[IPSM] Only three students have graduated from high school in Natuashish or Davis Inlet in the last 11 years

[Macdonald Stainsby]

Education system failing Innu: report
WebPosted Dec 14 2004 06:52 AM NST
CBC News

ST. JOHN'S  —  A federally commissioned report on the education of Innu 
children in Labrador details major failures.

CBC News has obtained a leaked copy of the two-year study that exposes 
serious flaws in the education system in the coastal community of 
Natuashish, as well as Sheshatshiu, in central Labrador.

Only three students have graduated from high school in Natuashish or Davis 
Inlet in the last 11 years.

Natuashish is a new community founded just two years ago, when residents 
left Davis Inlet.

The educational profile outlines systemic failures, and warns against 
small-scale change.

Among the findings:

   # 35 per cent of children studied were found to have fetal alcohol syndrome.
   # Only one in three children ever attends school.
   # Of those, most never make it to high school.

In fact, since 1993, just three students in the community have completed 
high school.

The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs commissioned the report.

Debbi Adams, a spokeswoman for the department, says the report also 
addresses causes of the problems.

"For a large number of the Innu children, English is effectively a foreign 
language to them," she says.

About two thirds of students hear only the Innu language in their homes.

Language a barrier

The report's authors found that teachers are not properly trained to deal 
with language barriers. While interpreters are in the school, they are not 
often used.

Former community chief Prote Poker says troubles with education run deep.

"We should have a choice, to go into the white man's way or the Innu way," 
he says.

"Right now, we're going in one direction – the white man's way."

The report says Innu children are being taught using methods that are not 
appropriate to their culture.

Jody Hale, a teacher who moved with the community from Davis Inlet to 
Natuashish, says he's seen that up close.

"What I'd like to see there, which would start addressing the problems at 
the school level, is the development of an Innu curriculum where you start 
training Innu teachers," Hale says.

The report says only tinkering with the school will make things worse, and 
by the time what it calls "the futility of half measures is realized" 
another generation will be lost.


-- 

Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope
	--Bertholt Brecht.