Essay --

The Canadian and American governments designed a residential school system to assimilate Indigenous children into Western society by stripping them of their language, cultural practices as well as their traditions. By breaking these children’s ties to their families and communities, as well as forcing them to assimilate into Western society; residential schools were a root cause of many social problems, which even persist within Aboriginal communities today. The best theoretical perspective to explain the issue of residential schools is best described by conflict theory. In this particular case Western society involving such institutions as the government and the church are the â€Å"ruling class† and the indigenous of Canada and the United States of America are the subject class. The ruling class of Canada and the United States exploited and oppressed the indigenous to assimilate them into western society. â€Å"Children were taught to see themselves in terms of the dominant society† (McClinchey, Residential schools info) and in doing so were stripped of their cultural identity. A common name that comes up when discussing the residential school system, or under American terms, the boarding school system is Captain Richard Henry Pratt. It was his belief that the indigenous were a savage group but did not start out this way at birth; he believed that â€Å"Left in the surroundings of savagery, he [Aboriginal children] gr ows to possess a savage language, superstition, and life. We left in the surroundings of civilization; grow to possess a civilized language, life, and purpose† (http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4929/). Therefore Pratt wanted to use his ruling power to reverse the â€Å"damage† that the aboriginal culture had instilled in its children... ...ality is another concept that relates to the residential school system. As Stated earlier, the Canadian and American governments were the ruling class and the aboriginals were the subject class. Here we are left dealing with the differences in power. The aboriginals were seen as savage and uncivilized and had to be destroyed to create the image that Canada wanted to portray for itself. This inequality still exists today, and when discussing this we must not forget the â€Å"long-standing history of colonial domination and cultural oppression that aboriginal people have faced† (Tepperman et al.2004:188). Overall there were many social implications associated with residential schools including issues with identity, socialization, and inequality, sadly these effects are still seen in today’s society. Residential schools have created a never fading scar on Canada’s history.