Aborigines’ Co-operative Nature Can Affect School Performance

Abstract

The co-operative nature of Aborigines can adversely affect their ability to succeed in a competitive schooling system. This can be substantiated by an historical study of various native groups.Essentially, the competitive learning processes involve a participant consciously persisting in attempts to achieve superiority, i.e., a better relative position with regard to the goal than an opponent can achieve (Owens, 1982, p.l), while the co-operative form of learning involves students interacting to achieve a mutually shared goal. It is not the aim of this work, however, to conclude on the merits of each of these educational instruments. Nevertheless the defence of the competitive system of learning in relation to Aborigines cannot be upheld on inherited or genetic grounds. As a result, most of the arguments that follow discuss the inadequacies of our present competitive system and its inability to cope with cultures that are dependent on co-operative means of behaviour.