Running Head: MOTIVATION, AND THE CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE

Residential Schools and Self Determination Theory:

Motivation, and the Classroom Experience
Jarrett Graff
University of Lethbridge
MOTIVATION, AND THE CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE

Introduction

Although the last residential school closed in 1997, they present a historical blemish on

Canadian History. Within the school setting, students were abused, stripped of their autonomy,

and lost their sense of competence and relatedness within their culture. Self-determination theory

(SDT) can be described by the ways in which people are motivated, and its apparent connection

to the domain in which external controls are imposed. The three elements that makeup SDT are

autonomy, relatedness, and competence. This typically results in internalizing external controls

as students can become bored or uninterested in school topics, which relates to the ways in which

we view motivation as represented by a spectrum ranging from amotivation, Extrinsic, and lastly

to Intrinsic which is the purest form of autonomy and passion. In the case of residential schools,

students were systematically stripped of not only the critical elements attributed to SDT, but also

their profoundly rooted way of knowing, and culture. The three aspects of determination theory

are all present within the Residential school experience. However, these elements are affected by

intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and school culture. As a result, Residential school students

would develop a sense of social dislocation, with the overall effect being cultural genocide.

Intrinsic Motivation

The journey

First Nations, before they were systematically kidnapped, typically spoke their unique

language and had learned through stories, and taught values. Young indigenous members were

taught elements of hunting, how to live off the land, and celebrated their culture. As Bob Baxter

stated: "…It was free, we were free…", and evening when discussing discipline, he noted it was

more of a loving discipline (Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC], 2015, p.3). There was
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pride in their culture and had fun with day to day interactions through family and their

community. In due time students were routinely kidnapped and taken from their homes or

school; in most cases, the parents would not be notified. Many "describe the ways in which

cultural and spiritual practices and values had been transmitted from one generation to the next

before life in the schools interfered with that process" (TRC, 2015, p.3). For these students,

Residential schools meant a loss of autonomy, competence, and a sense of belongingness, which

represent our basic psychological needs (Niemiec, Ryan, 2009). The message being sent was that

their children would be in a better place (TRC, 2015), as parents would send their children away

with a false sense of confidence. They would ride the train of tears (TRC, 2015), and the further

they would go, the more their identity would be stripped, and their culture undermined, thus

destroying their sense of relatedness, and competence.

Issues with control

The way in which they were taken significantly impacted the students as the shock, and

in many cases, the parents had no choice as the only option then was jail. Their autonomy was

stripped, and some hoped that "in the future she will help our people; she needs to go there"

(TRC, 2015, p.16). This was significant as in this time, the First Nations were uneducated on

what the Indian Act was, and this included not understanding early on what would happen at the

schools. Some saw it as an opportunity to get an education, but in most instances, the children

were taken without consent and through intimidation. This would aid in the process of control as

they used systematic forms of abuse, intimidation, and lies to persuade children and their parents.

The Residential Schools aimed to enforce their control through the early stages of entering the

doors, this as Nellie Ningewance had been given a number like so many of the students (TRC,
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2015, p.32), students would be dehumanized, and the focus would soon shift to undermining

their identity.

Loss of competence

As students arrived, many were frightened, and Campbell Papequash noted: "I was taken

into this big building that would become the detention of my life and the fear of my life" (TRC,

2015, p.32). This identifies the part of the process where students were not to use their language,

and even clothing was thrown away as they entered the school. This trauma effectively altered

the way they were able to view the world as this was new; their sense of competence in what

they knew and understood was destroyed, and the way in which they expressed themselves

through hair was impacted. As Campbell explained further, she described the way their hair was

cut, and comments were made as they were "dirty, no-good-for-nothing savages, lousy" (TRC,

2015, p.32). Hair represented a significance to their life and spirit as by shaving their heads, their

autonomy, and relatedness were taken. The focus of residential schools early on was on

eliminating any form of culture the students had cherished.

They transitioned the young indigenous students from being motivated within their

culture to now being motivated by fear, intimidation, and internalization of external factors that

led to the assimilation and control of the student population. The impact of intrinsic motivation

within SDT can be identified in the ways in which they were taken from a situation where

students cherished and were able to enjoy their culture intrinsically. Then through the process of

Residential schools, they began to strip away their autonomy and undermine their relatedness to

their culture as the focus was on assimilating and focusing on external forms of motivation
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(physical harm, verbal abuse, and intimidation).

