colonialism
It is almost a given now that most everyone considers colonialism as a mistake. They thought that the spreading of ideas, culture, and religion would have a positive effect on the native cultures they colonized. In fact though, these changes had an adverse effect on the peoples of these countries. For although many laud the efforts of these countries to spread Christianity, some question the motives of these countries in dealing the everyday needs of these people. In seeing the natives as inferior the mother countries were able to justify their treatment of them. At this time many subscribed to the belief of manifest destiny and social Darwinism. This is the belief in which the colonizing of other countries is justified by the belief that if God hadn't wanted these people to be colonized He wouldn't have let it happen, or would have provided the colonized with the same technology which would make an invasion impossible. Another item that has caused a lot of strife within the lives of the natives is in the area of education. For many natives the history of their country before colonization is very foggy. They have been schooled from day one on the histories of their European conquerors, but seldom is the history of the native cu
It is however easy to sympathize with the colonizing country because they are teaching the only thing they know. They can't teach about the native culture because they have no clue of the history. In fact probably the best method would have been to leave the history part of education in the hands of the natives. In other subjects, such as math, the colonizing may then be able to add insights that may not have been apparent to the natives. But as for the history of the country, there is nothing that a colonizing country can tell a native culture that wasn't already known. As Jamaica Kincaid implies in her book, if there is one thing that was sorely missed after the English left Antigua it is the fact that for the first time in Antigua there were quality built, well organized places to learn. As kincaid explains in the book, the beautiful library built by the British has since been demolished. And although the renovations for a new one were supposed to end years ago it hasn't worked out that way. The library has now been moved to a tiny apartment above a grocery store. Where once these books had been categorically stacked on shelves, they were now gathering dust, strewn across the floor and randomly inserted into cardboard boxes. This demise of education in Antigua says only one thing to me, that being that the emphasis of the government is in the wrong place. It is true that Antigua has had their problems with a corrupt government that is more interested in padding their pockets with foreign money than doing anyt
Some common words found in the essay are:
Minister Education, , Antigua Antigua, Queen Victoria's, Jamaica Kincaid, Jamaica Kincaid's, mother country, colonizing country, independence mother country, natives history country, native culture, natives history, able avoid, history country, independence mother,
Approximate Word count = 1027
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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