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TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS EDUCATION: A NATURAL PROCESS
Jeannette C. Armstrong
Penticton, B.C.
Canada
The modern definition of education ("the practice of schooling")
standsd in sharp contrast to the traditional indigenous view, which
centred on education as a natural process occuring during everyday
activities. Learning and teaching in the traditional view ensures
cultural continuity and survival of the mental, spiritual, emotional and
physical well-being of the cultural unit and of its environment the
individual, the family, the community and the people as a v..:hole.
Quality education must be based on indigenous educational methods
not only to ensure our survival as indigenous peoples but for our
very existence as humans.
Introduction
As a result of change, education as a process has come to have a
modern meaning, which when examined bears little resemblance to the process
which embodies the fundamental reasons for teaching and learning. Education,
for the most part, is now defined and accepted as the practice of schooling.
It has come to mean, almost solely, the transfer of information and skills
sufficient to allow opportunity for use in the provision of a livelihood.
Without question, a livelihood is necessary for the immediate survival of
people. However, human existence consists of more than mere survival It is in
the practice of everyday I iving and learning that people emerge a~ human,
separate from animals in the quest for survival. Still, human existence is not
as far removed from the quest for survival as we may think. Bound up in the
need to find the best ways of doing things which will ensure the continuance
of life is the practice of everyday living.
Learning; An Everyday Cultural Experience
Everyday living, for the human, is experienced as behavior contained
within distinct social groupings. The lifestyle that is shaped out of learning
what works and what does not work, for that grouping, becomes the culture.
As such, whatever current lifestyle a people employ to continue the act of
living is the culture. Entrenched in the need to continue living is an instinctive
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need to continue the species. Carrying out the instinctive command to
perpetuate the species becomes a command to teach the young what has
worked and what has not worked for that grouping. So it is that each distinct
aspect of learning for the human is culturally defined anci is, therefore, a
cultural experience.
The passing of a culture learned from one generation to another
becomes the traditional culture - an instinctive assurance of continuity, together
with a continued demonstration of health in the practice of everyday living,
which ensures adherence to tradition. Traditional culture as an ongoing process
becomes the long-term social mechanism which insures the healthy survival of
the next generation. Each new generation through an ongoing process is thus
equipped in the specific ways which give that group its cultural identity.
The basis of the I ifestyle that defines a culture has its beginnings in
that group's collective knowledge in the use of its original environment. The
social mechanisms specific to indigenous culture are thus irrevocably interacting
with indigenous experience. Integral to indigenous experience is the inherent
necessity for protection and continuance of the sources of livelihood. For
indigenous peoples, the instinctive commands for survival and continuance
become commands for conservation and preservation of the environment.
Evolved through extremities of harsh conditions resulting from abuses to
sources of livelihood, indigenous cultures out of necessity contain mechanisms
which ensure the protection of the environment. It is out of absolute necessity
that these mechanisms are pa9sed on intact to the next generation.
Without reiterating the necessity of protecting the next generation, it is
imperative that we realize that endangering indigenous cultural groupings and
forcing them into annihilation through assimilation may be endangering humanity
as a whole. The safeguards against this are contained in the learning process
of traditional indigenous cultures. Each new generation, through the ongoing
process, is equipped in the ways which give that group its cultural identity as
a means of protecting it. The sole means that a group has to transfer this
knowledge, is to teach as definitively as possible the traditional culture.
The fundamental reasons for learning and teaching, then, are to equip the
present and future generations for a healthy, fulfilling existence within a
cohesive social order and a productive environment. Within indigenous cultures,
educational methods evolved in various practical ways which were refined over
generations. As a result, only education methods that are successful have
evolved to meet the needs of indigenous groups. The education methods which
evolved to be most successful were ones which were easiest to maintain. The
processes which were easiest to maintain were the ones which were natural to
the lifestyle. For this reason, education for indigenous peoples is a natural
process that was integrated into the dai Iy I ifestyle of the culture. The dai Iy
lifestyle is a cultural process contained within the social unit.
