The History of Residential Schools

My first blog post is to tell my readers about the history of the Residential Schools. Before I tell you anything I do not believe that Residential Schools were a good idea. So the first thing that happened is that the first Residential School opened in 1620. Also the first Residential School closed in 1969. There was 130 Residential Schools in Canada. Which for me is way too many schools to be created. The words from one government official created this. The Residential Schools were created to “kill the Indian out of the child”. In the Residential Schools attendance was mandatory for Aboriginal children across Canada. If a parent failed to send their child to a Residential School then they would get punished by imprisonment. Which is not fair in my eyes to me it was also not fair for the parents because their child didn’t want to go to a school that they would be abused at. Even 4 year olds went to the Residential schools which to me is horrible. I feel that it was not fair to the students of the Residential schools to be treated like that. To be taken from their families to go to a school that treated them horribly and abused them. Also what was worse is that most of the teachers at the residential schools had little to none training.

The Students and What Happened to Them Inside The Residential Schools And What Happened When They Got Out

What happened to the students? What happened after they were out of the Residential Schools? This blog post will let you know the answers. So let’s get started there were about 80 000 children in the Residential Schools. So many children so much abuse. The children were normally abused in the Residential schools. I cannot believe what happened in the schools. Also because of the abuse and each generation got traumatized and it went from generation to generation. Also because of the abuse the students are in dire need of help from high rates of substance abuse, crime, child apprehension and some even committed suicide. It was terrible the outcome who knows maybe they knew this would happen or maybe they didn’t no one will ever know. The way that the students were abused was they were abused physically, emotionally and sexually. No one should be treated like that. The children in the Residential Schools got an electric shocks and they didn’t get any medical attention for the shocks. Also some of the other punishments for the children if they brock the rules they would be punished in many ways. They punished the children in many different ways like beatings, burnings, shamed, injections and etc. The Aboriginal people lost their faith in the government. I half to say the government did deserve the shame of the past but the Aboriginal people did not deserve the pain of the past.

Point of Residential Schools

I know I bet you’re wondering what the point of the Residential Schools were. Well then let me fill you in on that. There were many different points of the Residential Schools here are a few. The Residential schools were meant to teach the children skills such as farming, carpentry, cooking and ext. The aim of the schools was to civilize, assimilate and educate young Aboriginal children into everyday British life. The schools were meant to isolate the children from their families, traditions and culture. Which I think and I bet many of you think also that is just not right or fair for the children. The point of the student curriculum was to eliminate the desire to be Indian. Which I hate most of all maybe it wasn’t their thought of civilized but maybe it was the Indians thought of civilized. One of the other points of the residential schools was to break up the families. I mean how someone can be so cruel like honestly OH MY GOODNESS! How could they even think of making these schools in the first place what did the hate the Aboriginal people so much they wanted to kill most of them. Also the schools wanted to assimilate the children into the dominant culture. What are they to say which culture is dominant over the other? So ya I hate the schools.

Oppression in The Residential Schools

What is oppression? How was it used in the Residential Schools? Let’s answer these questions right now so that is what I am going to do. Oppression means prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control. The Residential School used oppression by hurting the students. They also oppressed first nation culture by teaching the children the British way of life and forbidding the children to speak their native language. For me I don’t know what’s worse being hurt or being hurt for not knowing how to speak the language you had to speak. The resident schools also oppressed the native children by taking them from their parents for months at a time. That was terrible I hate the teachers and the stand byers who knew what was going on but didn’t do a thing. The also oppressed by not being able to be a part of their own culture. I would have died not

being with my family, culture or getting hurt. I know it sounds too bad to be true but it is true.