The reason why this essay topic was chosen is because I personally know of the importance of knowing who you are in your educational journey. Way back in grade seven (I now teach that grade) I witnessed a fight between a Native and non-Native student in the school yard during recess. When I was walking away I overheard a yard duty teacher mutter "Stupid Indian!" under her breathe. She thought no one had heard but I did, and I made it known I had. My mother and I went to the principal who in turn told her. Her response was to pull me out of the classroom leaving both doors open to the grade seven and eight classrooms and proceeded to yell at me, stating I had lied, and belittled me. My reaction?!? I cried! Which was quite embarrassing at that time because at that age it's all a matter of fitting in and this was not helping me fit in with my peers. I ended up running down the hall, crying to another teacher and her last words to me were "Oh now you're crying to her too!"
It did not stop there though, I took her to human rights and won my case. She was removed from the school (but not the school board) and cultural sensitivity training was implemented for teachers in the board. The hardest thing for her was to apologize to me, and it was apparent through her tears. My only wish was for this not to happen again.
If I hadn't known my culture (I started learning about it at the age of nine) I might not have stood up to her and this type of behaviour (even if there was an abundance of tears shed). This story is an example of the confidence my culture gave me to not only stand up to someone who stereotyped my people but to fight for the education of such people (through cultural sensitivity workshops).
With this story in mind, I hope essay writers for this contest see just how important it is to keep our culture alive (whether we practice it or learn about our history and know how we are a beautiful people). I hope the entries start to poor in and wish all entrants the best of luck.
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