FNESC 2019 Continued

As I reflect on the weekend a big take away for me was the passion and intensity for education and learning that was on display.  It was very powerful to see the value presenters and participants  were placing in education to reclaim culture.  As a public school teacher it often feels like we are fighting a losing battle to cell phones, youtube, family vacations and extra curricular trips.  So to be around people who have been denied educational opportunities or who had suffered mistreatment under the disguise of education and see the emotion they had in being able to share their stories was an important reminder of the power and importance of education.  It was nice to focus on language, culture, person narratives and collective histories rather attendance and discipline.  Perhaps if we made more than token efforts to include the people we are trying to educate instead of continually trying to force what we think they need on them we could achieve higher levels of engagement in all areas of education.  Allow our youth to explore, experience and grow.  Trust in the power of education instead of focusing on "training" our youth for a future we acknowledge we can't predict.  Just some random thoughts at the end of a weekend