# data[].attributes.body
I believe my educational experience is due to settler colonialism. I remember growing up I would have questions about my religion thinking my teacher would be able to answer them. I did not think HAVING A conversation about my religion was a big deal, especially since I was in second grade. I never thought about it as a big deal, but I just learned teachers were not allowed to share their thoughts on this. I was very passionate about talking about my culture with my classmates, but I couldn't share religious beliefs. That was never a problem for me to stop, but as I got older I remember learning in High school from one of my teachers a different type of history that I had originally learned. The teacher even shared how some schools do not allow this type of learning because it might brainwash students. I just always assumed maybe it's because we're too young to understand this topic, moving on. I failed to realize that's how it's supposed to be. Students are not allowed to bring certain learning to the classroom, which continues to prove how settler colonialism is continuing today, but I believe now people have a voice to speak up for what they hope to share. For example, one topic I could relate to is whether the United States “stole” land from Mexico. I remember learning different stories about what happened, especially as a Mexican student who was interested in learning more about this. It wasn’t until high school that a teacher was a bit more open about discussing history. Although I agree that this topic could be interpreted with the wrong information and passed on. I could honestly say TikTok and YouTube are the platforms I would choose to learn more from because they share evidence and personal opinions, which could help interpret the topic more.

# data[].attributes.body
Settlers colonialism left an indelible imprint on what my schooling experiences looked and felt like today, I would say because my parents are Guyanese immigrants living in the United States, and many others face unique challenges related to our colonial history and migration experiences, and language is one of them. Since Language can be a significant challenge for Guyanese students in American schools, english is the primary language of teaching in the United States, some Guyanese immigrants, like me, may have grown up speaking Creole or other Guyanese dialects. Language barriers hampered my ability to comprehend some academic topics and fully participate in classroom activities. My vocabulary was where I struggled the most because I grew up in a household where my parents and family spoke in "broken English," therefore my school essays and spelling would be "poor".

# data[].attributes.body
When I think about settler colonialism and how it affected not only my learning but the learning of children today I tend to think back on my language classes. Growing up I was one of those students that absolutely loved reading, so much that my mom would find me reading after school hours are over and well into the weekend. Because of this little habit of mine, I had the ability to read well above my grade level and would pass with flying colors on those ELA tests that they would drag you out of class for, at first I was so proud of myself because something that I loved to do proved to be good for me afterall. But then compared to my friend’s whose first language was Spanish it was more difficult for them as English was not their first language. I recall observing the differences between my class and my friends that were in the ESL classes, and even way back then I always thought of ESL classes as a way to limit the student’s that spoke spanish as a first language, and when I say that I thought of it as a way that schools were erasing/trying to replace those student’s first language. It felt like we were being separated and non inclusive, why couldn’t there be teachers that spoke both languages already in the classrooms so that they could help and be attentive to all of their students? Knowing that this country speaks more than one language is a fact that has been around for centuries, and in all of those centuries they chose to stay in the colonial bubble and try to colonize students that did not fit into what they thought american students should be?

# data[].attributes.body
Settler colonialism is reflected in my own educational experiences by a number of things. The language standard that is required is English. Although America is "the melting pot" everyone who attends school here must speak English to learn. I've seen it on the school lunch menus. The type of meals that are given to students are traditionally European standards of "what are the right foods to eat". The food is never tailored to show the culture that American students have to offer. The mandatory school uniform strips the students of self-expression. I don't think it is fair to say that everyone must dress the same. We are all unique and this takes from our individuality. The power/ discipline that teachers have over students. For example, we use to have to raise our hand to ASK to go to the restroom. (I tell my children to tell the teacher they're going to the restroom lol because they don't always say yes, and I believe that is a human right that nobody needs to ask for permission to do). The social control that comes with the curriculum. It is tailored to European history and suppresses all other heritages and cultures. (To play off of the meme I posted, the curriculum was BORING, and I struggled to stay focused because the information was not inclusive). Students never learn their OWN history in public schooling K-12. They have to wait until they reach college courses if they want to go in-depth on their history. I find it funny how I have to pay to learn about my Black history in college, but it isn't available for free in public schools. Wow, the Pledge of Allegiance was a joke because in elementary school, I couldn't even tell you what the word "pledge" or "allegiance" meant lol I believe that Black people are the LAST group of individuals who should have been obligated to recite this. *Takes knee with Kaepernick* As I have grown older, I look at life through a different lens because of the truth I've discovered through REAL education in college. The American public school system is clearly a reflection of institutionalized oppression that brainwashes children early on to believe biased opinions and hides their true identities.