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Equally important as a natural influence on learning in the individual
were the internal natural cycles which are consistent with the day and night
cycle of activity and rest. As a natural process, the success of indigenous
education was dependent on working with that natural
influence. Simple
understanding and use of the best times of the day and night for learning
different skills was a practical necessity for efficiency in productivity. Physical
work activity early in the day incorporated practical skills learned when energy
levels were highest. Work could be completed and learned faster as a result.
Experiential learning during work activities was the medium for learning. The
mind is at its peak in alertness when physical energy is not a distraction.
More relaxed activities later in the day would naturally incorporate learning
skills more oriented to intellectual processes. The use of storytelling and other
cultural rituals· and recreation were the methods for teaching during those
times. As a r~sult, indigenous 'learning maximized interest potential and learning
capacity, as a simple natural process in working within the daily cycle.
As a cultural process, one of the most significant survival mechanisms
of indigenous culture is the social unit as a cooperative .force. The m~st
efficient system which makes up that force is that of family or clan units
working in cooperation. The cohesion of the fami Iy unit is basic to this force
and therefore is basic to survival. Family- or clan-based learning is the natural
mechanism which in itself incorporates a means to protect and strengthen the
family and, thus, the social order. It is through family-based learning that
quality is ensured as the young are taught with the utmost care through natural
parental instinct for continuation and survival.
The Natural Process of Education
To maximize efficiency and quality of education, the process of
traditional education was one which worked as an integral factor in everyday
living within the family or clan. Integrated into daily experience throughout life,
learning as a natural exercise was a necessity for an individual to function
within the social order. Parental expectations motivated learning in children until
peer and social expectations provided motivation in the adult for both learning
and teaching. Parental pride and approval provided the motivational base for
learning in the child, in this way motivating the individual to strive positively
for personal excellence without competitiveness. Thus, the social cohesion and
the spirit of cooperation is entrenched and maintained for the good of the
whole in indigenous culture.
As much an influence were seasonal and climatic conditions. For very
practical purposes, specific methods of learning evolved out of the dictates of
nature itself. Things, such as whether more time was to be spent outdoors or
indoors as a result of weather conditions, would determine a teaching method.
The natural response to seasonal patterns in the lifecycle of cultures indicated
the appropriate method for teaching and learning. Planting and harvesting
seasons provided a desireable and pleasurable environment for experiental
methods of learning outdoors. Winter or rainy seasons provided a good
environment for teaching tedious craftwork or engaging in complex ritual
learning activities during long nights and short days.
Successful methods of indigenous learning elicited the best potential
through understanding and working with the dynamics which influence response
in the individual. Response in the individual is very definitively tied to abilities
and inclinations at different stages of growth and development. Consequently,
teaching methods that worked well evolved through age-grouping and matching
to corresponding activities. What works well as a technique for the child does
not work well for the adolescent. Children at various stages of development
learn best through techniques which make use of their natural inclinations at~
the stage they are in. This is true, whether it is inquisitiveness in the early
age group. or the super-activity that characteristizes adolescent behavior.
Learning as a process involved techniques whi.ch were unique to specific
cultures for very practical and necessary reasons. Contained within traditional
culture were practices which evolved out of an indigenous understanding of the
social order necessary for continuance within that particular environment.
Methods of teaching and learning used techniques which strengthened and
enforced the social unit out of necessity for survival. The learning necessary
to maintain a peaceful cooperative unit had to function within the natural order
of everyday living. Law and order in traditional indigenous cultures was a
learned behavior instilled through practical lessons as much as through spiritual
practice. Such things as performing puberty rites or displaying clan status
symbols play a practical role in maintaining social cohesion and order. Each
person in that way, naturally and responsibly, lived law and order. The inability
to live naturally within the unit meant the inability to function naturally. Unique
practices for teaching and learning such behavior seem to have no value or
worth in another culture, because its requirements for the same purposes are
totally different. As a result, methods for teaching and learning, which are
unique to a CUlture, are necessary elements in the continued social well-being
of the entire unit. The removal of those elements results in the rapid social
The methods evolved in various traditional cultures were implemented
through many media such as rituals. recr"eational activities and lectures as well
as through regular work experiences. Such techniques are very different in, and
specific to. various cultures. However, the outcomes are the same in that
learning is mostly a pleasurable experience. The success of the teaching
method depends upon the appropriateness of the method for the age group. In
that way. learning as a cultural process within indigenous culture was naturally
intertwined with the dynamics of the stages of human growth and development,
working with, rather than in spite of, it.
