UNDERSTANDING THE RULES OF CULTURE TO IMPROVE YOUR CLASSROOM PRACTICE

By Lexi Charlie

Every child, regardless of their ethnic origin, comes to school with a culture. Children are in the midst of evolving their own cultural identity with each experience in school and in the community. To write this article, I asked myself how I, as a Penelakut First Nations teacher, might help you as a teacher to better understand how culture influences the behavior of your First Nations students. After a great deal of writing and rewriting, I have decided to focus on dispelling three myths that impact the education of First Nations students:

• First Nations parents don’t care about their child’s education,
• First Nations students are quiet and passive learners, and
• An oral culture is an illiterate culture.

At first glance these may seem like harsh statements. Set in context, they reflect the sincere concerns of teachers coping with, but not necessarily understanding, the impact of First Nations parents choosing to raise their children by cultural rules.

First Nations culture today still really does reflect the echoes of an earlier time when we were hunter-gatherers. We are still carrying the cultural traits and habits learned and refined to ensure survival in those times. In the classroom it is important to realize that the behaviors we see may not mean what we think they mean, as they are coming from a different cultural perspective.

WHY JOHNNY WON’T COME TO SCHOOL ...

Have you ever had a First Nations child in your class who did not attend school? And when you spoke with the parents, it didn’t help. You found them to be unsupportive when they responded, "He knows he should go to school. We can’t make him go." It’s hard to understand the behavior of the parents when your way, as a teacher, is to give advice to the child and then to take action. You are left wondering why the First Nations parents don’t care about their child’s education.

But that is just perception. The reality is that the parents are doing what they have learned from their culture. They are obeying a cultural rule. First Nations parents are strongly influenced by the principle of guidance without interference. The belief is that children must make their own choices in everything: from homework to attending school, eating habits to choice of friends. Children are responsible for their own learning by watching and absorbing what they see.

I remember at the age of 15 wanting to learn how to drive a car. I asked my father to teach me. He handed me the keys and said the car was outside. My father thought I should have learned how to drive by observation. He had modelled for me many times how to drive a car. It was my responsibility to learn.

Knowing this, how can you as a teacher honor the cultural rule of non-interference? One strategy is not to ask parents direct questions like, "How can we help Johnny?" expecting them to contribute advice or recommendations. Instead, speak out loud about some of the factors which have to be considered in coming up with a strategy to meet the student’s needs, just as if you were reviewing for your own benefit. Pose the issues themselves, without offering a direct solution. Welcome the long silences. They give parents time to sort through their ideas. Train yourself to become a good listener instead of the talker. You will reach a solution, but perhaps not the one you expected. The solution that will enlist the support of the First Nations parents is a solution in which they are contributing to the decision of the child, not one where they are making the decision for the child.

I CAN’T TEACH SOMEONE WHO IS PASSIVE ...

First Nations students are often labeled "unresponsive", "passive" or "quiet". This behavior stems from the survival technique of thinking things through before actually trying them. In a hunter-gatherer society, stress and danger were always present. A bad decision resulted in harm or death. The most appropriate strategy in almost every case was to consider all responses and walk through the situation mentally before taking action.

Today in schools the terrain is the classroom, not the forest. First Nations students unfamiliar with a subject feel stressed and in danger, and in keeping with their culture, retreat into positions of careful observation. The more unfamiliar the situation, the more you can expect the student to withdraw into physical immobility and silence.

By knowing this, you have an opportunity to allow students time to gather their thoughts. By understanding this cultural conflict you can support the student. Recently I was working with a student who, I sensed, wanted to tell me something. I realized that it was important to allow him to sit next to me and to be silent. After a time he was able to share with me what was on his mind. First Nations peoples value silence as a skill, and being silent is not an empty activity.

To address this cultural difference, teachers can try to extend the response time for students when asking a question, realizing that Native students in particular will feel more comfortable if they have some time for reflection. Another strategy is to make a situation more familiar, and elicit greater participation, by adapting the rituals and symbols of your local community. For example, some schools use the talking circle where a feather, talking stick or rock is passed as a symbol and held by the individual whose turn it is to speak.

Another aspect of the perceived passive behavior of First Nations students has to do with eye contact. Teachers have complained to me that Native students are disrespectful because when you talk to them, they won’t look you in the eye. The truth is the opposite of the perception. When Elders speak to us, we are taught not to make eye contact. This is a sign of respect.

AN ORAL CULTURE IN A PRINT-BASED WORLD ...

First nations people have only recently started to write down their language, stories and songs. Traditionally we were an oral society, and we still are today. In Western society there has been an attitude that oral cultures are inferior and even illiterate. Schools have been reluctant to include First Nations studies classes because a written curriculum has not been available.

And yet, for generation after generation First Nations children have learned the history, rules of belief and behavior of their people through oral legends, stories, songs and prayers. Stories were told over and over because each lesson became more meaningful with repetition. Children learned that the more one listened, the more there was revealed and learned. The oral culture, as it requires interaction, created a close, connected community which helped to strengthen tribal identity and continuity.

It is difficult to capture the essence of an oral culture. The best way to accomplish this in schools is by inviting Elders in to the classroom to share their life stories, legends or songs. Ask a local First Nations community member about the protocol of inviting Elders to a school. Prepare your students by talking about the importance of Elders to the classroom. You are likely to find that because this is something First Nations students are familiar with, they will be more actively involved. Understand that for Elders to translate their stories into English means losing some subtlety in the meaning of a story.

It is important to be aware that legends or stories can be owned by individuals, families or by the community. Only a particular person or family can tell a story that belongs to them. There are many stories that are not restricted and that can be told for everyone to hear for entertainment or instruction. Check our the library for stories written by First Nations authors. In recent years there has been an outburst of Native pride in oral storytelling.

I encourage you to be involved and get to know your local First Nations community. And when a First Nations child or parent does something that puzzles you and causes you to stereotype, try to react differently. Remember, First Nations people are living in a world with different rules for behavior from society at large. I hope that by explaining just a few of these rules, I may have shed some light on the cultural conflict you face from time to time in your classroom. Remember, First Nations people, like you, are living within their culture and sometimes we don’t realize that the rules and attitudes we accept and live by are even there. Like you, we assume that all people naturally think that way.

Lexi Charlie is the First Nations education coordinator with School District 79 (Cowichan Valley). She has been a teacher and administrator for nine years.