[xmca] Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream Education

[Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu>]

Sent by a friend of indigenous descent. Note that all profits from this book will go to worthy American Indian educational associations and foundations.
I've known Four Arrows for a while now and think he's a pretty interesting guy. I've read a couple of his other books (one on character education from a Native perspective; one more autoethnographic, Primal Awareness) and they're always provocative and with a vision of the world I could never see from a Western lens.

From: Four Arrows (aka Don Jacobs) [mailto:DJacobs@fielding.edu]
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2013 10:40 AM
To: Four Arrows (aka Don Jacobs)
Subject: a request

"Masterful and liberatory"- Henry Giroux  "It may be our last hope" -Nancy Turner Banks  "A new way to resist"- John Pilger  "Penetrating, fearless and practical" -Thom Hartman

Dear Friends, Neighbors, and Fellow Educators,

             I want this new book, my 21st and last one (I hope), to truly revolutionize schooling in the US, Canada and elsewhere "or we are all doomed," to quote from Noam Chomsky's endorsement. Therefore, I am making this unusual request for each of you receiving this email to go to amazon.com on May 15th and order a copy of Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream Education. (Or if you have teacher friends, order more for gifts.) My goal is to get 120 people to order the book on the same day. This would bring the book from the usual new book ranking of around 2 million into the top ten on amazon. Getting a top ten ranking on amazon can be a significant way to introduce this text as worthwhile contribution to the education revolution. If you can't afford to buy the book,  please share this email and the powerful quotes about it that have come from a number of the world's most noted thinkers (see below) with folks who might be interested. A first in educational publishing, this text looks at eight common subject areas, from health education and US history to mathematics and geography, and reveals the corporate influence/ cultural hegemony that defines mainstream curricula; the consequent failure of schooling to achieve its stated goals; and practical alternative ways to augment the curricula with time-tested approaches to teaching and learning used by traditional Indigenous Peoples for thousands of years to achieve and maintain balance and beauty in social and ecological systems.
             Thanks for allowing me to contact you and I hope you will forgive my taking advantage of our relationship for such promotional purposes. Note that all profits from this book will go to worthy American Indian educational associations and foundations. Giving back to the Peoples whose wisdom we borrow is of utmost importance.
      Akaywaciankinktay,
       Four Arrows, aka Don Trent Jacobs, Ph.D., Ed.D.
       http://www.teachingvirtues.net

"Penetrating, fearless and practical, this book offers educators (and anyone else with an interest in
our future) a way to create a better world-before it is too late!"-Thom Hartmann

 "This remarkable, nerve-touching book provides a missing link between the knowledge and ways
of seeing and learning of indigenous peoples, that is 'part of the soul,' and the imperial education
of the liberal West. In exposing and then pushing back a corporate screen behind which we all live
and learn, Four Arrows hands us a new way to resist."-John Pilger

 "This enlightening book reminds us that the grim prognosis for life on this planet is the
consequence of a few centuries of forgetting what traditional societies knew, and the surviving
ones still recognize. We must nurture and preserve our common possession, the traditional
commons, for future generations, and this must be one of our highest values, or we are all
doomed. To regain this sensibility from those who have preserved it we must pay careful attention
to their understanding and practices, especially their educational practices as brought to us in
these thoughtful chapters."-Noam Chomsky


 [cid:60C6A5AD-0F37-4D73-9383-7FB88F3BE4E1]
 "Teaching Truly is a singularly provocative book with the unsettling analysis that education is not
about learning and economics is not about the well-being of society. As today's institutions
crumble in their dysfunction, Four Arrows draws upon tens of thousands of years of empirical
data within Indigenous societies, crucial intelligence on what works and how to unleash the kind
of learning that will help us become human beings present and in balance with Mother Earth."
-Rebecca Adamson

"This is a necessary book, a part of the revolution we so desperately need."-Derrick Jensen

"Teaching Truly subtly raises the issue of the difference between education for the purpose of
raising human consciousness and education for the purpose of creating workers for the global
economy. Four Arrows makes it clear that our focus on the material and away from the spiritual
aspect of our nature has created not only an imbalance in our mind/body/spirit that manifests in
disease, dispirited communities and alienated children but also in the outward imbalance and
disharmony on the planet that gives us life. In order to move forward, sometimes we need to
connect with the best of our past. This book and its curriculum ideas are an opportunity and a gift
to our children and the future. It is time to remember, to honor and to teach the great wisdom of
our indigenous ancestors-this may be our last hope."-Nancy Turner Banks
 "At a time when mainstream education is viewed as impoverished and lacking in meaning, this
engaging book invites educators to start a self-reflective dialogue on educational innovation
stimulated and inspired by the indigenous wisdom. With humility, sensitivity and force, Teaching
Truly gives rise to the possibility of transforming education from inside out."-Scherto Gill

