Native Americans and Education in Arizona

 

Research

    To understand the state of Native American education, we must start at the beginning. Native Americans have a contentious history with the education system in North America as a whole. Starting in the 1860s Native Americans were forces into Indian boarding schools in an effort to assimilate them to American culture and “Kill the Indian” and “save the man” (AIRC, n.d.)  These boarding schools were horrendously abusive environments for the children, even to the point of death. The rights of Native American parents were taken away, giving them no choice but to send their children to these schools. At least four of these schools were in the state of Arizona. The 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act gave rights back to the parents, but these schools still existed in America through the 1980s and 1990s into the early 2000s (AIRC, n.d.). With this foundation, it is understandable that the state of education in the Native American community is fractured and in need of help. 

    Today, Native Americans have a higher dropout rate than any other ethnic group in the U.S.. They are also more likely than white students to face disciplinary actions and make up three percent of school incident reports even though they only make up one percent of U.S. school population (Pinto, 2020). These statistics are reflected in the Arizona 2019 Indian Education Annual Report. Native American students are more likely to drop out of school than their peers regardless of race and less likely to graduate (Arizona 2019 Indian Education Annual Report, 2019). 

    Sixteen percent of the lowest graded schools in Arizona have high populations of Native American students (Groenig, 2020). All of these statistics affect the way that Native American students and parents view education in America. Nadine Groenig, the director of Indian education at the Arizona Department of Education says that parents do not advocate for their children because they do not know how and must be empowered to do so. She believes that Arizona lawmakers are ignoring their duties to their Native American students by failing to support them with the resources to succeed (Groenig ,2020). 

Reflection

    Statistics also show that there is a lack of connection between Native American students, their culture, and their education. As an educator, I would try to include the cultures of all my students into my curriculum. More specifically, I would make a concerted effort to treat my students equally and equitably and to make my students aware of what that means. In my research I found various videos in which Native American students expressed how they felt about being in the American school system. Most of what I heard was about their treatment as people. They talked about how teachers stereotype them and assume the worst in them. It seems plausible that this translates into negative attitudes about school and about themselves, which leads to poor performance and dropout rates. With Native American students there is less emphasis on language learning because, unfortunately, the percentage of Native American students who speak native languages is in single digits (NIES, 2019). What teachers need to focus more on is nurturing their Native American students and giving them academic and emotional confidence. 

References

Groenig, N. (2020, March 6). Arizona lawmakers are failing Native American students. Arizona Mirror. Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.azmirror.com/2020/03/06/arizona-lawmakers-are-failing-native-american-students/. 

History and Culture: Boarding Schools. American Indian Relief Council. (n.d.). Retrieved January 16, 2022, from http://www.nativepartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=airc_hist_boardingschools 

Office of Indian Education, Arizona 2019 Indian Education Annual Report (2020). Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.azed.gov/sites/default/files/oie/files/2020/07/Arizona_2019_Indian_Education_Annual_Report_Final_July-2020.pdf. 

Pinto, A. (2020, July 15). American spirit: Why school dropout rates among Native American students are higher than any other ethnic group. MEAWW. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://meaww.com/american-spirit-native-american-school-drop-out-rates-high-than-any-ethnic-group-education-issues 

U.S. Department of Education, Rampey, B. D., Faircloth, S. C., Whorton, R. P., & Deaton, J., National Indian Education Study 2019 (2021). Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/studies/pdf/2021018.pdf. 

YouTube. (2018). A Conversation With Native Americans on Race | Op-Docs. YouTube. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siMal6QVblE&ab_channel=TheNewYorkTimes. 

YouTube. (2019). Native American Students Respond to American Education. YouTube. Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM-aVROi4D0&ab_channel=MatikaWilbur.