Education in Aboriginal Communities: Dilemmas around Empowerment

Abstract

Aboriginal communities are in the process of coping with various degrees of em­powerment. Although educators tend to see empowerment as a solution to problems related to Aboriginal education, we discuss a number of fundamental dilemmas raised by empowerment. Specifically, we focus our discussion on decision making in Aboriginal communities, the goals of education, the culture of school, the language of instruction, Aboriginal content in course material, the training of Aboriginal teachers and the testing of Aboriginal students. It is our contention that dilemmas in these areas arise because empowerment has been introduced suddenly in the context of a long history of subjugation of Aboriginal peoples. Recognizing these realities will, we believe, avoid placing unrealistic expectations on the empowerment process, and convince both mainstream and Aboriginal educators that empowerment is not the end but rather the beginning of a fundamental societal challenge.