In RygaÆs The Education of Rita Joe, the teacherÆs main function is to facilitate the values of the middle-class, painting it as an acceptable and working system for all people. The values being imposed on individuals from native culture are ethnocentric, patriarchal, white values arising from the middle class. The significance of this is that the teacher facilitates the gradual erosion of values, attitudes and ways of thinking that do not stem from the middle-class. What is considered ôrightö in terms of speaking, appearing and thinking is what remains in accordance with ômiddle-classö values. While the Canadian Association of Social Workers may preach individuality and the right to self-determination, but more often than not, through institutions like education and such teachers, they subtly coerce others to adopt what is considered normative ômiddle-classö behavior. The non-middle-class individual also internalizes the attitude that their own, unique values are somehow ôinferiorö by implication. Therefore, the purpose of the teacher is to serve as both a facilitator of the adoption of a specific core set of values and to act as a force of erosion on values that stand in contrast to them.
Ryga, G. (1981). The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. Canada: Talonbooks, Ltd.
...