It is imperative from the beginning that one realize The Chickamauga Nation Educational System is not a traditional educational format. It is clearly something new grounded in something ancient. The Chickamauga Nation Educational System is truly a philosophical and methodological renunciation of the progressive educational movement founded by John Dewey in the United States. The Chickamauga Nation Educational System is in all intents and purposes a blending of ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Native American educational systems. This is significant in that The Chickamauga Nation Educational System is individualized to the student because liberty flows through the individual and not from the government.
The philosophical implications of The Chickamauga Nation Educational System are quite literally bringing ancient educational philosophies and methodologies into the digital age. Philosophically, education must be about teaching an individual to think for themselves using every available methodology and technology in which education is being accomplished. We do not have a choice as Indigenous peoples about how we educate the next generation. Philosophically, the United States government controlled educational system is nothing more than 20th-century progressivism systematically and successfully destroying the ability of the individual to think for themselves and thus are destined to rely completely on the goodness and charity of the government.
The Chickamauga Nation has no choice at this point in time but to boldly declare an educational revolution in which the yoke of governmental interference into the lives of families to educate our own children. If we are to return to the freedom and liberty of thinking for ourselves, then an individualized education must once again become the educational model for the Indigenous world. We cannot and will not allow The Chickamauga Nation Educational System to be usurped by the philosophies, methodologies, and pedagogies of educators who have been trained in the current progressive, colonialistic educational models. We must break out of the mindset that professionally trained educators know best how to educate our students.
We have no choice but to take up a new calling to bring forth liberty to a brand-new generation of students who have never known the liberty and freedom associated with individualized education. It is not time for old, failed, and tired philosophies to be repackaged under the auspices of progressivism, but it is time for a new generation of liberty seeking parents and students to boldly step into the digital age of education with The Chickamauga Nation Educational System.
It is the commitment to rigorous, individualized education that brings The Chickamauga Nation Educational System to the forefront and it is that continued commitment to the individual that will keep The Chickamauga Nation Educational System the leader in all facets of education whether to the Indigenous or not. It all goes back to philosophy: we cannot and dare not compromise our commitment to individual education. When you look at the educational process, and it is a process, it is about the building blocks of each individual subject and each individual lesson that is teaching the student to learn to think on their own. We want to teach students to think on their own so that they can become educated beyond the wildest dreams of their family and friends. We want our students to not only succeed in the realm of academics, we want them to succeed in the world. We want our students to not only to be the leaders of tomorrow we want our students to lead the world in a radical transformation from progressive, colonialistic government dependency to self-determination and self-dependency where liberty is foremost in the minds of every citizen.
It is this philosophical battle between forced educational slavery to the state and individual freedom that we will continue to wage war against as we prepare each and every lesson plan. We must resolve to never teach our students to be dependent on anyone or anything for their own education. It is when a student is dependent upon anything outside of themselves for their own education that they become slaves to that thing and their liberty and freedom is lost. It is the responsibility of The Chickamauga Nation Educational System to plant the seeds of liberty in each individual student, to water, fertilize, and prune, and give each individual student every tool to use to bring forth their exceptional education for themselves.
Philosophically, it is our responsibility to give every student every tool available for them to throw off the tyrannical, colonial bonds that bind them academically and for them to free themselves from those bonds to seek liberty and freedom for themselves. Our only regret should be for those who failed to avail themselves of the glorious riches that could be theirs if only they would choose to be free instead of slaves to academic mediocrity. Not all Indigenous people are born with the spark of liberty and freedom burning within them, for some it must be acquired and for others their slavery has become security. While it is true we will offer all Chickamauga liberty through academic excellence it is also true some will not accept liberty and will continually drudge in the morass of mediocrity.
(C) This document was produced at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on July 18, 2019, to document the History, Anthropology, Culture, Religion, and Archaeology of The Chickamauga Nation.