Kamloops 2025 Summer School

First, Kamloops is an amazing city. I have enjoyed my stay here and had great conversations. (*Best wishes, engineering student at the Plaza! Good luck with your business!) Canadians have been nothing but friendly, gracious and, well, as amazing as the city itself.

Full disclosure- I am on this tour- I.School- to discover. To learn about education. First.

Kamloops, B.C. is not what I expected. Not sure what I expected to find when coming here after researching. After reading a news story in 2021: “Remains of 215 children found buried in former residential school.” CBC I wanted to continue my research on public education. Outside the U.S.

School Mission Statement:” to support learning opportunities and environments which inspire students to thrive”. Sound familiar? You can look up any schools mission statement to find similar statements.

After the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves, and “in the wake of the discovery of what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the city of Kamloops and other communities across Canada cancelled or postponed Canada Day celebrations. This decision was made to allow for respectful reflection on the tragic discovery and to support Indigenous communities mourning the loss. “

“Thoughts and Prayers.”

“Reconciliation does not mean anything if there is no action to those words ... [w]ell-wishes and prayers only go so far. If we are going to actually create positive strides forward there needs to be that ability to continue the work, like the Indian Residential School Survivors Society does, in a meaningful way."

“In July 2021, Beaulieu (an archeologist) revised her estimate to 200 and noted that they should be considered "probable burials" or "targets of interest", and said that only with an excavation could they be confirmed as human remains. Beaulieu also noted that the apple orchard she surveyed constituted only two acres of the 160-acre residential school site.”

Kamloops, B.C. Life at the residential school. 1962 Documentary, 30 min.

Sugarcane. National Geographic, trailer.

Wikipedia. Kamloops Indian Residential School

I am terribly ignorant as to Residential schools. First Nation History in general. Most are, I am finding. And no, I don’t talk about it too much. Touchy subject. I understand.

As a teacher from the U.S. From Colorado. I know there is more to education and to the beauty that is the state I grew up in. Colorado. School shootings did not define us.

I am also familiar with school mission statements; kids being killed in school, by school; the "shock and horror” followed by “thoughts and prayers.” Hundreds of thoughts and prayers. Year after year. After year.

The Residential school discovery of hundreds of kids in Kamloops will not define this town. For me, it is another example of - abuse by the department of education. Globally.

There is a consistent lack of (time and space) to ask and explore one question: What is the purpose of education?

Until there is a consorted effort to do more to help kids in education- I say, do less.

Cancel all classes for One week- for every shooting, from here on out (for example). Students Stay home! Study. Learn. Sleep. Morn. Take care of our students.

Unless, of course the purpose of education is something other than “to support learning opportunities and environments which inspire students to thrive.”

Forced education, or compulsory education, refers to the legal requirement for children to attend school for a specific period, typically mandated by the government. While compulsory education aims to provide all individuals with access to learning, it has also been a source of historical and ongoing debate, particularly in relation to its implementation and impact on marginalized communities. 

Kamloops Indian Residential school is one horrific example of the implementation and impact schools have on communities. And more modern horrors continue- and will continue as long as we forget. Literally burry evidence. Burry stories. Rewrite history. Force next generations into compulsory numbness. Robotic “Thoughts and prayers”.

Kamloops is an amazing city. Beyond school stories (which I will never get out of my head and heart). My focus is school- and the generations of kids carrying the burdens and aftermath of avoidable tragedies.

Questions:
What is the purpose of education? and What (more‽) will it take to change the conversation? Now.