The other day our professor asked in class: what are some push and pull factors for youth leaving school?

Some of my peers answered: Drugs, family.

Our professor replied: Those are pull factors.

I raised my hand and said: Knowing this as a First Nations student, some teachers have a certain view about First Nations’ issues and the way they present those issues may affect other First Nations students.

What I really wanted to say: A teacher at my high school told her class that Residential Schools were created to educate First Nation children, when in fact they were really created to assimilate First Nations into “mainstream” culture. That type of miseducation can marginalize what really happened and what continues to affect certain communities and families who had members enter the Residential school system. In turn, affecting the way First Nations students view the material being taught in school: just a bunch of nonsense.