Tribal Colleges Essay

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.

It is clear that the Native American community has, for decades, been struggling with heavy doses of this problem. The fact that the poverty rate in these reservations is not even just minimally higher than the national rate, but the fact that they are three times as high, is quite alarming. Additionally, “from 2007 to 2011, only blacks (25.8 percent) and American Indians/Alaska Natives (27 percent) had poverty rates that exceeded the U.S. poverty rate of 14.3 percent by 10 percentage points or more” (Crenshaw, 2014). It should garner attention the fact that nearly half of the children in these reservations are possibly going to sleep hungry, or are lacking of essential items. It nearly half of children were living under such extreme forms of poverty anywhere else, it surely would be featured in the first block of news

However, when looking at the nation and middle class students as a whole, not everyone is eligible for these. Just a year of average grades can disqualify one from thousands of dollars in merit scholarships. According to College Raptor, an average of $5,750 was awarded to undergraduates as gift aid in the 2012-2013 school year (Wignall). With an annual estimated cost of $24,610 for a public in-state university, this gift aid, along with the $4,000 from grants and other sources, leaves approximately $14,000 in college debt each year — $56,000 after 4 years (“Average Estimated Undergraduate Budget”). These numbers speak for

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

School and education was a big topic in Sherman Alexie’s, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, as the author reflects his personal life story into the protagonists’ story in the book. In the novel, Junior is a teenage kid who loves to read, but every time he goes to school in the Spokane reservation, he notices the poor education that is offered. From unmotivated teachers, to using the same textbook his own mother used to use, he knew he would end up like everyone else at the reservation, depressed, having low paying jobs, not motivated to make a change in the world. In order to be able to go to college, he knew he had to study at a high school outside of his reservation, because he would not have the education the college demanded if he stayed. During his years at the new high school away from his home, he missed a lot of school days due to funerals and ceremonies he had to attend back in his reservation. Even if Junior understood that, going to college might be difficult to do so if he was going to be attending the events at his reservation, he knew he was able to go to college from the education he gained at the new high school he attended. Similar to the article by Guillory and Wolverton, Junior, or Alexie, were able to attend college because of the high school transfer, which gained them higher quality education. Something not many Native American teenagers have the opportunity to do so, or the self-motivation, as they are still, more than likely, accepting

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,

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 rebirth of D-Q University describes how none of the leaders of the American tribal college movement and one of the nation’s 34 tribal colleges faced financial difficulties, accreditation challenges resulting in the college being faced with the decision whether to close its doors or not. Leadership failure to reach Indian students before the accreditation was revoked is thought to be a primary issue creating low student enrollment. We will discuss background, issues, analysis, and make recommendations addressing the leadership failures in the areas of power structures, leadership, systems thinking, organizational culture, and ethics impacting the college ability to re-open its doors to the Indian

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 1978, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) passed through Congress in response to “a crisis affecting American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children, family and tribes (NICWA, 2017).” ICWA’s was enacted due to an exorbitant amount of Native American children being removed from their parents and stripped of their heritage as children were forced to assimilate to the dominant culture. Approximately 85% of the 25-35% of children were “placed outside of their families and communities (NICWA, 2017),” often in off-reservation federally funded boarding schools and/or foster placements where the values of christian, white, blue-collar were emphasized to “civilize” the children (Atwood, 2017). Native American children were often

Now most receive less than 50 percent” (Hulsey 24). Some schools, such as the University of Michigan, receive less than seven percent (Hulsey 24). These numbers hit some schools extremely hard. According to Hulsey in his article about the cost of education:

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