Running head: I THE LEARN’D EDUCATOR 1

I the Learn’d Educator

Sylvia Rutherford

University of Calgary
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When I heard the learn'd astronomer,

When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns

before me,

When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add,

divide, and measure them,

When I sitting heard the astronomer where he

lectured with much applause in the lecture room,

How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,

Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,

In the mystical moist night air, and from time to time,

Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

— Walt Whitman
(as cited in Ermine, 1995, p. 101)
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This poem has always resonated with me and immediately intrigued me when I began

reading Willie Ermine’s Aboriginal Epistemology (1995). The poem reminds me of my own

childhood growing up on a farm in northern Alberta. I used to spend my days hiking on our

property with my uncle. As we walked through the forest, he taught me things about the forest,

animals, navigating in the woods and many other things. The image of the hiking trail and

waterfall at Big Hill Springs Provincial Park is meant to reflect this. To this day I still feel a

sense of peace and calm spending time outdoors in places like Big Hill Springs. I also still

remember many of the things my uncle taught me even though that was many years ago.

Whitman’s poem situated in this context made me feel like I could relate to the

Indigenous ways of teaching that we have discussed in class and that there are many things we

could learn and implement in our future classrooms that may have a positive impact on all of our

students. The idea of being taught by your elders through story (Little Bear, 2000, p. 81) seems

so intuitive and natural to me as an ELA specialist. Children have been learning form stories

across the globe for centuries and this could easily be continued in the classroom. I’d also like to

implement more oral storytelling into my future classroom as I believe that is an art we are

slowly losing in today’s society and one that should be more valued.

Another related way of learning that is traditional for Indigenous people is experiential

learning, according to Leroy Little Bear (2000) “one relative usually takes a young child under

his or her wing, assuming responsibility for teaching the child all she or he knows about the

culture and survival” (p. 81). Although we are not passing our own culture onto our students or

teaching them how to survive off the land, experiential learning could be used practically in the

classroom in other ways. By demonstrating a skill to students and slowly increasing their

responsibility in carrying out the task on their own we are engaging students in experiential
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learning and scaffolding the process for them. This is how I feel I have learned best in my own

schooling and lived experience and is exemplified by the things I learned from my uncle so many

years ago that I still remember.

Lastly, the Indigenous relationship with the land, nature, and creation are aspects that I

believe are also important and undervalued in western culture. The land and nature are so highly

valued and respected by Indigenous cultures, being wasteful and harmful to the earth as Western

culture is would be unheard of, and could help many of the environmental issues we face

globally today. Nature is also a way to connect to the inner self. Ermine (1995) states that

“[t]hose who seek to understand the reality of existence and harmony with the environment by

turning inward have a different, incorporeal knowledge paradigm” (p. 103). As everything is

interconnected in Indigenous culture, it is possible to see these relationships differently by

looking at the bigger picture.

As Walt Whitman captured so perfectly western culture has become so focused on

breaking things down into individual pieces, searching for the individual meanings and science

behind every little thing and forgotten to focus on the bigger picture. Bohm (1980) refers to this

as a “fragmentary self-world view” (as cited in Ermine, 1995, p. 103). Ermine (1995) claims that

this has caused “wretchedness and world despair” (p. 103). One of the many ways we can see

this is by an increase in mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression throughout the

general population and especially in children. Classroom environments can be stressful and

difficult for children which is represented by the photo above of a lecture hall here at the

University of Calgary. According to many recent psychological studies spending time in natural

environments can be beneficial to individual wellness and has the potential for reducing stress

and anxiety (Brymer, Cuddihy & Sharma-Brymer, 2012, p. 24). I believe that a very small part in
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helping reduce these anxieties in my future students would be to bring in a reflection of the

Indigenous connection to the land, and to try and spend more class time outdoors in relation to

the land.

There are many aspects of modern Canadian culture that could be improved upon

specifically in regards to education. Taking a look at the traditional ways of Indigenous cultures

has resonated with me and reminded me of ways that I felt most connected and engaged in my

own learning. These are the ways that I feel we could learn from Indigenous culture and improve

upon our educational system and I hope to find authentic ways to implement them in my future

practise.
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References

Brymer, E., Cuddihy, T., & Sharma-Brymer, V. (2012). The role of nature-based experiences in

the development and maintenance of wellness. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and

Physical Education, 1(2), 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/18377122.2010.9730328

Ermine, Willie. (1995). “Aboriginal epistemology” in J. Barman, J.& M. Battiste, (Eds.), First

Nations Education in Canada: The circle unfolds. Vancouver: UBC Press. [eBook: Full

text online] http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalga

ry.ca/lib/ucalgaryebooks/reader.action?ppg=122&docID=3412224&tm =1503510739016

Little Bear, L. (2000). Jagged worldviews colliding. In Battiste, M. (Ed.), Reclaiming Indigenous

voice and vision, (pp. 77-85). Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.

http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalga

ry.ca/lib/ucalgaryebooks/reader.action?ppg=108&docID=3245709&tm =1503510834180