Issues with Native American Education Essay

At the outset, data indicates that Alaska native students fall behind non-natives in academics at Alaska

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 oppression of people is often thought of as a political inequality. There are various forms of oppression. The forms of oppression typically thought of are violence and exploitation. However, as a society America does not see the oppression created by a lack of education that happens throughout schools. Education is a tool required for societies to advance. Lack of advancements caused by this oppression has the ability to stunt a community. Without proper education, Native Americans cannot leave this vicious cycle of oppression they face. (Congress, Chairman Rokita 2015). Native Americans are known to have the highest unemployment rates as well as the highest poverty rate. They are also known as the most educationally oppressed race in America. (U.S. Census, 2012a, 2012b). The achievement gap of Native Americans continues to widen, as the achievement gaps between other races decrease. Other forms of oppression, such as the government oppression in education, oppression of wealth (monetarily and resources) in education, and cultural oppression in education all contribute to the achievement gap of Native Americans. However, there are various solutions arising in attempt to lessen the Achievement Gap.

People have been living in the Americas for thousands of years. Only fairly recently, the past few hundred years, have foreigners begun to arrive and drastically disrupt the way of life of the aboriginal population. The situation has become so severe that a population that was one believed to be numbered in the millions, was at one point reduced to as few as 220,000 in 1910, and entire tribes have been either irretrievably warped or have disappeared altogether. While Native American Indians have almost completely recovered population-wise, they will never catch up to the rest of the world, and their culture can never fully recuperate. At the time the United States was settled by Europeans, it was abundantly populated by dozens of

Native Americans are always struggling with identification with their tribes traditions compared to Euro-American traditions. Counselors need to recognize that many Native Americans feel uncomfortable when talking about things outside of their context.

During America’s Gilded Age, a drastic change in the west transpired. While many Native Americans had already endured profound changes, their freedom was about to become nearly extinct. It was a time in which they called the Second Industrial Revolution. There was an ample amount of natural resources and a development in the market for manufactured goods. Railroad companies flourished and alas, Indian removal was imperative in obtaining land for laborers and miners (Foner, Give Me Liberty!, p.477). As Americans wanted to take their land, they also wanted to strip Native Americans of their culture. The federal government strived in trying to civilize them, so The Bureau of Indian Affairs created boarding schools all over the west in the 1870s. These schools were for Native American children of all ages. The goal was complete “assimilation” (Mabalon, 9/9/15). The children were forced to dress differently, they gained new names, and they were isolated from any cultural influence. It was as though they were forced to give up tradition. It caused them to start having hatred towards their culture and to be ashamed of themselves. Native Americans lost their values and their freedom almost completely. They were essentially being taught how to be white capitalists. (Mabalon, 9/9/15). It wasn’t until after a long, painful struggle and resistance that they finally gained citizenship for all in 1924. Even then, there was still a great way to go until the Native Americans were able to

Perhaps it is no surprise that, not providing libraries etc. within the Attawapiskat temporary schools due to poor funding, leads Indigenous student to have a low academic achievement. Therefore, poor funding and under resources of schools on reserves like Attawapiskat is another direct reason why Indigenous students are more likely not to finish high school in comparison to non-indigenous (Pidgeon, 2015). Hence, their inability to finish high school will affect their ability to obtain greater life chances of employment.

In the Indigenous community, when the community is faced with a trauma, it takes seven generations for the community to heal (Trimble, 2015). People may underestimate how oppressed and how much suffering the Indigenous communities had to struggle with, and continue to struggle with these issues today. We may underestimate how severe the situation is because many of us were not taught much about the impact of colonization on the Indigenous communities in school. There are many myths people may have concerning Indigenous life experiences, particularly schooling. To address these myths, I would begin by giving a brief history of residential schools. I would then analyze how residential schools have impacted the indigenous community and how they continue to affect them today. I would also mention the current issues children on reserves are facing today regarding school. Lastly, I would mention some of the progress that has been made. I will use the work of Sefa Dei to demonstrate the importance of community in education regarding the Indigenous people.