Extrinsic Motivation

Internalized identity

As students were shifted into external means of motivation, they began to internalize a

new sense of relatedness. This being comprised of their loss of identity, and their new education

focusing on their place within Canada itself. From this, they s racialized images showed which

was embedded within their educational curriculum and the ways in which the school empathized

the not so 'hidden curriculum' being taught. For example, students within their class schedule

were taught the 'Evils of Indian Isolation' (Burnett, Read, 2012), and this acted to alienate their

culture while also changing how their relatedness transitioned from pride to shame and guilt. The

school aimed to eliminate the old culture and bring in religion as a tool to shame students by

referring to the devil and sin. This has tremendous implications in regards to seeing one's self,

the complete removal of their autonomy, and the traumatic change to their form of relatedness.

Internalized was the fear, shame, and guilt which motivated students only to survive.

Use of control

The structure of the school was based on highly regimented classes, chores, and work

time. Orders were direct and with little warmth as the fear of punishment was typically involved.

Religion was used to indoctrinate students as they continued to strip away students' autonomy.

This way of conducting the school can be related to ties to prison and military control, which

emphasizes lack of autonomy, and this was emphasized greatest by the use of numbers and the

removal of hair early in their experience. This created a sense of learned helplessness, as the use
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of punishment and intimidation acted to undermine their attempts to take back their autonomy, as

they just strived to survive and make it through the day. Another form of control that was used

heavily was religion; religion acted as a reprimanding tool to instill guilt and shame onto their

identity as First Nations. Fred Brass explained the ways in which images were used within

religion, "there was a picture of stairs and at the bottom of those stairs was Indian people and

there was fire and above the stairs there was Jesus and the angles, and that's what we were told, if

we didn't change our ways that's how we were going to end up" (TRC, 2015, p.87). This

internalized the learned helplessness and made it, so students were not able to challenge the

system and to view their culture as being inherently negative. As they related their culture, it

acted in comparison to the idealized white image as First Nations was made to be seen as

demonized and full of sin. Students, through this system of control, were routinely punished and

were seen as needing to be controlled.

Through this process of control, students were made to undermine their own culture.

They were traumatically made to shame their ideas, and this strongly impacted their sense of

competence as they learned through the class curriculum that they were not valued the same. The

shift became from intrinsic to extrinsic, and internalized was the use of fear and intimidation,

which resulted in the ultimate shift within extrinsic motivation itself. Niemiec and Ryan (2009)

explained this as shifting from integrated regulation (former culture) to external regulation (New

learned relatedness of shame/guilt) which means that they moved from their behaviour is seen as

highly autonomous and benefiting yourself to the behaviour being based on rewards and

punishments and autonomy being obsolete. Residential schools, although ironically called a

school, focused not on learning but acted in a way to internalize negative forms of extrinsic
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motivation by being treated like slaves (TRC, 2015). Students typically cleaned all day and were

forced to keep themselves busy with manual labor and persistent chores, which reflect

dehumanizing monotony. This resulted in a broken, demoralized sense of culture where shame,

guilt, and fear were instilled, leading to low psychological status and a sense of learned

helplessness.

Classroom Experience/School Culture

Motivation and distressed learning

As David Charleson explained, he "never wanted to learn, so I jumped into my shell, I

took kindergarten twice because of what happened to me, I didn't want to learn" (TRC, 2015,

p.121). They made him believe, as he states further, that he was dumb, stupid, and continuously

made examples of him to shame him. The culture within the school reflected student's struggles

to learn, and with the lack of motivation, students were unable to do anything besides surviving

in most instances. There were punishments for not following orders or expectations, and some

struggle to learn these mandated expectations as they routinely started school without knowing

English. This only gave more reason to punish the students as for Noel Knockwood, "she was

shouting at me and I, I couldn't cause I was afraid and she had that pointer, she came closer, then

