English students in grade 11 at St. Patrick’s High school have moved away from studying The Great Gatsby and Hamlet.
Teacher John Power says they are now studying Indigenous authors and the stories they write on issues like the residential school system.
Says Power, “it was a decision made as a result of calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about…giving students a greater understanding of the history of our country and its relationship with Indigenous peoples.”
The grade 11 English teacher calls the move “a really meaningful act of reconciliation” and “a step forward to listen to these writers and…the stories they’re telling.”
Power suggests some students were apprehensive about the move at first, but now see its value.
He adds authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Shakespeare are still being taught but through the grade 10 and 12 streams.
