At the treaty of Lancaster in Pennsylvania, in 1744, between the government of Virginia and the Six Nations, the commissioners from Virginia acquainted the Indians (Native Americans) by a speech, that there was at Williamsburg a College with a fund for educating Indian youth; and if the Chiefs of the Six Nations would send down half-a-dozen of their sons to that College, the government would take care that they be well provided for, and instructed in all the learning of the White People.

The Indians’ spokesman replied:“We know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in those Colleges, and that the maintenance of our young men, while with you, would be very expensive to you. We are convinced, therefore, that you mean to do us good by your proposal and we thank you heartily.

“But you, who are wise, must know that different nations have different conceptions of things; and you will not therefore take it amiss, if our ideas of this kind of education happen not to be the same as yours. We have had some experience of it; several of our young people were formerly brought up at the colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they came back to us, they were bad runners, ignorant of every means of living in the woods, unable to bear either cold or hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a deer, nor kill an enemy, spoke our language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for hunters, warriors nor counselors; they were totally good for nothing.

“We are however not the less obligated by your kind offer, though we decline to accept it, and to show our grateful sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them.”

Benjamin Franklin

TaK – Education

1. Where does education happen?

2. What do we mean by education?

3. What kind of knowledge did you get in school?

4. What sources of knowledge did you have access to?

5. Since you came to this College have you learnt something that has surprised you? Something that is different from what you learned back home?

TaK – Education

What is Education?

Education:from ‘educere’ – ‘to bring forth, to draw out’

Education changes the meanings we give to our experiences

TaK – Education

1. What subjects were you taught back home and why do you think these ones were judged to be the important ones for you to know?

2. What kind of knowledge do you think you should get in school?

3. How would you describe a ‘good student’ in the context of your own school system?

4. How would you describe a ‘good teacher’?

TaK – Education

• Why do we learn?

• What questions should you ask when presented by material in school?

TaK – Education