Warlpiri Business as Pedagogy

It is undeniable that the majority of Australian Indigenous students (particularly from language-speaking, tradition-oriented nations) have been failed educationally, in the attempt to school them in a Western way. I spent five years among the Warlpiri of the Central Desert Region of the Northern Territory, Australia. In the beginning I advocated total assimilation as the answer to Indigenous problems. However, I came to recognize that the real problem is Westerners not making the effort to properly understand the values underlying traditional culture and the echoes of the Kingdom of God in those values. This realization caused me to make a radical change in my perspective, and to embrace a more empathetic way of delivering education to Warlpiri young people. This is my "learning journey" -- a recommendation that educators employ the pedagogy of Warlpiri business, in the delivery of mainstream education. These lessons, if applied to educational delivery, would make Warlpiri kurdu-kurdu feel more at home in their schooling experience, and not feel that they have to repudiate their rich Warlpiri heritage to be educated. Wiyarrpa Warlpiri! Ngula-juku! Jikirrilypa Jangala Box