Howard Adams
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, selfdetermination, and socialism.
Excerpt from Prison of Grass. Page 137
“Order becomes excessive when it is used only for preserving the status quo. Conformity becomes
harmful when it prevents people from developing an inner essence and when it stultifies creative energy and action. The presence of excessive conformity, authoritarianism, indoctrination, and fear in the school environment negates the autonomy and the independence of a student. The final product of such schooling
is a condition of thorough colonization.
For education to be truly liberating, however, it cannot take places with the present institutions and bureaucracy. Also, it will require more than placing native elites in the oppressor’s position. The structure will have to be destroyed and new ones built that embody freedom and humanness as well as political
power.”
