Summary: The Outside Circle

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Recommended: Lasting impact of residential schools

In the eighteen seventies, residential schools grew to popularity in Canada with an unethical goal and purpose to “kill the Indian in the child”. Stripping away cultural teachings and altering historic facts eliminated self- identity within the Aboriginal community, leading to impoverishment and race discrimination with future generations. Therefore, re-gaining the cultural knowledge and informing the public about the culture can establish self- concept and security. In the graphic novel, The Outside Circle by Patti LaBoucane-Benson (2015), teachings from the Warrior Program leads the group members and their families to discover self-concept, reducing problems experienced as an Aboriginal. Emphasis on historical and cultural Aboriginal studies …show more content…

For example, in The Outside Circle (2015), Joey Carver is the youngest member of his family and unaware of his culture’s history. His mother does not educate him about her personal historical related experiences and his brother’s bonding consists of video games and gang related topics. Joey shows signs of depression and low self-esteem, through his appearance and attitude. Low self-esteem is a result of poor self-identity and self-concept. Altering current Canadian education that portrays greater emphasis on honest Aboriginal history and admitting to the mistakes made aids with positive mental health. Knowledge of one’s own ethic history determines self-identity which can boost self-esteem and essentially gain confidence allowing an approach to life in a positive manner. Exposing honest history can also rebuild trust between Europeans and Aboriginals, decreasing negative mental thoughts about one another. Exposing historical facts can also interest the public in Aboriginal related issues. Increasing exposure builds public interest in forming resources and programs to help issues. For example, the public will build more physiological research specific to Aboriginal culture making suitable for client-centered …show more content…

Parental influences from each generation leads to chain reactions affecting the behaviour of future children. The instructor of the Warrior Program states that “they (the children separated from their families by residential schools) didn’t learn to be parents and instead just passed on their hurt to their children” (LaBoucane-Benson, 2015, p. 49). As told from Uncle Ray Carver, Bernice Carver was taken by the government as a child to stay of in a residential school. She did not remember her family, as seen in Peter’s small and incomplete family map. Charoenwongsak et al. (2017) conducted a lab observing the relation between parenting styles and drug abuse in Thai adolescents. This study concluded that neglectful parents (or the absence of parents) put Thai adolescents in a risk for substance use. The lack of attention and warmth from parents creates dependency needs, leading children to rely on substances to fulfill dependency. Therefore, it can be inferred that Benice Carver depended on drugs caused from the separation from her family, which lead to poor parenting skills resulting in Peter’s drug association. The current Canadian education system needs to put an end to the chain reaction of disturbed parenting styles within the Aboriginal community caused by the residential schools. Research of personal family members, teaching correct parenting styles and training

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