Millbrook talks with Mr. Harry : (collected perceptions of education from the Mi'Kmaq community at Millbrook, Nova Scotia)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes and expectations of residents of the Millbrook Native Community regarding education. The study produced a data base from which a profile of the community's educational perspective may be perceived, and proposed a method by which the relative accuracy of a perception may be measured.

The focus of the research is a collection of twenty-six interviews. The general interview format was open-ended and centered on the primary topic of education. Interviews were conducted during the summers of 1993-1994. Participants contributed at an initial interview session, then reviewed and verified the interview texts at subsequent sessions.

Topics were drawn from each interview, categorized, and organized. The coalescent body of information was further delineated by grouping under general headings: Inheritance Values, Perceptions, and Expectations. Topics and concepts addressed in the interviews may be examined independently or related to the collective by statistical means.

The research outlines a method for the collection and coalition of community attitudes and expectations, as well as producing an instrument capable of facilitating and directing further research in the Millbrook Native Community.

A conclusive appraisal of this research depends upon its effectiveness in instigating further inquiry into the ideas and expectations the people of Millbrook hold for education, and the extent of its usefulness in those future engagements.