# data[].attributes.body
I believe that my educational experience is shaped by settler colonialism. For instance, though Bengali is my first language, I had to learn English at school since it is an international language and I think this is because it is the language of settlers of colonialism (European language). Teachers also had to follow a specific curriculum to teach us. There was no chance for critical reflection practices. History has been taught from a White perspective; in history class, I never learned about famous indigenous or Black people but learned about White idealized figures like Christopher Columbus. Our curricula-based exam system which categorizes us as good or bad students is borrowed from the colonialized education system. School regulatory systems and authorities on the power at schools are all examples of how our education system is shaped by settler colonialism. I had to Wear uniforms at school, and I believe this rule is also structured by settler colonialism. In the dorm, students had different beds in rows and all of the students were given a specific time frame to eat, shower, pray, and do their work. After coming to the USA, I was tested for my language standards to register for college. In the US, I observed that my children were served European food at school. From dressing up to eating food they are following European culture at school; also learning history that focuses on mostly White supremacy but not the indigenous people. At my motherland, at school, I used to recite the national anthem of Bangladesh before class starts but here my children recite the national anthem Of America as a rule of the school.

This colonized central education system has been shaping our psychology and alienating us. Wearing uniforms at school means students are a part of the schools but they should be under control by the higher authority group which are teachers or school officials. Besides Whites, this education system is not teaching us about many other cultural groups and their real history. From the beginning of school life, we get to learn that there are some people who have all power over us. As a result of that, we start to believe that we are supposed to be under control. We think that it is acceptable to be oppressed, and dominated and that White people are superior to other races. The colonialized school system has ideological control over our values and beliefs, consequently, we sometimes don’t protest against unjust and fight for our rights.

# data[].attributes.body
My experience considering education structure settler colonialism. Colonialism was always imprinted when it came to differences in learning about education. We structured and thought to learn a certain language and bid on different sets of rules. When it came to teaching and school curriculum, for example, I didn’t have the best experience when it came to school growing up. The teachers would label students or teach them differently when it came to classrooms by the way teachers teach the curriculum and handle it at hand. Having learned from this experience helped me from feeling biased and oppressed by teachers I’ve learned what my strengths and weakness didn’t let hinder me throughout my education.

# data[].attributes.body
The education system is structured by and around settler colonialism. This means that even my education experience was impacted by settler colonialism. Looking back I think that this impact can be seen by the fact that in history growing up I, along with my classmates, were taught that Christopher Coloubus was a good person. We were never taught about all of his wrong doings and how he stripped innocent people of their land. We just learned the version that schools want us to know because it benefits their settler colonialism beliefs. Even now I can say that my younger brother is learning the same thing in his history classes. My mom had to teach him about the truth behind Christopher Coloubus and the founding of America through research online and not from school books. I never learned about Indigenous people and their culture or history. I only learned about well known white people and the “discoveries” they are famous for. We are taught history from a white perspective which is structured around settler colonialism. As mentioned by the Black Youth Project, “the processing of our bodies and the attempted destruction of our ties and roots to our homelands, so as to make us rootless” (2022) is why settler colonialism still exists in schools. The impacts of receiving an education like this is not being aware of the real history of the United States and not knowing about other people’s cultures and hardships they went through.

# data[].attributes.body
Throughout my educational experience, we were mainly taught about most of the repeated history of colonialism, mainly on European history. With this type of subject in school, it is usually considered as a requirement to take as a course and for regents as a requirement for graduation. Other than this type of history, there is a lot more other types of history in depth regarding society that was never told, for example indigenous people and their languages and culture, a history regarding someone or something that no one knew about, etc.  Another example of settler colonialism would have to be students and their grades, there are most students who receive honors for having an average GPA, scoring highest of the class, etc and they get praised by teachers; while other students with “Bs”, “Cs” or lower are seen as less and some are labeled as the “bad kids”, “lazy”, when in reality we don’t know what they are going through at that moment and are trying to do their best not to impress others only for themselves and most have their way of learning and understanding a subject in school.

