do you know what I can't believe? that I've only been here a week and a half.
I think most of my students like me. Weird. Not all of them, but most of them.
We had a good day today. One of the grade ten sections I find grumpy and difficult. I'm ashamed to admit that there are a couple kids who I hope will be among the anticipated drop-outs. There is a small group of students who play tourist in the school every fall. Sometimes, when they grow up, they go back to school and mean it, but not usually until they've been totally out for a couple years.
Anyway.
This weekend I might go out on a boat in the fjord - it would be beautiful to be out in the open a little bit. I'm not used to mountains, and while I find them beautiful, sometimes I have a hard time to take a deep breath. I feel walled-in. I miss the desperate loneliness of the flat tundra. There, when I breathed deep, sometimes I was afraid my lungs would just keep inflating and I would explode.
I had a really lovely conversation with my grade elevens this afternoon. We were just talking about the various math courses, and suddenly they wanted to know about school in the south - how much university costs, why they get to go for free, and what the real costs are to running a university. Schools in Canada are hugely subsidized by government. so even though the cost to students is still somewhat prohibitive, it is far less than the real cost. Anyway, it came out that one of my students wants to be a lawyer! Her English is very good, and she's very articulate and studious, maybe she can make it happen! Another of my really bright ones wants to be a mechanic. When I mentioned that engineers actually get to design things like engines, his eyes lit up. He is very strong in math. If he could get caught up to grade level, there's no reason he couldn't go to university!
I wish students here had better access to real career counselling. Universities don't recruit up here - that student had never even heard of the occupation "engineer"!! Until that happens, I will try to feed their dreams. You can't climb a mountain if you never know it's there!
5 comments:
PS I miss you.
Keep at it, Beckie. It sounds like you're doing a great job and those kids are lucky to have you there.
We miss you down here too.
There was a francophone guy in the store the other day, talking about how he's a scuba diver and etc, and I was thinking how much fun you would have had talking to him.
I ran into Lesley too
It sounds like things are going so well up there. I love your pictures, and I love hearing about your students. :)
Homecoming was yesterday, and today all of the food places downtown are full of Queen's students and their guests blearily seeking food. It sounds like it was a quieter event this year, but I'll have to wait to send you the news from the paper tomorrow.
Uh... KAte is coming over tonight and we're going to watch Strange Brew, which she has never seen. So, the Canadification program is ongoing.
-Anne
Also: if there's anything we can do to help with your students who are considering university, let us know. (Eg, if Spencer can help by letting you know what math they will need to know; if I can help with questions about humanities preparedness for the future lawyer; if we can find a Queen's engineering student to answer questions, etc)
Here's the best resource I found after a very quick bit of research: The Nunavut Sivuniksavut pre-university training program in Ottawa. Students come for 8 months after graduating high school, and learn various life skills to help them thrive in the south, as well as taking academic classes on Inuit history and other subjects. It sounds like it kicks ass.
This survey (link goes to a PDF file) from 2000 describes several programs designed to make the university experience available to First Nations people in Canada.
Here is a list of some scholarships available to First Nations people; probably every university has its own scholarships in addition to these.
-Anne
wow!!! I can't believe you! it's true though, I've been hearing about NS (we qallunaat can't pronounce the real word, or even spell it usually) since I arrived, and it does sound like an amazing program.
There are only 22 spaces each year though.
It's funny - a little analogy of arctic images: to get these kids to university looks so simple on paper, much like looking across the tundra. But when you get down on ground level, you realize how far here is from there, and what looks like uniform, flat ground is actually very hilly and hummocky and boggy and full of rivers and massive boulders. Simple but incredibly hard!
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