Howard Adams (Métis)
1921-2001
Revolutionary Métis Marxist scholar and professor Howard Adams grew up in a Métis
community in Saskatchewan. He was a leader in the struggle for Indigenous rights, self-determination,
and socialism.
Excerpt from Chapter 12: "Schooling the Redman" in Prison Grass, 1975.
“The white-supremacist school with its repressive attitudes towards children is the source of the so-called native “school
problem.” The Métis and Indians with their supposed stupidity and laziness, their so-called lack of industry and
ambition, and their apathy to a “progressive” school system are not the problem. The school systematically and meticulously
conditions natives to a state of inferiorization and colonization. It does this in number of ways; most important, however, is
that it teaches the language, literature, and history of the colonizer and thus forces the students to deny their language,
culture, and essential being. The school and its teachers operate within typical racial stereotypes and coerce students into feeling
ashamed and unworthy.”
