Native American Poverty

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.

A trending issue throughout Native American tribes is low high school graduation rates and high retention rates. There are many reasons why these rates are so low and the national and local governments are working hard to solve these problems. Some reasons why these schools have such high retention rates are the fact there is very little recognition for schools, the lack of a more modern learning environment,and situations such as teen pregnancies, substance abuse, and household situations. These all have a direct correlation to why Native American youth have such high retention rates.

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.

The area I will be living and working in is severely crippled by poverty, despite the fact that it exists in a relatively well-off county in the US, a country with the common perception of having a high standard of living. I hope to learn a lot about how this happened, and what this group of people, who is extremely unrepresented and often feels invisible, thinks should be done about it. The Native American people I will be living and working with will have a completely different perspective than I do, and I am hoping to absorb as much of their stories and viewpoints as possible while I am there. I also plan to learn on a deeper level about the conditions in which they are forced to survive in and, in that, learn more about possible poverty

Various federal government policies or actions have significantly impacted the daily lives of Native Americans today. One such action is one taken by President Grant in 1865 that required all American Indian to be taken away from their homes and families and be placed in boarding schools. This action was meant to separate American Indians from their culture. However, this action has greatly impacted the climate of schools and the education system towards American Indians. Many American Indian children continue to be belittled in school as there is a cultural bias that has existed against this native community for years (Martinez, 2014). Because of this cultural bias, many Native Americans continue to drop out of schools today.

All groups do not have the same rate of poverty. In terms of age, race, and geography, minorities are the most likely to be affected by poverty. Of those minorities, poverty is most affecting to Native Americans. Geographically, it seems that the southern states are the most poverty stricken, but there are some northern states that have high rates of poverty like Michigan. When it comes to age, children under the age of 18 are more likely to be affected by poverty compared to those who are 65 years and older. At about 1975 the poverty rates by age completely flipped. Before 1975, the elderly had a much higher poverty rate than those under the age of 18, but at 1975 the poverty levels for children began to increase dramatically, and those of

The high school graduation rate for First Nations is at 31%, while the non-aboriginal graduation rate is 72%. It is said that 7 in 10 First Nations won’t graduate from highschool. People think low of Aboriginals because they drop out of school and get themselves into trouble, but they never think about how we could prevent this from happening. Some First Nations are dropping out because they feel that their culture isn’t being supported. Non-Aboriginals get to learn about their cultures and go to schools that support them, but they don’t. They feel like people are trying to change them. They don’t want to go somewhere they don’t feel accepted for being

Debate has reopened on a subject surrounded by controversy and a shameful history. Dating back to the 1800’s, American Indian Reservations and treaty agreements are little-understood by today’s mainstream society. A recent article on Native American Policy addresses some important questions about whether Native Americans should be integrated into mainstream life in the United States, and if sovereignty and segregation are the best policy for American Indian welfare (“Native American Policy”).

Is there a lack of employment opportunities, or are there opportunities and the Native Americans are not being awarded the positions? When reviewing the data provided by the EPI one can see that education seems to have a very significant impact on hiring. Accordingly, “the better educated a population, the higher its employment rate” (Austin, 013, pg. 13.) To whit, when comparing American Indians to whites the education gap is obvious: 22% of whites have a Bachelor’s degree while only 12% of Native Americans do; and the dropout rate is double that of whites: with only 7.1% of whites dropping out of high school, but 13.5 % of Native American do. Much of the education programs administered in the United States is web based and relies on the usage of computers to employ their educational agenda. Sadly, the Native American children as plagued by what has been identified as the “digital divide” (www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/native.html), noted as a lack of ability to get on the worldwide web to both continue and support their studies. This “digital divide” is yet another contributor to the education gap. While reviewing the education gap data from the EPI, we see that the odds of an American Indian being employed (when compared to those with less than a high school diploma or GED equivalent) is remarkable relevant: having a high school diploma makes one 108% greater chance of being employed, some college education have a 192% greater

The history of the Native Americans and the white colonist that would become the United States of America have always been a disaster for the Native Americans. The land greed of the whites had driven the tribes of the East west, and destroyed the culture of the Midwestern Plains tribes. Near constant war with the Native American finally appeared to come to a peaceful solution. The Native Americans resisted the American way of life because they did not understand it, education was the key to civilizing the Native Americans. The government’s broken promises and the cruelty of the white settlers were symptoms of the greater Indian problem. The Indians refused to stop being Indians, despite the efforts of Washington and missionaries to teach

The oppression of Native culture and traditions by the government led to the issues faced today. Native Americans are more at risk for suicide and alcoholism than any other group in America. Furthermore, the natives are not being heard. There is an access pipeline that the government wants to put through reservations in Dakota. This pipe would contaminate drinking water and disrupt the native community. Natives are protesting this, but they have not been heard. The government’s oppression throughout history led to them not being heard today. Even though natives were displaced to reservations the government wants to disrupt their community again, because there is no regard for natives lives. According to the powerpoint presentations about Native American issues, “Native American suicide rate is higher than any other ethnicity… 40% of natives take their lives between 15 and 24.” These alarming statistics show that because of the conditions the government forced them into, Native Americans are more likely to commit suicide. This awful trend continues with, “1 in 10 Native American deaths are from alcoholism… [and] ¼ of children suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome.” This shows that alcoholism rates are extremely high. These rates are caused by the government’s oppression and displacement to reservations. Overall, Native Americans have been extremely affected by exploitation and

The tragic plight of the Native American culture can be traced back to the times of Christopher Columbus. The Italian explorer, who was on a mission from Spain, was the first to meet these native people he incorrectly called “Indians.” These people had been living on the North American continent for thousands of years. The settlers arriving in America to start a new life would end up pushing the Native American population further from their native lands and further from their traditional way of life. The history of the Native Americans is one filled with unspeakable horrors perpetrated upon them by those who came to America to find a New World.

Basic Argument- Native American students in Alaska disproportionally receive less involvement, support, and interaction from university faculty and staff, causing a decline in the completion of their collegiate studies.

Once their territories were taken, surviving Native Americans were denied equality before the law and often treated wards of the state. Most Native Americans were relegated to reservations, constituting 4% of U.S. territory. The treaties signed were violated. Thousands and thousands of Native Americans were forced to boarding schools, which sought to re-educate us in white settler American values, culture, and economy "to kill the Indian, saving the white man." While formal equality has been legally granted, American Indians remain among the most economically disadvantaged groups in this country, and we suffer from high levels of alcoholism and suicide.

This article examines the higher unemployment rates that contributes to poverty among American and Alaskan Natives. The author acknowledges that there have been some positive changes that helped improve the economy in the tribal populations but dispate those changes, Natives still the poorest of all the minorities in the United States. The author analyses the factors of higher rates of poverty and shares strategies to address the root issues of the major problems. In this paper, the unemployment of natives is compared to the unemployment of other minorities and the white populations. It has two parts, the first part establishes that unemployment rate of Natives American is lower that the white rate and that discrimination and lack of education might be one of the factors that blocks the improvement of Natives Americans. In the second, the author offers solutions to these issues. Some of these solutions are that the government needs to support strong Native American self-governance and determination. Economic development institutions need to be created in areas needed and the existing institutions need to be strengthened. Also programs need to be conducted to support education of youth population to increase graduation rates and reduce employment. Lastly, research seed to be conducted in areas that have the best higher rates of employment to see what factors are producing those higher rates so they can applied to areas with low employment. The researches need to be made as