Category: Education

Indigenous People of Australia

Truganini
Truganini, reported to be the last full-blooded Palawa from Tasmania. Truganini died in 1876. (Public domain picture, author unknown, copyright expired)

This piece was adapted from The Modern British Empire, Rhythm Prism’s first history book in its Reading for Fun and Comprehension series.

Most recently, the essay was included in Exploration and Conquest: Stories of Indigenous Peoples.  This book is designed for a mature audience.  It includes material on French, Italian, Belgian and Spanish colonialism.  The book tells its stories with the help of pictures. These reveal the experiences of real people who suffered the effects of European colonialism across the globe.

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In referring to the indigenous (indigenous means native to, or original) people of a territory, the word aboriginal is often used. The indigenous people of Australia and Tasmania, for example, are usually referred to as Aborigines. This term is convenient but not very accurate. Just as there were different ethnic groups in Europe, so were there different ethnic groups in Australia and Tasmania.

Europeans coming upon the different groups, or tribes, of the new territory did not notice distinctions, only similarities. Among the groups that existed in Australia and Tasmania at the time of conquest are included the following peoples. There were hundreds of groups; these are just a few of them:

*Pitjantjatjara
*Arrernte
*Luritja
*Walpiri
*Ngunnawal
*Awabakal
*Eora
*Kamilaroi
*Muthi Muthi
*Tharawal

It is estimated that before European colonization of Tasmania there were between 3,000 to 15,000 Palawa living there. Britain colonized Tasmania (then called Van Dieman’s Land) in 1803. The British used the island as a penal colony–a place to send prisoners. “Transportation”, as the exiling of prisoners was called, was common practice in England at the time.

Conflict between the British and local Tasmanians grew as settlement proceeded. In the 1820s, conflict became so widespread that it was called The Black War. The Black War has been described as one of the earliest recorded instances of genocide in modern times. Over the years, the Palawa people perished, partly as a result of violence and partly as a result of disease. The last full blooded indigenous Tasmanian,Truganini, died in 1876.

 

Batman's Treaty
Artist’s impression of Batman’s Treaty, signed in 1835. This is the only known time when Europeans directly negotiated their occupation of lands owned by indigenous peoples in Australia. In this case, the treaty was signed by John Batman and elders of the Wurundjeri people. The treaty was declared invalid two months later by the governor of New South Wales. (Public domain picture, copyright expired, author unknown)
by Categories: A. G. Moore, Education, History, Human Rights, Imperialism, Social JusticeTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Student Writing Tip: First Paragraphs

fishing

(This piece is excerpted from Rhythm Prism‘s language arts book:  The Artist Inside)

When writing nonfiction, start with a first paragraph that lets readers know what the piece is about. Not only should the first paragraph state your purpose, but the very first sentence should be dynamite. Get your readers’ attention right away so they want to stay with you.

Whether writing fiction or nonfiction, keep in mind that you are communicating. At every point in your piece readers must be persuaded to listen. Address readers in a way that makes them want to continue reading.

When writing fiction, you have more flexibility with your first paragraph than you do with nonfiction. In fiction, you are allowed to mystify the readers. However, you are never allowed to bore them. Mystify them if you will, but make them want to find out more about the mystery.

Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, your first paragraph is the bait with which you hook readers. Among writers, the first sentence is often referred to as ‘the hook’. Writing a powerful ‘hook’ is the best way to launch a great piece.

by Categories: Creative Writing, Education, Home Schooling, Learning, Students, Writing expressively, Writing TipsTags: , , , , Leave a comment

Democray and Education: A Natural Symbiosis

Some two hundred and fifty years ago Edmund Burke offered a view of government that became the basis for much of modern conservative thought.  Though Burke vigorously opposed tyranny, he was also skeptical of democracy.  He favored a kind of benign oligarchy, in which government is led by an innately superior group of individuals who sagely represent the interests of the nation.  The rest of the citizenry, “common” people, do not have, in Burke’s mind, the ability to govern or even to select their governors.  As he looked around at eighteenth century England, Burke no doubt saw validation of this civic vision.

In the England of Burke’s day, basic literacy skills eluded the vast number of people. Most of those who comprised the ruling class at the time thought this was a good thing. The British MP, Davies Giddy, for example advocated for continued illiteracy of the poor.  To educate this class of people, Giddy admonished Parliament, would teach them “to despise their lot in life”.  With access to books and troubling ideas the poor might no longer be “contented servants”.  They might even, heaven forbid, become “insolent to their superiors.”*

Of course, the English did eventually educate their poor.  And with the increase in education, the idea of shutting the lower classes out of the electoral process was abandoned.

A similar association between the development of democracy and the rise in educational achievement occurred in the United States.  Not only did electoral representation increase with a rise in national literacy, but economic opportunity likewise improved. That is, until very recently.  In the 1990’s the nation saw a curious reversal in what had previously been a steady increase in college graduation rates.  Not only was there an absolute drop in the percentage of young people graduating from college, but there was also a decline relative to other developed nations.

In 2008 The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education tied the declining college graduation rates to affordability.  The cost of college went up, and, because of a decline in wealth, the ability of people to pay for college went down.  So today, high school graduates are often faced with a severe choice: incur onerous debt or forgo college completely.

Given the nation’s relative decline in educational achievement, one might expect a kind of call to arms in the U.S, a marshaling of national will to regain educational ascendancy.  However, exactly the opposite has occurred.  Increasingly, one hears the Burkean notion that maybe not everyone is suited for college.  It is suggested that college be reserved for the select few who are endowed by nature with superior ability.

Where would this lead?  If a rise in education correlates with a rise in democratic participation, what would a decline in education signify?  On what path would the citizenry be led with this line of thinking?  Toward the oligarchic stratification of the eighteenth century?

There’s a saying that goes something like this:  junk in, junk out.  Apply that line of reasoning to any electorate.  If a nation fails to educate its young, then it fails to give its citizens the tools with which to govern themselves.  And this shortfall easily becomes the death knell of democracy.  The wily few, those with wit and ambition, with guile and style, will hoodwink the rest of us and we will be too dull to see through their artful speech and practiced legerdemain.
by Categories: Democracy, Education, HistoryTags: , , , Leave a comment