Book Review: Philosophy for Children in Native America: A Post-Colonial Critique

Abstract

Introduction:  As a young child, I was required by law to attend the same residential boarding school that my parents and brothers attended before me. When we moved to Regina, my brothers and sister and I were enrolled in another «Indian» boarding school in the Qu’Appelle valley. From the beginning we were criticized and humiliated by our white «educators.» Forbidden to speak above a whisper or to laugh out loud, we were shamed into silence for much of our lives. No one wanted to be an «Indian» when we re-enacted scenes from the western movies we were regularly subjected to, and we lived in fear of divine punishment for the many sins which we committed, in thought, word, and deed, against our teachers and their god. I often felt overwhelmed by the number of potential sins which I might unintentionally commit. My initially limited vocabulary also prevented me from understanding what certain words or sins meant, and I lived in mortal fear o f being punished for some unknown transgression on my part. As a result, I was particularly diligent in reporting any sins which I might have committed to the priest. He would admonish me and administer a penance. Even when I had done nothing wrong, it was expected that I had, and so I regularly confessed to things which I had not done. Usually I would confess to having evil thoughts like wanting to have more than one dessert. But eventually I became more creative, developing a system of sins and corresponding punishments which would eliminate any need for priestly intervention. The first week my friend, Larry, and I respectively confessed to lying and swearing and earned a rosary each in penance. The next week Larry confessed to «blasphemy, «and I to «impure thoughts, «but neither of us could explain what these things were. Caught almost immediately, Larry and I had to attend evening and morning mass for four weeks when we told the priest why we were confessing to sins which we had not committed.
- Paul Rainville, Cree Nation