Lesson 6 – Learn to contribute to your community

What if wisdom was defined as meaningfully contributing to one’s community?

Going to college is often viewed as a transformative experience, providing successful students with greater access to employment opportunities and a path to higher social and economic status. Sociologists recognize that education also plays an important role in socializing students by transmitting the values, norms, and expectations of their society. Students are taught what is considered “success” in a particular cultural context and how to achieve it. Educational institutions have long-established policies and practices designed to socialize students to serve the needs of a post-industrial economy. Students who enter higher education “are expected to adapt to its modus operandi if they wish to obtain the benefits (usually translated to mean better, higher paying jobs) of the knowledge and skills it has to offer, the desirability and value of which are presumed to be self-evident” (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 1991).

From an Indigenous student’s perspective, attending college may provide a path to a career, but they may also be motivated by communal need to advance as a distinct and self-determining society (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 1991). As Patricia Monture, a Mohawk professor of law at Dalhousie University has pointed out higher education may be seen “as an indispensable, if often unpleasant step to attaining self-determination” (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 1991, p. 8). The onus is on the Indigenous student to adapt to the policies and practices of the institution if they wish to obtain the benefits accorded by a degree — and they may see a degree as coming at the expense of their own cultural identity.

We can honour the role of education in teaching students to live “in a good way” by developing assessments that contribute to community development, not just individual advancement.

What might this look like in practice?

• Relationality — Develop assessments that foster the students’ relationships to their community and emphasize collaboration, engagement, and reciprocity.
• Reciprocal Learning
• Bring community partners into the classroom to challenge students to research and apply what they are learning to real problems.
• Send students into the community to provide a service or participate in a project designed by a community organization.
• Create opportunities to bring university students and a community together to share knowledge and resources and collaborate on projects for their mutual benefit.

Examples

• Nursing — Students participate in a reflective debriefing session after clinical placements where they discuss patient care with Indigenous healthcare professionals, incorporating holistic approaches to wellness.
• Social Service Worker — Students engage in an Indigenous-led community outreach project, supporting the design of programs that address social needs as defined by the Indigenous community.