 "In this provocative new book, Four Arrows takes a principled stand on behalf of a significant
educational perspective that has long been buried by corporate and political interests, that of the
continent's Primary People. We would surely live more balanced, respectful and grounded lives if
21st-century educators were to read this book and learn from its lessons. If we hope to pass along
to our grandchildren a healthy 22nd century, we need a richer education than the 'edupreneurs'
have provided us thus far."-Peter Smagorinsky

"Teaching Truly is an important work. It outlines in great detail how we can bring Indigenous
perspectives and practices into the K-16 curriculum. This book provides a powerful framework as
well as many practical strategies that can inspire teachers. Rooted in the original vision of
Indigenous peoples, Four Arrows has given us a way to educate the whole person including the
soul. Educating the whole child is indeed our last hope."-John (Jack) P. Miller

"In my own work as an environmental activist, I've learned more from the indigenous
environmental network than just about anyone else. If the Indigenous perspective can help even
an old guy like me, then educators should be paying attention to what Four Arrows offers in this
book. God knows we need some new ways of looking at things."-Bill McKibben

"Now more than ever, teachers overrun by the bankrupt Common Core hegemony need the
wisdom and insights, the joyfulness and harmony offered in Teaching Truly."-Susan Ohanian

 "This new book by Four Arrows bridges a gap, allowing for a renewed flow of wisdom from
American Indian cultures. This perspective has always been crucial to us at AERO and we hope
many will be able to use it before our mainstream culture goes over a cliff."-Jerry Mintz

 "This book needs to be taken seriously. It offers a perspective that has been missing in cultural
storage and thinking promoted in public schools and universities and online learning systems.
There are many reasons for learning from indigenous knowledge systems. It would be a mistake to
read Teaching Truly as an appeal to going back in time, as the lessons to be learned from
indigenous cultures are timeless."-C.A. Bowers

"Four Arrows has brought leading thinking about this vital necessity into this text. We have much
to learn from our host First Nations about teaching, thinking, rhythm and curriculum that Four
Arrows has concisely captured for all teachers. This book is vital to our collective learning for
today and in the future."-Tom Cooper

"Teaching Truly is an incredible resource for staff in our schools who work with both Native and
non-Native students. We will be using it."-Elliot Washor, Ed.D

 "In contrasting Western and Indigenous ways, Four Arrows is hard on the West, but that is
because there is so much at stake. Under the circumstances, it is most expedient to take the merits
of the Western way as a given and to focus on the imbalances it has created. He is sincere in his
proposal that teachers look for ways to partner Western and Indigenous perspectives, and this
book explains why and how to do it."-Robert Lewis

"In Teaching Truly Four Arrows draws a frighteningly accurate map of the known world, and the
spiritual and material collapse that's upon us: death and destruction at the heart of the liberal
techno/imperial/capitalist juggernaut. Drawing on ancient and Indigenous ways of being and
knowing Four Arrows offers a contemporary guide to what is to be done, and illuminates a path
toward a future where schools might play a powerful role in truth-seeking, repair, and renewal for
all children, youth, families, and teachers. After an encounter with Four Arrows, I reflected with
renewed energy on the urgent questions that drive free people in pursuit of enlightenment and
liberation: What are we? Why are we here? Where are we headed? How shall we live? What kind
of world can we hope to inhabit? This handbook for teachers is a vibrant and essential text for
anyone who wants to understand the broad dimensions of the mess we're in and pursue a wise and
practical pathway forward."-William Ayers

"Teaching Truly is a masterful and liberatory book that not only moves between theory and
practice but makes teaching a vocation of the highest order. Ever mindful of history and the
context of teaching, this beautifully written book deals with the complexity of teaching in a
language that is as accessible as it is insightful. This is a book that should be read by all educators
and anyone interested in education."- Henry Giroux
 "Four Arrows is a combination of a visionary, a dreamer and a truth teller. While he is grounded
in the realities of our global situations, and thus moves obstacles and creates better situational
realities for the peoples he works with and for, he is motivated by a peaceful truth that radiates
from the core of his being. If you are willing to listen and hear what might make you think and
feel in an alternative capacity, Four Arrows is the gentle-hearted, educated soul to guide your
path."-Heidi Maston

"Four Arrows has cut to the core in Teaching Truly. Doing more than overcoming the omissions,
misinterpretations, and outright fictionalization of our culture, traditions and spirituality that
have been taught in American schools, he has put together generalizable teachings for specific
subjects in ways that can point education toward achieving a more balanced world."-Tim Giago, Nanwica Kciji (Stands Up for Them

__________________________________________
_____
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca