Educational Discrimination of Native American Students

Brittany Jackson

11 April 2016

Race and Ethnicity in American Politics

Educational Discrimination of Native American Students

Key Words:

Native American, Education, Bureau of Indian Education, Discrimination, Reservations

Key Points:

·  The history of American Indian education is troubling and despite improvement is still problematic.

·  Schools on Native American reservations are disproportionately underachieving compared to other schools. Native American students have a dropout rate twice the national average and have the highest dropout rate of any ethnic or racial group.

·  Issues affecting students attending schools on reservations are especially troublesome. Factors that affect schools on reservations include: lack of resources, high teacher turnover, rural isolation, extreme poverty, domestic violence, and alcohol/drug abuse.

·  Unequal education is discriminatory and exacerbates issues that further inequality and equal opportunity in the US.

Description

This brief focuses on the intersection between discrimination and Native Americans. More specifically, it provides an introduction to the issues and challenges which schools on Native American reservations face and how these challenges result in poor, substandard, unequal education, and is, ultimately, discriminatory.

Brief

Today, discrimination against Native Americans most likely centers on the naming of sports teams. However sensitive this issue may be, a far more pressing concern of discrimination against Native Americans isn’t occurring during Monday Night football, but in the classroom. This type of discrimination often goes unnoticed, but schools on reservations across the nation lack the resources and funding to provide Native American students with a quality education.

Researchers including Francis Prucha and Jon Reyhner divide the history of education for American Indian/Alaskan Native students into three distinct periods. Between 1819 and 1878, Mission Schools were created to educate Native students. Then, between 1879 and 1927, control over schools for American Indians transferred to the government. For both mission and government schools, education was meant to “civilize” the American Indian through religious or cultural assimilation. Students at these schools were forbidden to uphold or participate in any cultural traditions, including speaking their native language. Criticism beginning in the late 1920’s and continuing into the present, brought forth the third period based on self-determination and advanced by legislation that provides governmental funding for special programs to help Native students on and off reservations and created tribal-controlled schools [1].

Despite the advancement of Native education, major problems persist. American Indian and Alaskan Native students are at or near the greatest risks of receiving low quality education and underperforming compared to other minorities (DeVoe, 2008); The graduation rate of Native American students is lower than any other race/ethnic group (Faircloth and Tippeconnic, 2010); Of the 51% of Native American students who graduate high school, only 5% continue directly to four-year colleges, making up only 0.02% of the US college population (NCES, 2015). While these numbers point to educational discrimination of Native American students nation-wide, more troubling evidence of this discrimination exists in schools on reservations, where drop out rates and academic success indicators of students are even lower than their Native peers who attend non-reservation schools (DeVoe, 2008).

Today, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is responsible for operating and funding 184 reservation schools[2]. Despite the fact that these BIE schools only serve 8% of all Native students, systems and their students must face issues that rise from isolation and poor socioeconomic conditions, which only exacerbate previously mentioned challenges that Native students, at large, face. The issues of poverty and the challenges that rural schools face are troubling and result in the further marginalization of Native students and adversely affect the academic potential of a child. Educational discrimination occurs when marginalized students on these reservation schools struggle to receive quality education as a result of poverty and rural barriers. Like many rural schools, BIE reservation schools face substandard building conditions, lack of access to technology, and difficulty attracting and retaining teachers (Gentry and Fugate, 2012; Faircloth and Tippeconnic, 2010). In addition to these school barriers, socioeconomic and home issues create additional difficulties for students, teachers, and administrators of BIE schools. Faircloth and Tippeconnic explain that, “American Indian and Alaskan Natives are living in poverty at more than those the rate of their non-Native peers” (Faircloth and Tippeconnic, 2010). According to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, four out of five of the poorest counties in the U.S. fall either wholly or partially within American Indian reservations. These issues all make quality education very difficult for Native American students. While all the aforementioned issues adversely affect reservation schools and students, another significant issue facing BIE schools is financial. Unlike U.S. public schools, which depend on federal contributions for only 10% of the budget[3], BIE schools rely on federal contributions for 80-100% of their budget. Although sovereignty and self-determination grants tribal governments control of curriculum, and, therefore, BIE schools aren’t required to comply with US public school standards, financial dependence on the federal government and oversight from the BIE severely limits tribal self-determination. As a result of this dependence, these schools are hit the hardest when sequestration happens and are greatly affected by programs like No Child Left Behind and the Common Core, which base funding and curriculum on tests[4].

On top of abysmal scores and the number of difficulties these schools face, research on Native education is limited, resulting in complacency from politicians and policy makers. Native Americans make up only 1% of the US population and only one third of Native Americans live on reservations, making this minority ‘statistically irrelevant’ and invisible. This is discrimination and marginalizes the concerns of Native American students. Statistically irrelevant shouldn’t mean that the needs of Native American students and schools should be ignored. More information needs to be gathered, and proactive efforts need to be made to improve Native education through improved policy and legislation and collaboration between agencies and tribal governments. Unequal funding, quality, and access to education are discriminatory and exacerbate issues of economic inequality and access to equal opportunity. While this issue affects most minority students, its impact on Native American students attending reservation schools is particularly pronounced and must be addressed.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/projects/2013/native-american-education/running-in-place.html

Works Cited

DeVoe, Jill Fluery. “Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaskan Natives: 2008.” National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). September 2008.

Faircloth, Susan C., and John W. Tippeconnic III. "The Dropout/Graduation Crisis among American Indian and Alaska Native Students: Failure to Respond Places the Future of Native Peoples at Risk." Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles (2010).

Gentry, M. and Fugate, C. M. “Gifted Native American Students: Underperforming, Under- Identified, and Overlooked.” Psychology in the Schools. Vol. 49 (7): 631–646. 2007.

National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES). Undergraduate Enrollment. May 2015. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cha.asp

Prucha, Francis Paul. “Education of American Indians in the Age of Brown v. Board of Education,” Marquette Law Review. Volume 89. (2005)

Websites

http://www.edweek.org/ew/projects/2013/native-american-education/running-in-place.html

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/12/04/13sequestration_ep.h33.html

http://www.bie.edu

“A History of American Indian Education” by Jon Reyhner, with Education Week Staff. http://www.edweek.org/ew/projects/2013/native-american-education/history-of-american-indian-education.html

[1] Important legislation mentioned by both Prucha and Reyhner includes: The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the JOM Act of 1934, the Indian Self Determination and Educational Assistance Act of 1975, Indian Education Act of 1972 and Title VII of NCLB. Important reports that encouraged legislation include the Merriam Report by the Brookings Institute in 1928 and the 1969 US Senate Subcommittee “Indian Education: A National Tragedy, A National Challenge.” For more information see http://www.edweek.org/ew/projects

/2013/native-american-education/history-of-american-indian-education.html

[2] For additional information regarding the BIE, see http://www.bie.edu

[3] According to the National Center for Education Statistics: Public school spending depends on 44.5% local revenues ($264.6 billion), 45.5% state revenues ($270.4 billion), and 10% federal revenues ($59.5 billion).

[4] http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/12/04/13sequestration_ep.h33.html