Awareness of Aboriginal peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador: Memorial's first-year students (2013) speak: Memorial's first-year students (2013) speak

As part of the Assessing Student Awareness of Indigenous Peoples survey of Newfoundland and Labrador and before exposing them to any Indigenous content, we asked first-year students at Memorial University the three most important things they knew about Aboriginal people. At the end of the survey we asked them another open-ended question: did they consider the test a valid measure of their knowledge, and why or why not. The responses to these two questions taught us a great deal about what students know and think. Overwhelmingly their thinking is marred by racism, stereotypes, and an inability to access language to express the specificity and diversity of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. In some cases, these views and attitudes are reinforced rather than dispelled in primary, middle, and secondary education. Despite a poor performance on the test, more than 78% of students considered the test a valid measure of their knowledge. Both the answers in the positive and negative are revealing of student attitudes about Aboriginal people and topics.