The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2 - 99

First Nations and Higher Education

of the student. The university must be able
to present itself in ways that have instrumental value to First Nations students; that is, the
programs and services that are offered must
connect with the students' own aspirations
and cultural predispositions sufﬁciently to
achieve a comfort level that will make the experience worth enduring. If we cannot create an
environment in which First Nations students
begin to "feel at home" at the university, all the
special programs and support services we can
dream up will be of little value in attracting
and holding them in signiﬁcant numbers. We
must recognize that attending the university

Students who come to the university
are expected to adapt to its modus
operandi if they wish to obtain the
beneﬁts (usually translated to mean
better, higher paying jobs) of the
knowledge and skills it has to offer,
the desirability and value of which
are presumed to be self-evident.

is not an all-or-nothing proposition, and many
students, such as the one quoted above, will
move in and out of the university over a period
of many years, depending on how well it suits
their purposes.
While improved job opportunities alone
may provide sufﬁcient motivation to keep some
students interested, in the case of many First

Nations students, these "jobs" are often linked
to aspirations with much broader collective/
tribal considerations, such as exercising selfgovernment, or bringing First Nations perspectives to bear in professional and policy-making
arenas. The inadequacy of our understanding
of, and attention to, these kinds of considerations was pointed out in a recent government
report on "university education and economic
well-being" for First Nations people in Canada,
which concluded: "A greater understanding is
needed about motivating factors if policy and
programs are to be successful in their intent
to increase participation and success at university" (Armstrong, Kennedy & Oberle, 1990).
Wendy Hull, chair of the Aboriginal Students'
Association at Dalhousie University in Halifax,
illustrates the point in her observation: "(University) education is not important to me in my
life. But it is important when we start dealing
with the government" (Harrington, 1991).
We need to recognize that there can be many
reasons for pursuing a university education,
reasons which often transcend the interest and
well-being of the individual student. For First
Nations communities and students, a university education can be seen as important for any
of the following reasons:
* It can be seen as a means of realizing
equality and sharing in the opportunities of
the larger society in which we live.
* It can be seen as a means for collective
social and economic mobility.
* It can be seen as a means of overcoming
dependency and "neo-colonialism."
* It can be seen as a means of engaging in
research to advance the knowledge of First
Nations.
* It can be seen as a means of providing the

V O L U M E 4 2 , NO. 2 * 2 0 1 6

99
The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2
