Continuing issues of poverty stricken the Native American community, however the poor result of the education system being provided upon reservations doesn’t help their way of life to become any better. In the economy of today, a high-quality education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a requirement to success. President Obama has made a goal for education that includes raising the bar for Native American students on reservations. In his first term, he signed an Executive Order to establish the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education and to strengthen the relationship between the Departments of Education and the Interior. Native American students continue to lag behind the bare minimal of the …show more content…
There has also been a need for quality teachers in Indian schools. However, due to rural isolation, teachers have lower salaries, higher poverty rates, and a difference in languages and cultures. With compiled data, it shows that 22 percent of Native American ages 25 and older have not finished high school, and only 13 percent have a bachelor’s degree, according to the findings from the National Center for Education Statistics. The standards are lacking for natives on education, and along with crime in schools it becomes difficult to recruit and retain quality teachers in Indian schools. Schools aboard reservations continue to be plagued with safety concerns, high suspension and expulsion rates, and the highest percentage of all groups to report injury with weapons and fights on school grounds. Furthering the need for special education teachers is also growing since representation of students in special education is at 18 percent, almost double the rest of the student population in the country that is at 10 percent. Many officials have notice the problem, The Bureau of Indian Education states “those that we fund, are historically some of the lowest performing …show more content…
Making this plan possible funding will be used from existing accounts from non-profit and philanthropic organizations. Also, different steps need to be taken into consideration for implementation of a different curriculum. Special programs for students need to be done to integrate programs into a culture-based curriculum rather than as add-on curriculum. Appropriate training for teachers also needs to be taken into account to ensure the experiences that occur in the community and correlate that in to the classroom. Decreasing the native student dropout rate, lessons need to be more academically interesting with updated textbooks, and a strategic plan to make things more interesting than boring; which has constituted too many students leaving. Records have shown that students that disrupt and fail are allowed to continue attendance without any alternative put in place; a system needs to be developed to separate and reform. Development of dropout prevention programs which track students and provide community based intervention, support, and treatment programs along with mental guidelines will need to be
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
To Entering and adjusting to college is often stressful on any student but for Native Americans it is often more stressful. The number of under-graduate students enrolled in college in the U.S. in fall of 2012, was17.7 million, Native Americans account for approximately .9% of the total population of college students. (U.S. Department of Education, 2015)On average, 57.5% of students who entered a four-yearinstitution of higher education in the United States in the year 2000 graduated within six years.Only 40.2% of Native American students who entered four-year institutions in that same year graduated within six years.(Crosby, 2011) Areas that can highly affect a Native Americans success at college are family support, structured social support,
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.
I recently read chapter 1 of the book Next Steps: Research and practice to advance Indian education, edited by: Karen G. Swisher and John W. Tippeconnic III. This chapter is titled: The unnatural history of American Indian Education. The chapter was about the colonial education and stereotypical beliefs about the culture and capability of Native Americans. I noticed the words natural and true showed up quite often, natural to me means not human made and true meaning the truth with facts. It was stated that there are four tenets of colonial education (the reculturing and reeducation of American Indians by the secular and religious institutions of colonizing nations). 1. Native Americans were savages and had to be civilized. 2. Civilization
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
Our nation’s history has been deep rooted in the conflict involving Native Americans, ever since the beginning of America and it is one hard to get rid of even as the days go by. The impact of colonialism can be seen in Native American communities even today, and it can only be understood through a cultural perspective once you experience it. Aaron Huey, who is a photographer, went to Pine Ridge reservation and it led him to document the poverty and issues that the Sioux Indians go through as a result of the United States government’s long term actions and policies against them. One must question all sources regarding these topics because there is a lot of biased and misinformation about Native American struggles, and sometimes schools do not thoroughly teach the truth so students can get an insight. There are also different sociological perspectives in this conflict, along with many differing opinions on how to approach the problem and deal with it. This is where ideas clash because people believe their views are right regarding how to handle it.
This was an attempt to provide support and cooperation within federal agencies for Tribal Colleges. Few students attending Tribal Colleges even apply for federal aid and when they do, the awards rarely cover what they owe. The majority of students in these tribal colleges are single, female, and older than average. Based on what is known of the socioeconomic status of reservations, this may be the result of the death of a husband or the need to provide for an extended family unit. Native Americans account for less than 1 percent of all students in higher education (American Indian Higher Education Consortium,
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.
was only 53 percent compared to 67 percent for Native American students who attended public
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
As stated by Heather Sholten, author of the newspaper article "State of Emergency for Indian Education", she explains that "The problems of native students begins long before they reach high school. The percentage of American Indians and Alaska Native fourth-graders scoring below basic on the national assessment of educational progress increased by two points between 2005 and 2011 – – even as a percentage of fourth-graders struggling in math declined by five points in that same period." This quote highlights how early educational problem may begin well before students even enter high school. This means that we should focus more on early education, rather than trying to fix the problem while they’re in high school.
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.
As an Indigenous Education Advisor, I’ve witnessed a shift in the commitment to educate non-Indigenous students about First Nation, Métis and Inuit people in post-secondary institutions. My experience in developing an Indigenous Awareness Week and conducting assessments to measure the learning outcomes of non-Indigenous students has led me to want to do research in this area. I would like to further look at long-term effects of Indigenous programming for non-Indigenous students to determine how to develop effective and valuable Indigenous programming in higher education. What attracts me to the Department of Integrated Studies in Education are the positive experiences and interactions I’ve had with students and professors from the department. Both Dr. Claudia Mitchell’s and Dr. Naomi Nichols’s research appeals to me and I believe can give a unique perspective to my work.
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.