Education Act 31 Research Paper

Education has been a topic of controversy for many years now, and will continue to be for years to come. The modern American society is best defined by its education. A good part of the average person’s life is spent at school, going to school, and paying for school. However, even though education is so obviously very important, there are many groups in America that are getting shorted. The Native Americans are a key group that has struggled the most. The largest obstacle they face is lack of proper education. The standard educational practices being used for the instruction of Native American peoples are not effective. There are many pieces to this road-block, and many solutions. This can be rectified by having more culturally

“There’s a distinction between an education and school. Education is what Native people have been doing for their children since the beginning of time. School has been what has been imposed on people from outside” (Garland). This thought from Garland’s article “In remote Alaskan villages, teachers struggle to make school meaningful,” eloquently lays out how many Alaska natives regard the operation of collecting knowledge. Remarkably, Garland’s notion also offers great insight as to why the U.S. education system seems to fail Alaska natives altogether. It is this “distinction” (Garland), between education and school that seems to actively disconnect the ancestral cultural values of Alaska natives from the mainstream education system in this country. An impression of this broken connection appears in Kleinfeld’s The Teacher who Came to Rivertown. Here, Bob Perthall and his family move to Rivertown, Alaska, a remote village of 75 people. Accepting the position of teacher/principal, Perthall’s good intentions collide with subsistence, alcoholism, hardship, long-held customs and personal crisis. At schools end, the people of Rivertown finds no surprise in Perthall’s ending defeat. However, what really concerns us about the “teaching case,” is Perthall’s lack of preparedness for the students and culture of Rivertown, ultimately continuing the cycle of an ineffective school.

As people further their educational careers they gain a greater understanding who was present certain times in history. Yet students that are in K-12 are often taught history in a limited way so that the master narrative makes sense to the students. An article was written by Sohyun An regarding the visibility of diversity within the curriculum which is very limited. An states “research found numerous distortions have remained and historical agency and voice of Native Americans has been denied in the latest generation of textbooks,” meaning that the textbooks are including the natives but they are still invisible. The invisibility of the Natives proves that the curriculum is not diverse because it

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), brain child of President Johnson, was passed in 1965. ESEA was intended to mitigate disparities in access to quality academic services and learning outcomes endured by underprivileged and minority students by federally funding schools serving their communities. ESEA, later revised as No Child Left Behind, was to be one element in a larger reform agenda focused on urban redevelopment, vocational training and “EDUCATION AND HEALTH” (Thomas & Brady, 2005). In his 1965 State of the Union, Johnson proclaimed, “No longer will we tolerate widespread involuntary idleness, unnecessary human hardship and misery, the impoverishment of whole areas… ” Nevertheless, this intractable problem remains, as illustrated by recent National Assessment of Educational Progress findings:

The modern American society is best defined by its education. The “American dream” is founded on going to school, getting a good job, and becoming successful. Ironically, the actual native peoples of this country are actually the least likely to attain this dream. The largest obstacle they face is lack of proper education. The standard educational practices being used for the instruction of Native American peoples is not effective. There are many pieces to this road-block, and many solutions. This can be rectified by having more culturally aware teachers and parents, and by teaching the general population more about the Native American cultures.

The Native American children were educated at Carlisle in order to make a “better” transition into society for post-bellum America. Carlisle was located in Pennsylvania and was a reform school for Native American children. “Carlisle fills young Indians with the spirit of loyalty to the stars and stripes, and moves them out into your communities to show by their conduct and ability that the Indian is no different from the white or colored, that he has the inalienable right to liberty and opportunity that the white and the negro have (Paul Prucha 68).” The Native Americans didn’t have the liberty to live on their land as they were before the whites arrived; “By 1979, my people were no longer free, but were confined on reservations under the rule of agents (Standing Bear 69-71).” The Native American children such as Luther Standing Bear were taken from their families, land, and tradition to be reformed into a civilized American. Luther Standing Bear recalls his time at Carlisle; “The task before us was not only that of accepting new ideas and adopting new manners, but physical changes and discomfort had to be borne un complainingly until the body adjusted itself to new tastes and habits (Standing Bear 69-71).” The Native American children’s names, attire, religion, and diet were changed to that of the white Americans. “…the change in clothing, housing, food, and confinement combined with lonesomeness was too much, and in three years nearly one half of the children from the Plains were dead… (Standing Bear

It is beneficial for bilingual students to be taught in both their native language and in English to assimilate with ease into the American educational system. Gonzalez demonstrates how Native Americans, especially the Cherokees implemented English in their curriculum while also teaching them their own language. This form of teaching did not only teach

In the past couple of weeks we have participated in activities, discussed, and listened to presentations about Indigenous culture and how it is integrated in education, and what that means for our roles as teachers. This is a topic that I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to teach, and is a subject that I’ve always been interested in and enjoyed learning about.

This was a very important report because prior to it, Native American children were being sent to boarding schools were their heritage was frowned upon. “Recommendations included building day schools in Native American communities and the reform of boarding schools for Native American children.” (Parkay, F. 2001) This report was considered a landmark one because of the issues it highlighted of the educational issues plaguing the Native American community at the

Native societies and U.S. society, both benefitted from the Native’s changed opinion of education. American Indians did not see the importance in the formal, European American style of education. They viewed the learning of life skills to be more important than learning reading, writing, or arithmetic. However, after children returned to the reservations with skills that could be transferred to make reservation life easier and more productive, the Native opinion of education changed. They saw the benefit of education. Former students of boarding schools were more likely to want an education for their children. This spread throughout the tribes, until education became a normal part of reservation life.

Through the years minority groups have long endured repression, poverty, and discrimination. A prime example of such a group is the Native Americans. They had their own land and fundamental way of life stripped from them almost unceasingly for decades. Although they were the real “natives” of the land, they were driven off by the government and coerced to assimilate to the white man’s way. Unfortunately, the persecution of the Natives was primarily based on the prevalent greed for money and power. This past impeded the Native American’s preservation of their culture as many were obviated of the right to speak the native language and dress in traditional clothing. Because of this cultural expulsion, among other

The initiative focuses on how First Nation, Métis, and Inuit histories, cultures, and perspectives are being incorporated into many areas of the elementary and secondary curriculum. This will help both Aboriginal students and the rest of Ontario’s students. For Aboriginal students, the curriculum helps foster a sense of identity and positive self-image. For the rest of Ontario’s students the new dimension to the curriculum adds rich opportunities to explore, learn about, and appreciate Aboriginal communities and how they add to our province 's culture.

The Education Amendment Act is for the people of Ontario, and their goverment. All student's deserve a strong education system that prepares them for a successful future. Its providing a set of standards for the student's.

Early Native American schooling was taught in tribes. Tribes would teach their children healing arts and specialized crafts like making shell money (Nash 173). Tribes used legends as a form of education a long time ago (Fixico 41). These stories would teach important lessons like how to live in balance with nature. Many tribes would make day schools to educate children on tribal sovereignty (Ellis). In the 1840s, the Cherokees formed a system of public schools (Perdue 64). Education in tribes was an important right of the Native Americans.

NEA’s Department of Indian Education (1899) produced research on how the government’s policy of isolating and assimilating the American Indian nations negatively impacted their education. Indian