Traditional Education

Every Child is:

• unique
• special
• a miracle
• born with special gifts {which need to be developed}
• born with integrity
• the future of the Nation
• to be respected as being its own person
• to be treated with the utmost of respect

Teaching was:

• done through observation
• elders/others saying & demonstrating
• cyclical {repeated exposure to real-life experiences}
• the responsibility of the community and family
• the responsibility of the student to learn, or not learn, what was taught
• done to enable a person become what they could be

Community & Parental Responsibilities:

• to encourage
• to support because this helps the individual as well as the community
• to make sure the parents/relatives/etc. were teaching the children in culturally appropriate ways
• if a child did not turn out the way the culture expected them to, the family was looked upon as not teaching their children effectively, not as a "problem with the kid"
• often uncles taught the young men because it was felt uncles would not be too emotionally involved and they would know how hard they can safely train
• often other people were approached to help in the training of a young person. The person asked considered it an honor to help facilitate learning.