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A review by syan22
Talking to My Country by Stan Grant
5.0
A lot of thoughts. TLDR - I am hoping no one reads this - incredibly powerful book that should be a compulsory text in Australian schools.
I've always been a fan of Stan Grant. I've watched a few of his programs on tv here and there and needless to say I enjoy them. I like his calm, direct manner of journalism. His moving around the globe covering stories in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, mirrors his childhood of moving around as his father follows work. His experiences are beyond incredible and he has that astonishing humanity to him. He found a somewhat connection between the people in China and the Middle East, and their suffering.
His parents being reminded that in 2015, their presence in a cafe in a country town, still ignored and humiliated. I felt sickened, angered, and just plain sadness.
I remember when the news of Adam Goodes getting booed by a 13 year old girl broke. I was 16 in 2013. I wonder what has become of that girl. She would be 21 in 2021. I wonder about what kind of adult she has become. Deep down I am doubtful if there's much change, but maybe her experience scarred her. It certainly scarred Adam.
When you're 13 and you have the guts to yell out a racist slur to an adult, you're obviously surrounded by that racist ideology at home. And we all know how powerful and influential the dinner table is, the couch in front of the telly. It's a tough cycle to break out of.
Maybe I'm too cynical that it's difficult for people to change for the better. Especially racists. Racism is a deadly poison that seeps right into the bone. It's hard to get out.
As a teacher, it naturally made me shake my head when Grant was in high school - the headmaster asked them to leave school. He didn't see their potential and was a nasty, sad little racist man.
What is critical is that the classroom/school is an environment that reflects the social dynamics outside of school: teachers can either reinforce social inequities in their classroom, or challenge them and create positive and productive relationships with students, built upon genuine care and high expectations (Perso, 2015). And the headmaster did just that - reinforce social inequities and institutional racism.
Of course, it is not unexpected for racist teachers to exist. I had one in primary school, and a few were so passively aggressive and racist during my time in high school. Mind you, I'm Asian. The Asian Australian experience is nowhere comparable to that of Indigenous students.
Teacher racism, whether covert or overt, results in low self-esteem, low levels of motivation, and is negatively associated with educational outcomes such as attendance, standardised test results.
Rudolph (2011), in her thesis, makes an interesting point that documents that report upon “gaps” in Aboriginal achievement do not address the impact of racism upon students as a factor contributing to these “gaps”, but rather lists other factors such as socioeconomic background. Therefore it is absolutely critical for a teacher to address racism, and consider strategies that are culturally responsive and relevant to Indigenous children to eliminate racism in classrooms, and any association between racism and educational outcomes.
This is especially troubling.
There is also the problem of programs tokenising Indigenous people and their experiences. We often see this with Visual Arts and Dance. We can do better!
And shockingly - there was only one compulsory unit of Indigenous education in my 4 year bachelor's degree.
Year 1 - 2 semesters x 4 units of study = 8
Year 2 - 2 semesters x 4 units of study = 8 <- 1 compulsory unit in Semester 1
Year 3 - 2 semesters x 5 units of study = 10
Year 4 - 1 semester x 6 units of study + 1 semester x 5 units of study = 11
So in total, we've had 1/37 units of study that specifically focused on Indigenous education. Then, there were electives to choose from in our final year, but we could only choose 2 electives for the entire final year.
Incredibly shameful. Absolutely disgraceful and is a reflection upon that institution.
------------------------------------------------------------
Suggested frameworks for teachers, especially K-6:
High-Expectations Relationships framework (Stronger Smarter Institute, 2014)
The Respect Ears Attitude Personalise [REAP] framework (Byrne & Munns, 2012)
The eight-way framework of Aboriginal pedagogy (Yunkaporta, n.d.).
Further reading:
Byrne, M., & Munns, G. (2012). From the big picture to the individual student: the importance of the classroom relationship. In Beresford, Q., Partington, G., & Gower, G (Eds.), Reform and resistance in Aboriginal education: the Australian experience (pp. 304-334). Crawley, Western Australia: UWA Publishing.
Perso, T., & Haywood, C. (2015). Cultural competence and cultural responsiveness in schools. In Teaching Indigenous Students. Cultural awareness and classroom strategies for improving learning outcomes.