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breakdown evident in colonized cultures.
Specific to different environments and to different social
orders,
indigenous cultures developed unique teaching methods which unleashed special
necessary abilities within individuals. Such learning was required for food
production or maintenance of health and social order. Indigenous practices
developed methods which were suitable and unique to the environment. The
practices, out of necessity, had to incorporate the indigenous philosophy which
formed the spiritual base for its preservation. As a result, the techniques for
individual power sourcing relied on ritual and ceremony as common practices
through which to internalize learning of special skills. Practices such as vision
quests, fasts or other forms of personal endurance strengthened personal
resolve and provided insight for excellence. As a result, the full human
potential was tapped in the individual, including abilities that seem beyond
comprehension. At the same time, the methods for internal learning unique to
that culture play an integral role in the transfer of the values of that culture.
Such practices in other cultures would seem to have no meaning but play an
im'portant role in how an indigenous group functions well within its own
cultural definition. Practices which would seem to be purely ritual are much
more within that special context of learning.
In order to ensure productivity for survival, education was incorporated
into inherent systems which had evolved out of indigenous experience of the
environment. Basic to this was the ability to teach methods of providing a
livelihood which maintained and protected the sources of sustenance. The
indigenous cultural expression of this need incorporated a world-view practiced
as a ritual. Such things as cultural celebrations prior to a seasonal planting or
harvesting
are
important
tools
to
teach
and
enforce, collectively, the
fundamental understanding necessary in that group's use of the land. Songs,
ceremonial rites and myths all have been developed over generations to meet
the particular needs of the cultural group, whether it be for physical or
emotional health within their environment. The practice of religious ritual is an
efficient and pleasurable way of transferring desirable learning. At the same
time, it fulfills an internal yearning for individual continuance while providing a
sense of continuity from one generation to the next. The approach to food
gathering or tool making was as' much an integral part of spiritual learning as
more esoteric practices such as healing or ceremony.
Working within the practice of ritual are the practical tools for the
mental, spiritual, emotional and physical well-being of the cultural unit and its
environment. Without the spiritual base to provide safeguards against abuse to
the environment, community, family and person, the practice of everyday living
becomes an explosion of uncontrollable abuses. The learning and practice of
indigenous ritual, then, is integral to a fulfilled, healthy existence in a
continuously productive environment. FinaJly, where natural process and parental
instinct end, indigenous cultural ritual takes over in that it contains teachings
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necessary for transference of desire for protection of life, environment and the
social unit. This desire is' tranferred as a tribal conscience in the practice of
everyday living through the songs, dances and rituals, and most of all through
language. That is the very essence and fabric of the continued health of the
group. This is the point of view which must be taken when considering the
natural process of education for indigenous peoples.
Concluding Statement: The Next Stages
If we examine teaching and learning from the perspective presented in
this paper, it becomes clear that the answers for quality education lie outside
the parameters of the process for schooling. We must examine our own
indigenous educational methods as a means by which to understand and change
what is happening to us as indigenous peoples.
We need to understand, clearly, that schooling which does not embody
the cultural mechanisms which give an assurance of continuity, and which does
not provide an assurance of healthy everyday living, results in the social
psychosis apparent in many of today's indigenous peoples. We must be able to
restate the fundamental
learning which
incorporates the social mechanisms
developed over the generations, specifically for each separate culture's need.
We need to see the danger in separating the learning of skills from
traditional
indigenous
philosophies. The
spiral
toward
genocide
in
most
indigenous cultures, as well as humanity as a whole, should convince us that
in having removed those safeguards from learning, we may have removed the
sole means for our continuance. In examining education in traditional indigenous
CUltures, we may identify the changes we must make, not only for our survival
as indigenous peoples, but perhaps for our very existence as humans.