English Education and the Dehumanization of the 'Native' Imagine a world where a group of people, the "Native," were treated as less than human, their cultur...
Imagine a world where a group of people, the "Native," were treated as less than human, their culture deemed barbaric, and their language deemed inferior. That's the reality of English education throughout history, a system designed to assimilate and extinguish the distinct identity of the "Other."
The colonizers, motivated by greed and a desire to control resources and labor, forced the "Native" to adopt the language of the colonizer. This act, known as linguistic domination, was an act of oppression, chipping away at the "Native's" cultural identity and forcing them to conform to the colonizer's values and beliefs.
This process of dehumanization wasn't just about replacing one language with another; it was about extinguishing the "Native's" unique cultural expression, their stories, and their history. This systematic erasure of the "Native's" culture created a homogenous society where individual differences were disregarded in favor of a singular, colonizer-driven identity.
Through this process, English education played a significant role in perpetuating this dehumanization. By prioritizing English language instruction over Native languages, the education system effectively silenced the "Native's" voices and cultures. This silencing created a system where the "Native" was viewed less as an individual and more as a mere linguistic cog, contributing nothing to the collective human experience.
The consequences of this historical neglect were devastating. The suppression of the "Native's" languages and cultures led to the gradual disappearance of these languages, threatening the loss of a rich heritage, and ultimately, the loss of identity. This legacy of silencing continues to impact the lives of many "Native" communities today, as the suppression of their languages and cultures hinders their ability to connect with their past and express themselves authentically