Stronger Smarter Institute Limited. (2014). High-Expectations Relationships: a foundation for quality learning environments in all Australian schools.
http://strongersmarter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/SSI-HER-Position-Paper-Final-lowres.pdf
Yunkaporta, T n.d. Draft Report for DET on Indigenous Research Project conducted by Tyson Yunkaporta, Aboriginal Education Consultant, in Western NSW Region Schools, 2007-2009: Aboriginal Pedagogies at the Cultural Interface, 20 September 2012,
I've always been a fan of Stan Grant. I've watched a few of his programs on tv here and there and needless to say I enjoy them. I like his calm, direct manner of journalism. His moving around the globe covering stories in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, mirrors his childhood of moving around as his father follows work. His experiences are beyond incredible and he has that astonishing humanity to him. He found a somewhat connection between the people in China and the Middle East, and their suffering.
His parents being reminded that in 2015, their presence in a cafe in a country town, still ignored and humiliated. I felt sickened, angered, and just plain sadness.
I remember when the news of Adam Goodes getting booed by a 13 year old girl broke. I was 16 in 2013. I wonder what has become of that girl. She would be 21 in 2021. I wonder about what kind of adult she has become. Deep down I am doubtful if there's much change, but maybe her experience scarred her. It certainly scarred Adam.
When you're 13 and you have the guts to yell out a racist slur to an adult, you're obviously surrounded by that racist ideology at home. And we all know how powerful and influential the dinner table is, the couch in front of the telly. It's a tough cycle to break out of.
Maybe I'm too cynical that it's difficult for people to change for the better. Especially racists. Racism is a deadly poison that seeps right into the bone. It's hard to get out.
As a teacher, it naturally made me shake my head when Grant was in high school - the headmaster asked them to leave school. He didn't see their potential and was a nasty, sad little racist man.
What is critical is that the classroom/school is an environment that reflects the social dynamics outside of school: teachers can either reinforce social inequities in their classroom, or challenge them and create positive and productive relationships with students, built upon genuine care and high expectations (Perso, 2015). And the headmaster did just that - reinforce social inequities and institutional racism.
Of course, it is not unexpected for racist teachers to exist. I had one in primary school, and a few were so passively aggressive and racist during my time in high school. Mind you, I'm Asian. The Asian Australian experience is nowhere comparable to that of Indigenous students.
Teacher racism, whether covert or overt, results in low self-esteem, low levels of motivation, and is negatively associated with educational outcomes such as attendance, standardised test results.
Rudolph (2011), in her thesis, makes an interesting point that documents that report upon “gaps” in Aboriginal achievement do not address the impact of racism upon students as a factor contributing to these “gaps”, but rather lists other factors such as socioeconomic background. Therefore it is absolutely critical for a teacher to address racism, and consider strategies that are culturally responsive and relevant to Indigenous children to eliminate racism in classrooms, and any association between racism and educational outcomes.
This is especially troubling.
There is also the problem of programs tokenising Indigenous people and their experiences. We often see this with Visual Arts and Dance. We can do better!
And shockingly - there was only one compulsory unit of Indigenous education in my 4 year bachelor's degree.
Year 1 - 2 semesters x 4 units of study = 8
Year 2 - 2 semesters x 4 units of study = 8 <- 1 compulsory unit in Semester 1
Year 3 - 2 semesters x 5 units of study = 10
Year 4 - 1 semester x 6 units of study + 1 semester x 5 units of study = 11
So in total, we've had 1/37 units of study that specifically focused on Indigenous education. Then, there were electives to choose from in our final year, but we could only choose 2 electives for the entire final year.
Incredibly shameful. Absolutely disgraceful and is a reflection upon that institution.
------------------------------------------------------------
Suggested frameworks for teachers, especially K-6:
High-Expectations Relationships framework (Stronger Smarter Institute, 2014)
The Respect Ears Attitude Personalise [REAP] framework (Byrne & Munns, 2012)
The eight-way framework of Aboriginal pedagogy (Yunkaporta, n.d.).
Further reading:
Byrne, M., & Munns, G. (2012). From the big picture to the individual student: the importance of the classroom relationship. In Beresford, Q., Partington, G., & Gower, G (Eds.), Reform and resistance in Aboriginal education: the Australian experience (pp. 304-334). Crawley, Western Australia: UWA Publishing.
Perso, T., & Haywood, C. (2015). Cultural competence and cultural responsiveness in schools. In Teaching Indigenous Students. Cultural awareness and classroom strategies for improving learning outcomes.
Stronger Smarter Institute Limited. (2014). High-Expectations Relationships: a foundation for quality learning environments in all Australian schools.
http://strongersmarter.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/SSI-HER-Position-Paper-Final-lowres.pdf
Yunkaporta, T n.d. Draft Report for DET on Indigenous Research Project conducted by Tyson Yunkaporta, Aboriginal Education Consultant, in Western NSW Region Schools, 2007-2009: Aboriginal Pedagogies at the Cultural Interface, 20 September 2012,