T'Boli Tribe

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

Education looked remarkably different than the Education that takes place today in Canada’s schools. Before European contact, “Indigenous peoples in North America had a highly developed education system” (Neegan, 2005, p. 4). Their education was based on experiential and immersion learning in the community and in nature. The whole community was responsible for teaching the younger people through the sharing of knowledge and resources (Neegan, 2004). Respect for the environment and the land was intricately woven into all forms of learning, as the land is the center of their livelihood

(This article clearly indicated that the quantity of indigenous children who are placed in out-of-home care setting. It showed that although it is a fact that family and culture are very important to the indigenous people, the out-of-home care environment is decreasing the connection between children and their families and

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 program was launched in 1989, when the Tribal Council of the First Nations community, Meadow Lake, approached the University of Victoria seeking to collaborate in the development and community-based delivery of an education program (Ball, 2004). The Elders wanted a curriculum from a university-accredited institution that was still grounded in their own cultures. They also wanted input from representatives of their community. A pilot program evolved from these initial discussions, focusing on the principles of empowerment. A generative curriculum was developed to deliver information in a culturally appropriate fashion. In order to preserve culture, certain activities were conducted on an ongoing manner. These activities included Elder involvement, as the Elders are the keepers of knowledge, language maintenance and cultural practices. The program was a great success – while the national completion rate among First Nations students in diploma level postsecondary programs in Canada in below 40%, the FNPP obtained a 75% completion rate (Ball, 2014). The National Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Ovide Mercredi, once said “When you heal a child, you heal a family; when you heal a family you heal a community; when you heal a community, you heal a nation (Richardson and Blanchet-Cohen, 2000). The FNPP embodies this message, using education as a tool for the Aboriginal

As many other tribe names, the name Tlingit means “the people”, or essential human being. The Tlingit are one of the many first nation tribes that lived and still currently live in Alaska. They live alongside many other tribes, which include the Northern Haida (Kaigani) and the Tsimshian (de Laguna 1: pp 13). The Tlingit have formed close ties with the Haida tribe. Though it is estimated that the Haida are a newer tribe to the area both tribes have common interests and have worked together to establish a Central Council; in 1935 which according to their website was originally established to deal with land issues on behalf of the tribes which relied on their lands for subsistence and survival (“About us” www.ccthita.org). Part of the need for the council is that unlike many tribes many tribes, particularly those of the lower the United

The, “Sorrow of the Lonely and the Burning of the Dancers”, is a ethnography written by anthropologist Edward Schieffelin, derived from his fieldwork with the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. The main focus of the book of the book is how many of the fundamental notions that are implicit in Kaluli culture are found in the Gisaro ceremony, which Schieffelin uses as, “a lens through which to view some of the fundamental issues of Kaluli life and society” (p1).

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

History shows that Residential School created a big problem for the Indigenous people. Furthermore, children were ripped from their traditional homes and families, they didn’t receive the same education as the other children in regular public schools. Students were discourage from pursuing further educations. Not to mention, the, the emotional, physical and sexual abuse they suffer from the hands of their abuser

From oral tradition we know that the Ojibwa, Ottawa and the Potawatomi fought the Sauks and scared them out of the Saginaw valley . From other readings the Sauks and the Fox tribes left the area and moved in to the Wisconsin near Green Bay.

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.

In addition to the loss of culture and language for indigenous people, they are also experiencing the loss of their traditional lands and native environment. For indigenous people, much personal and group meaning comes from the natural environment and as a result, their religious practices are deeply rooted in the environment in which they live. When the environment that they rely on is taken away for development, both their cultural and religious identity suffers.

“Ancestral lines” by John Barker is a book about the anthropologist’s experience in the Uiaku village located in Papua New Guinea. In the first chapter, Barker tells his readers briefly about him and his education, his and his wife’s experience with the Maisin community, and talks in great detail about the Maisin and their culture in the Uiaku village.