Many Native Americans are unaware of opportunities that are available due to the isolation that they face on reservations. In 1992 only seventy-eight percent of Native Americans received a high school diploma. This makes Native Americans the least likely of all minority groups, besides Hispanics, to obtain a high school degree. One main reason for Native Americans being unable to obtain a high school diploma is having to leave school to get a job. If a member of their family faces an illness or disability that causes them to be unable to work, the younger members of the family are going to need to help provide for the family. In many cases there is not a disability or illness, Native Americans have very poor wages and are unable to survive on only two incomes. Only eleven percent of Native Americans continues on to college after high school and receives a degree. Being a minority student automatically gives Native Americans a

So many Native Americans are dropping out of school because of the indignities that they are dealing with and not feeling like they are welcome at school. Not many of the Native American families are giving the students the guidance that they need to be successful either. A quote on page 53 really struck me "Everyone in the school knew that if a white kid and an Indian kid got into a fight, the Indian kids would be forced into signing an affidavit and hauled away." I think that this quote bothered me so much because the Native Americans know for the beginning that they will not have the opportunity to tell their side of the story if they when up against a white kid in a fight. Some issues that they still face today would include racial discrimination

Native American communities experience high rates of poverty, substance abuse, suicide, and violent crime. Nearly one quarter of the Native American population lives under the national poverty level. These numbers are over ten percent higher than the national average for all populations which is 14%. The BIA and other government agencies are committed to ensuring Indian communities have a culturally appropriate education that will prepare them to be productive citizens and leaders in their communities and the building blocks needed to build more prosperous Indian communities and economies.

In The Lessons from Turtle Island, the article presents information about how today’s classrooms are not representing Native American peoples, and also how the Native American culture is being omitted from our schools. The Lessons from Turtle Island points out several issues in schools.“Issues such as the blatant stereotyping of Native peoples within schools, and their almost total exclusion from curriculum materials, do not even make it to the table to be discussed(7).” The article states that in early childhood classrooms Native American peoples are not being portrayed well, or in some cases not at all. The Lessons from Turtle Island has a concern with the Omission of Native American materials from the curriculum in early childhood education.“American Indian peoples are typically ignored in early child hood programs(8).”The issue with not incorporating Native American peoples in classrooms is that children will not know if Native Americans even exist and that can open children up to stereotypical images of

Children were taken away from their homes and told everything they knew was wrong. They were sent to boarding schools to change their culture. These boarding schools were run by the United States government. The government's goal was to civilize Native Americans. They sent children to these schools against their will. Native American children were educated like Americans and they had to change their native ways to be more like whites (Cayton 266). Teachers abused their students and beat their native ways out of them. They were not allowed to see their families so they would try to escape, but their attempts were unsuccessful. The United States government’s Boarding Schools of the mid-late 1800s irreparably changed Native American culture.

As a result, many Native American advocacy organizations complied the testimonies and proof of the alarming statistics and presented this before Congress. This information included documentation of the devastating effect of governmental policies and actions toward Indian children were having not just on the children themselves, but on the larger tribal communities from which they were taken. (The Tribal Institute, 2000). As a result of the policies and practices of State social service agencies as well as the Federal Indian boarding and mission schools, vast numbers of Tribal children had been raised and educated by non-members and non-Indians. (The Tribal Institute, 2000). These large numbers of youth being raised by non-Native American families, posed a threat to many tribes’ cultural heritage in that it would be lost or forgotten. If these families continued to deteriorate and children were removed from their native homes, there would soon be very few native tribe members able to carry on the duties, obligations and expectations that surround the fundamental ways in which tribal customs and traditions are expressed and exercised. (The Tribal Institute, 2000). The fear for losing native decedents of Indian tribes was a portion of a larger fear that many Indian practices, cultural and heritage components, beliefs, languages and communities would be lost. This was a large contributing factor to

In contemporary Australian education, students’ achievement standards are compared nationally and globally, establishing them in the educational landscape. Education is identified and applauded as a strong component in lifting socio-economic disadvantage. Yet, high-standards and excellence often struggles to change the nature and outcomes of educational failure in various groups, including Indigenous people. This essay discusses whole school and classrooms practise that supports educating Indigenous students. Indigenous placement and displacement, the impact of socioeconomic status and how it effects Indigenous students and their health and well-being is explained and illustrated with examples of resources and tools for educators.