# data[].attributes.body
My educational experiences was structured by settler colonialism because they set systems into place that didn’t or doesn’t allow teachers to say the full truth, History is affected a lot by this system that was created years ago. Another way my educational experiences was structured is that the “smarter” kids had better advantages than the less smarter kids. They were treated as if they were the smartest people in the world and they were able to receive help a lot faster than a student who actually needed more help than them. While my highschool did try to encourage everyone to apply to SUNY, private, etc universities, I do think they focused on the honor students more than the students who took the regular curriculum.

# data[].attributes.body
During my educational experiences It has been structured by settler colonialism because it was in a system that was already created and I feel never challenged. We are taught to learn a curriculum in which may not be of interest to some students and their educational experiences. I feel as though the structures and the curriculums I was taught from K-12 was very general and not in action of student experiences. I also can see the settler colonialism aspect of it by of a system of oppression in regards to displacing certain things and erasure of history from past events. I had to take state exams in order to quote on quote determine my intelligence of a specific subject which I found to be very absurd because I have anxiety when it comes to exams. I think these state exams shouldn't dictate whether you are a good student or not because many students learn at their own pace and have a different style of learning. I just think the system was set up to fail a certain group of society to fit a standard of a particular society and institution.

# data[].attributes.body
I think that the way that my educational experiences were structured by settler colonialism is that in schools we are taught a strict curriculum. We are taught from a colonial perspective and we dont really learn much of the real history. I think that there is a lack of talk about indiginous people and their history. Overall, I think that theres a lot of things that the school curriculum do not cover.

# data[].attributes.body
As one of my fellow classmates mentioned, in my high school during my junior year we were separated into classes based on our academic program. A class that followed the regular high school courses, students who attended some IB courses (International Baccalaureate), and students who attended all IB courses. Students like me who attended all IB courses were taken like the bourgeoisie convinced to go to Ivy League schools and pursue difficult career paths while my fellow classmates were given applications for community and technical schools. Another example of colonialism in my school was having teachers who couldn't relate to our experiences, some students used their own experiences to compare to historic events to help them understand courses yet teachers dismissed or said their experience had no relevance to the course. These experiences have caused me to feel that although I may work harder than others to accomplish the same goals, my work will be dismissed. That there is status in our educational system, labor force, and social life.

# data[].attributes.body
During my High School experience, we were obligated to take regents for certin subject which determined if you were able to graduate or not. In addition, now that we we learn a different curriculum in phish school compared to college. Is interesting to see, how we only learn certain things in those 4 years. I feel like being more open minded and educated enough about different systems makes you realize a little more about society such as oppression. Teachers teach about history and passed events but do not show how classrooms are arranged. In Bigelow's, article the author portrays how teachers will always be in authority until kids are puts down teacher. Education system is always changing such as standards and respect especially while generations are changing too. The student-teacher relationship are not the same as before while respect fades away
.

# data[].attributes.body
I believe that everything that we have been taught in schools is due to a reason and it is because they have institutionalized oppression in order for the people to grow up as robots without any freedom and work under poor working conditions without questioning the system. The exam system for instance is really damaging for the students. It labels us as good or bad students which in the work field can be translated as skilled and unskilled workers. Besides that what they teach us in school is alienated  it makes us glorify the oppressor or normalize their behavior for instance when they teach about the “discovery of America'' they do it through a class and race len always glorifying what rich white people came to do in the Americas. They make us think that what they did was okay “for the progress of humanity” when it was the opposite. They do not talk about the erasure of Indigenous cultures and slavery they made me learn about the history through a colonialist lens and not through my peoples lens. All I have learned about true history is for outside resources like friends that have radicalized themselves. This kind of education/ schooling alienates us and as Fanon says it makes us colonized intellectuals, people that would turn against their people and people who only follow  their own/individual interests.