colonial mind in post-secondary education, The

McGill Journal of Education, Spring 2002 by Paticia J Vickers

Colonialist thought, then, consists of intentional and unintentional racism. There is, however, a third behaviour that perpetuates colonialist thought in Canada, and that is the behaviour of the passive observer. The passive observer is defined by S. Bhikkhu (1997) when he describes the subtle arrogance of "what can I do?" This attitude is connected to "thinking that "I" can do something alone, a terrible illusion that cripples [many Buddhists.1 The passive observer in the colonial collective is bonded to the belief of superiority and is unable to initiate work with others to create social change. To be a passive observer is in effect to support the continuation of the coloniser/colonised relationship- if one is passively observing injustice, then one is not confronting the offensive and oftentimes destructive behaviours inherent in colonialist thought.

The experience of oppression for First Nations students is a double bind: they must fight the oppression that other students struggle against - the superior position of the professor over the student - as well as the dominance of "white" culture over the First Nations' culture. The projection of the belief of European superiority over First Nations students was practised in the residential schools in particular. In these schools, children were raised by the school, in partnership with the Christian church in and the federal government. Students' language and customs were prohibited and they were often forced to speak English only, an extreme example of cultural domination.

These attitudes, however, continue to exist today in the academy. For example, Vine Deloria Jr. (1997) writes concerning anthropology, "It is, and continues to be, a deeply colonial academic discipline, founded in the days when it was doctrine that the coloured races of the world would be enslaved by Europeans, and the tribal peoples would vanish from the planet" (p.211). In academic society more than any other society, the racism that Deloria writes about is often unconscious. For the integrity of the academy is in investigating with an objective mind; however, the student and the academic institute develop within larger society. The mind is conditioned throughout generations to believe that the Eurocentric educational process is superior to any other educational process, and this delusional belief of inherent superiority in turn perpetuates oppressive behaviours in institutes where learning and open-mindedness should occur. Academic society in Canada is rooted in a colonial history of cultural oppression of First Nations peoples in the appropriation of lands and resources. Thus, the struggle for First Nations students involves identifying oppression in the education system and oppression in the larger society.

The Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) states "there is a gap between the culture of the home and that of the school" (p. 438). This gap is created by the belief of inherent superiority of European descendants over First Nations descendants which resulted in "eurocentric educational practices ignor[ing] or reject[ing] the world-views, languages, and values of Aboriginal parents in the education of their children"' (M. Battiste, 1995, p.viii). The Report goes on to state, "What we find most disturbing is that the issues raised at our hearings and in interveners' briefs are the same concerns that Aboriginal people have been bringing forward since the first studies were done" (p. 440). Lack of desire to change academic curriculum and attitudes toward First Nations in terms of methods of education for First Nations people is an example perpetuating the ignorance connected to the oftentimes unconscious and unintentional but nevertheless damaging belief of First Nations inferiority. The documented lack of response evident in the numerous studies listed in the Report (p. 568) would indicate that change in academic society is not a simple matter of revision. It is one of ongoing dialogue between cultures which will support both the understanding required for change, and the direction for ongoing change.