Se took that pointer and I raised my hands and she broke the pointer over my arms (TRC, 2015,

p.121). This details the abuse at the hands of the teachers and the environment by which they had

to navigate. Without choice or autonomy, students struggled as their relatedness was stripped,

and ultimately their competence was never able to develop as the learning was never the real

focus — this trapping them in a perpetual cycle of abuse and guilt, which was only motivated by

fear.
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Lack of Learning/Misguided Learning

In many cases, students were not allotted adequately trained teachers as usually the

schools comprised of nuns that taught. The focus was on religion and assimilating, which

resulted in students being able to pray, but not be able to read or write. There were no

qualifications, and the focus was on to Christianize and civilize (Burnett, Read, 2012, p.222). It

was apparent that there were three different curricula taught; these can be identified as the

implicit, explicit, and null curriculum. The Implicit was comprised of the transmission of

attitudes and beliefs, the use of discipline, and surveillance to instill normalized behaviours. The

explicit was composed of the official curriculum, which tended to be flawed, and lastly, the null,

which was everything that schools do not teach (Burnett, Read, 2012, p.226). This is made to

emphasize the not so 'hidden curriculum' being taught and the belief that there was no

expectation that any First Nations student would succeed (TRC, 2015, p.123). The ramifications

from this system and the school culture took away the autonomy completely. They represented a

relatedness that could be identified as social dislocation and is summed up into the statement that

"your people are never going to get education to be a professional worker, and it doesn't matter…

your going to be working jobs that the white man don't want to do, that they figure it's too lowly

for them" (TRC, 2015, p.123). This statement encapsulates how the system was made to enforce

dehumanizing monotony of daily jobs and enforce students to remain incompetent by relegating

the to menial work, which then became internalized.

'Evils of Indian Isolation'

As seen within the curriculum, students within the ethics class would learn about 'Indian

and white life, patriotism, and Evils of Indian isolation' (Burnett, Read, 2012, p.237). This was
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inherently racist and was used to 'educate' First Nations students to hate their heritage and

family. This created a sense of social dislocation as First Nations were unable to feel comfortable

within their own culture but yet struggled to identify with the Christian belief as-well. Although

there were some instances where teachers were pleasant and helpful, this does not give merit to

the system by which children were kidnapped, and their lives changed. The point of these

successful situations is to illustrate the 'what could have been', not in regards to residential

schools but the ways in which if we offered a proper system where education was valued, and

adequate teaching reflected it could have allowed First Nations the promise of schooling without

eradicating their culture and ways of knowing. If motivation was focused on intrinsic and how

we can get students to succeed with their own volition, then allow for extrinsic to use warmth

and support, but this was never the focus. This system and school culture led to loneliness,

amotivation, a sense of social dislocation, and alienation from their own culture, community, and

family. The educational experience of the residential schools was solely regarded in "kill the

Indian" in the child for the sake of "Christian civilization" (Burnett, Read, 2012, p.220).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the students were severely impacted by abuse, being stripped of their

autonomy and lose of competence and relatedness. Self-determination theory was critically tied

to students' extrinsic, intrinsic, and classroom experience. As students were ultimately stripped of

any form of autonomy that they previously had, and in regards to competence and relatedness,

they lost their way of knowing by being shamed and guilted through the use of fear and

intimidation, which was evident by the use of imagery within religion. Through Residential

schools, there existed a process by which students would internalize these harsh external
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motivators and were not being given any form of psychological needs. This created a lack of

learning within the school besides the assimilating measures taken to 'kill the Indian in the child'

(Burnett, Read, 2012, p.220). As students assimilated to reflect their new form of relatedness,

they lost their sense of community, and this then created social dislocation as their identity didn't

reflect their indigenous roots or their new formed religious indoctrination. In the end, it resulted

in cultural genocide, and ultimately resulted in a complete failure of the education system.
MOTIVATION, AND THE CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE

References

Burnett, K., & Read, G. (2012). Aboriginal History: A Reader. Don Mills, Ont: Oxford

University Press.

Niemiec, C.P. & Ryan, R.M. (2009). Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom:

Applying self-determination theory to educational practice. Theory and Research in

Education, 7. 133-144.

The Truth and Reconciliation of Canada. (2015). The Survivors Speak. Ottawa.