media sites such as YouTube. Aboriginal youth on social media sites are using digital storytelling, and in doing so, are reviving our oral traditions. The University of Washington now offers a graduate program dedicated to Indigenous digital storytelling and documentary filmmaking.