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“In her new piece for The Nation, “How America is Failing Native American Students,” writer Rebecca Clarren dives into the reasons why Native American children are falling behind academically in public schools.
Clarren writes that punitive discipline has a special way of pushing out these students, and that those who are able to attend class are receiving inadequate instruction:”
– Colorlines, READ: How Public Schools Fail Native Students.
“Here in the Jefferson County 509J School District, more than a third of all American Indian students in sixth through 12th grades were suspended at least once during the 2015–16 school year, making them more than twice as likely to be suspended from school as their white peers. Native Americans make up one-third of the district’s student population but receive nearly two-thirds of the expulsions. They are the kids that the district has “thrown away,” said Dawn Smith, a former elementary-school teacher and administrator who worked for the district for nearly 30 years.
Savannah Holliday, a poised 18-year-old who lives on the Warm Springs reservation, was expelled in each year of middle school, once after fighting with another student who, Holliday said, called her a racial slur. After she was kicked out, Holliday’s only option was to attend virtual classes like those offered in the trailer at Warm Springs. The computer-taught lessons weren’t very engaging, Holliday said, and she still doesn’t understand many basic math concepts. “I missed out on a lot of learning opportunities. You were kind of on your own—they’d have people watching you, but sometimes, if we asked for help, they couldn’t help.” Many of her classmates who were suspended or expelled eventually dropped out of school altogether. When I asked Holliday if she could introduce me to some of them, she texted back: “Most of them are pregnant, parents, addicted to drugs, moved away or dead…so would be hard for me to contact them.”
Last year, less than two-thirds of the tribal members who were enrolled as seniors in the 509J School District graduated. Warm Springs Tribal Councilwoman Carina Miller, who graduated from the district in 2005, is concerned that Native students aren’t receiving an equal education. The administrators “don’t see us as people deserving the same sort of education and opportunities,” she said. Miller was suspended several times herself, once for swearing; a white student once called her a “prairie nigger.” As a student, she added, “I felt worthless—like I wasn’t worth the effort or patience to understand who I am and my history. This school district has failed us my entire lifetime, and it continues to do this today.””
– The Nation, How America Is Failing Native American Students.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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