1967, the Year of 'Before and After' in the History of Aboriginal Education in Australia

Running head: 1967, THE YEAR OF "BEFORE AND AFTER" IN THE HISTORY OF ABORIGINAL
EDUCATION
NAME
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Running head: 1967, THE YEAR OF "BEFORE AND AFTER" IN THE HISTORY OF ABORIGINAL
EDUCATION
1967, the year of “before and after” in the history of aboriginal education in Australia
Introduction
The history of colonization across the world is full of ambiguity. The forces that acted as the
ruler forcing colonization always said they introduced their slaves to the civilized ways of
life. The slaves, when they woke up from the slumber of slavery always said that their native
culture was better, it was not a reform, and it was a distortion of the culture that their
emperors forced on them (Peggy Brock, 2017).
The story of the indigenous people living in Australia is no different. They are also known as
aboriginal people as well. Many studies conducted in the year 2007 gives an idea that during
the 16th century, aboriginal people were carrying forward a rich tradition of learning and
education (Nicole, 2011). They were not aware of the writing techniques; however, they were
having a sense of history. They were transmitting it with the help of oral education where a
person has to learn it by heart and then pass it on to the next generation. It was the wisdom
that they were passing on from one generation to the other (Hogarth, 2015).
Many scholars may raise this question that the education system of the aboriginal people was
lacking scientific temperament (Nina Burridge, 2012). It was not progressive; it was not
connecting them to the modern way of thinking. However, now when we are already living in
the postmodern era, now when the mainstream of the human race has already touched the
pinnacle of the education systems, we are actually returning towards innocence and
unlearning many things that we learned under the pretext that we were modern.
Luckily we are living in a society that gives us the permission to think and question. Luckily
we are not a part of a totalitarian society. We can question the deeds of our ancestors and
improve a few things to correct the mistakes of the past. In the case of aboriginal people, we
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Running head: 1967, THE YEAR OF "BEFORE AND AFTER" IN THE HISTORY OF ABORIGINAL
EDUCATION
can see it very clearly that they were living in a different kind of eco-system, their education
and teachings were giving sustainability to their eco-systems (Muller, 2014). Indeed there
were some shortcomings, however, every system has its own share of shortcomings, we
should remove them and this is how a progressive society works. During the 17th and 18th
century, different sovereigns and ruler tried to change the systems and thought processes of
aboriginal people (Broome, 2010). They were putting up an act by saying that they are
progressive in their approach. However, they were introducing aboriginal people towards
some radical changes in their way of thinking, living, and culture (Nation, 2011).
Anyone following a different set of thoughts or ideas may be different from us; however, it
never means that he or she is wrong. Aboriginal people felt this unfortunate pang of being
wrong because they were different (Jon Altman, 2010). The world of education has its own
share of seasons. During the 17th century, 18th century and 19th century it was the era of STEM
education. Rest of the subjects were just following the footprints of these four streams.
Science was conquering the world and promoting the culture of rationalism. Any stream
which was not close to this STEM rationalism was gradually becoming out-dated and
redundant. The colonization of aboriginal people in Australia was following this school of
thought. Some scholars can consider it as a progressive approach because aboriginal people
were getting an exposure to the mainstream society of the world. However, the intentions
behind this change over were contrived (Sullivan, 2011). The rulers were discarding the
principles like free will thinking and scientific temper; instead, they were taming a population
for their commercial interests. A new sky of the education was opening in the life of the
aboriginal people, however; the horizons of true wisdom and free will thinking were out of
sight for them (James L. Cox, 2016).
This colonial hangover of this contrived education system lasted even after the freedom of the
aboriginal people. They were scattered by every means. They were not connected with their
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