Week 3 – Blog Post

1. According to the Levin article, how are school curricula developed and implemented? What new information/perspectives does this reading provide about the development and implementation of school curriculum? Is there anything that surprises you or maybe that concerns you? 

In this week’s readings, the development of curriculum was discussed in Levin’s article. The article states that curriculum, like many other things in our society, is influenced by politics. Levin points out that the goal of many political candidates and leaders is to be elected or re-elected by gaining or maintaining voter support. In some cases, this can be a good thing. Democracy is heavily based on the decisions of the people through the act of voting, and it is one of the more popular systems of government as it caters to the desires of the people. However, when it comes to curriculum and education in general, political influence dictating what should and shouldn’t be taught in the classroom is concerning. While reading this article I was quite surprised to see how much politics influence the classroom and what is taught. Before reading the article and taking this class, I assumed that curriculum was a guideline for teachers that outlined what a student is to be taught within a specific class or semester. I think that this article has really opened my eyes to how much media platforms and politicians push their personal ideologies into the education system rather than building curriculums around research done by professional unbiased individuals.

2. After reading pages 1-4 of the Treaty Education document, what connections can you make between the article and the implementation of Treaty Education in Saskatchewan? What tensions might you imagine were part of the development of the Treaty Education curriculum?

The Levin reading primarily focused on the negative impact that political and uneducated opinions by the public and the ulterior motives of many politicians can have over curriculum. Instead, Levin argues that curriculum development should center around research done by unbiased professionals who specialize in their field of study. While looking over the Treaty Education document, I noticed that while this document was being finalized, only two Elders were present during the creation of the document. Throughout my education, I have been taught about the importance of allowing indigenous voices to prosper and tell their stories and experiences. However, in this specific document indigenous voices are suppressed as the majority of the contributors to the document are from different federations that implemented their own biases. I think that this is where tensions may have arisen as there is a clear lack of representation for indigenous individuals. In my educational experience, there was very little taught about indigenous culture and history, and I think that the lack of focus on indigenous teachings is due to the lack of representation displayed while implementing treaty education.