Essay Example on Aboriginals in Residential School Systems
Adam Migchels Migchels 1
Sociology 101
Barry McClinchey
November 7, 2012
Aboriginals In Residential Schools
In today’s society, the residential school system is a place where young children are not only taught math and science, but also about equality and discrimination.
However, a lot has changed since the residential school system was first introduced in
Canada. It was once a place where teachers treated students differently depending upon their gender, and what their background was; in particular, Aboriginals were treated very poorly (Marcuse et al., 1993). Sociologists have many views on the topic of Aboriginal treatment in schools, and throughout this essay, the ideas of gender assumptions, socialization agents, and social inequality will be discussed. Along with these ideas, the conflict theory will be proven to be an approach that explains the topic of Aboriginal treatment in residential schools.
To begin, sociologists who use the conflict theory assume that society is grounded on inequality and competition over resources, which results in conflicts that cause society to change (McClinchey, 2012). Conflict theorists believe that power controls social relationships, and the powerful use social values and dominant ideology to diminish the weak (McClinchey, 2012). This theory strongly represents how the Aboriginals were treated because the people with the power and money - Caucasian people - saw these people as weak and unworthy of many things. Rousseau’s idea of moral or political inequality is also greatly shown through the Aboriginals. Moral or political inequality is
Migchels 2 the human classification of valuable things (McClinchey, 2012). Ethnocentrism, or the tendency to see your own culture as being better than all the others, was strongly expressed by Caucasian people over the Aboriginals as well (McClinchey 2012). From the video, Aboriginals were forced to speak English and cut off their hair, which shows the lack
Sociology 101
Barry McClinchey
November 7, 2012
Aboriginals In Residential Schools
In today’s society, the residential school system is a place where young children are not only taught math and science, but also about equality and discrimination.
However, a lot has changed since the residential school system was first introduced in
Canada. It was once a place where teachers treated students differently depending upon their gender, and what their background was; in particular, Aboriginals were treated very poorly (Marcuse et al., 1993). Sociologists have many views on the topic of Aboriginal treatment in schools, and throughout this essay, the ideas of gender assumptions, socialization agents, and social inequality will be discussed. Along with these ideas, the conflict theory will be proven to be an approach that explains the topic of Aboriginal treatment in residential schools.
To begin, sociologists who use the conflict theory assume that society is grounded on inequality and competition over resources, which results in conflicts that cause society to change (McClinchey, 2012). Conflict theorists believe that power controls social relationships, and the powerful use social values and dominant ideology to diminish the weak (McClinchey, 2012). This theory strongly represents how the Aboriginals were treated because the people with the power and money - Caucasian people - saw these people as weak and unworthy of many things. Rousseau’s idea of moral or political inequality is also greatly shown through the Aboriginals. Moral or political inequality is
Migchels 2 the human classification of valuable things (McClinchey, 2012). Ethnocentrism, or the tendency to see your own culture as being better than all the others, was strongly expressed by Caucasian people over the Aboriginals as well (McClinchey 2012). From the video, Aboriginals were forced to speak English and cut off their hair, which shows the lack