This week in class we continued with our Culture Presentations. Over the past few weeks we have been learning about different Cultures and what we need to know as future Child and Youth Workers working with individuals and families of different cultures. As CYW we need to be aware of different cultural lifestyles to work effectively with clients and their families whose cultural background differs from our own in a respectful manner. This week we had three presentations, First Nations, Muslim Canadians and Amish Canadians which my group presented on.
Within the last year or so, my learning regarding the First Nations Culture has increased and grown dramatically. A major part of my learning on First Nations is based on content covered in class, having Andy Leggett be a guest speaker, listening to my classmates experience at Quinte Mohawk School and working with a client who is First Nations. I was eager to gain more learning from my fellow classmates who did their presentation on First Nations people. Something I found very powerful about their presentation was about the racism and stigma that Aboriginal people encounter. The group talked about what were acceptable and unacceptable names to use when addressing First Nation people. Personally, I found this interesting because growing up I was never sure of the proper way to address an individual that was Aboriginal or what to call them. This was also interesting because some of the names the group talked about that would be consider being racist towards a First Nations individual such as “savage” I have experienced Native friends in the past refer to themselves as “savage.” I was very shocked when I had that many Aboriginal individuals find that offensive. I find it interesting that it is consider racism when a non-aboriginal person to reference an Aboriginal person as a “savage” but it is acceptable for an Aboriginal person to use that term when referring to themselves. As a future CYW potentially working with Aboriginal individuals and their families we need to be aware that they may refer to themselves in terms that we have learned are not acceptable for us to use. This is something that we will have to fully understand because it may be acceptable for them to refer to themselves in those terms but as a CYW if we do, it is seen as having a stigma towards First Nations people and being racist.
Overall, the presentation on First Nation Culture contributed to my learning. I feel this was beneficial to my learning because the information I learned I will be able to apply to future work opportunities. Now that I have a better knowledge and understanding of the Native Culture I believe that I will be better able to work with clients with an Aboriginal background and respect their culture.
Also, this week my group got to present on Amish Canadians. When we picked our topics at the beginning of the semester I couldn’t picture what an Amish person was or what they looked like. I remember asking my group members “are they the people that ride bikes and dress weird in movies?” my group respond with “you don’t know who Amish people are!” After that I was eager to learn about Amish Canadians. The first thing I did was go to the school library and take out every Amish book they had to read and find information on for the presentation. Throughout the weeks, I learned a lot of interesting facts about the Amish Culture and determine the information I needed as a future Child and Youth Worker.
Throughout my research, I was really surprised about how Work and Education are perceived in the Amish Community. Many Amish families make their living off of farming and farming related activities. They teach their children from early on that work is good and that it is enjoyable. At a young age the children are given small task to develop a sense of responsibility and as they grow the tasks get bigger. Among the Amish Community it is believed that too much education cases children to become “too worthy.” The children only attend school up until grade eight and a large majority of Amish teachers only have their grade eight education. Amish parents have the right to say how much and what kind of education that their children will receive. The children attended an Amish School that is within the Amish Community and it is generally a one classroom school with JK to Grade 8. I was really shocked and amazed by the information I learned about surrounding how Amish individuals perceive Work and Education among their community.
