My upbringing definitely had a part in shaping how I read the world. I am white and I grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan. I was surrounded by family members that had very conservative views and racist mindsets. I have had to grow and learn a lot to work against the ideas and behaviours that I was taught as a child. I am still having to actively work against biases that were ingrained in my mind at a young age. I recognize that my schooling never really offered any other perspective other than a Eurocentric one and this also affected how I read the world. It was not until University that I was really able to learn about new perspectives and challenge my personal biases. Over the years, I have grown and learned more about myself and what is happening around me, and while I feel that this has helped me unlearn some of my previous biases, I recognize that this has also created new biases. I realize that I now have political biases, which I believe are partly due to listening to the way my family can talk sometimes. I have had to fight hard to have my personal beliefs heard in my home and this means that it might be hard for me to work against these biases when I am teaching. I realize that being conservative does not mean you are a bad person, but my own past experiences have created that bias against conservatism. I think the best way to unlearn or work against biases is to research and learn about as many sides as possible. It can be easy to fall into a comfortable place, especially online, where everyone agrees with you. But it is important that we look for different opinions and perspectives to try to learn more about another side of the conversation.

Single stories can be a dangerous thing. We have learned many times in our education courses that it is incredibly important to learn about multiple perspectives. Chimamanda Adichie mentioned how her friend at University was shocked that she knew how to use a stove or had access to American music because she did not believe that Africa could be similar to America in any way. This struck a chord with me because as I was listening, I realized that my schooling had also helped create that single story in my mind. I never learned that Africa was in any way similar to Canada or America and it was always ingrained into my head that these places were not as progressive or as accomplished as Canada. It matters that students receive all the sides of a story because, as a student, I would have been able to question the things I was seeing and hearing in class. However, the Eurocentric truth was the only one that my school cared to show us. The European truth was the only one that mattered. Adichie also stated that if you start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans and not with the arrival of the British, you will have an entirely different story. This single story was also present in my own schooling. Our history lessons always started with the arrival of the British. We never actually learned about Indigenous peoples before the British arrived. My education never considered another side or another truth. It only ever focused on the European side of history and it is important to me that I do not do this with future students. I want to try my best to discuss other sides of the story. I want to do my part to make sure students do not only receive a single story.