Post by Okwes on Mar 2, 2006 11:09:54 GMT -5
Indian educator asks Congress for help
NIEA head gives annual address
WASHINGTON DC
Native American Times 2/27/2006
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=76\
02
<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7\
602>
A plea for Congress to take note and action of the problems facing
Indian youth comes from the head of the National Indian Education
Association.
The association's Ryan Wilson (Oglala Lakota), gave the State of
Indian Education address at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
"The conscience of America can never be clear, the state of American
education can never be strong, so long as Indian Country lives on a
lonely island of educational poverty, amidst of vast ocean of wealth and
educational opportunity for all Americans, except the first
Americans," Wilson said.
Wilson began his address with a history lesson. In 1969, Congress
requested a study of the learning conditions in Indian Country. The
results of that study, published as "Indian Education: A National
Tragedy - A National Challenge, were a "stinging critique,"
Wilson said. "We ranked at the bottom of every social, health,
economic, and yes, education indicator in America."
Fast-forward 37 years and thing have not improved much, he said.
"American Indian and Alaska Native children live in conditions that
the rest of America would never accept. The poverty rate of our children
is three times that of white children. The suicide rates of our children
are more than double the national average," he said, adding that
Native children are 200 times percent more likely to die in a car
accident because reservation roads are the most dangerous in the
country.
There are some bright spots. Wilson commended tribal colleges for
producing "more Native graduates in institutions of higher learning
in the last 30 years than all of the mainstream universities across
America combined" and said that "Indian Head Start programs have
graduated thousands of Native American children who do remarkably better
than their counterparts who have never had those opportunities to attend
Head Start."
He closed the address by making a series of requests:
-Asked Congress to convene an Indian education summit.
- Requested a "commitment to fuel the tribal language revitalization
movement, greater teacher support, flexibility and acknowledgment of the
unique contexts of Native schools, and data collection, and research
with culturally appropriate design models and methodologies."
-Re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
-Greater input from Native leaders when Congress debates the No Child
Left Behind Act.
According to the NIEA website, the association is a "membership
based organization committed to increasing educational opportunities and
resources for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
students while protecting our cultural and linguistic traditions."
NIEA head gives annual address
WASHINGTON DC
Native American Times 2/27/2006
www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=76\
02
<http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7\
602>
A plea for Congress to take note and action of the problems facing
Indian youth comes from the head of the National Indian Education
Association.
The association's Ryan Wilson (Oglala Lakota), gave the State of
Indian Education address at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
"The conscience of America can never be clear, the state of American
education can never be strong, so long as Indian Country lives on a
lonely island of educational poverty, amidst of vast ocean of wealth and
educational opportunity for all Americans, except the first
Americans," Wilson said.
Wilson began his address with a history lesson. In 1969, Congress
requested a study of the learning conditions in Indian Country. The
results of that study, published as "Indian Education: A National
Tragedy - A National Challenge, were a "stinging critique,"
Wilson said. "We ranked at the bottom of every social, health,
economic, and yes, education indicator in America."
Fast-forward 37 years and thing have not improved much, he said.
"American Indian and Alaska Native children live in conditions that
the rest of America would never accept. The poverty rate of our children
is three times that of white children. The suicide rates of our children
are more than double the national average," he said, adding that
Native children are 200 times percent more likely to die in a car
accident because reservation roads are the most dangerous in the
country.
There are some bright spots. Wilson commended tribal colleges for
producing "more Native graduates in institutions of higher learning
in the last 30 years than all of the mainstream universities across
America combined" and said that "Indian Head Start programs have
graduated thousands of Native American children who do remarkably better
than their counterparts who have never had those opportunities to attend
Head Start."
He closed the address by making a series of requests:
-Asked Congress to convene an Indian education summit.
- Requested a "commitment to fuel the tribal language revitalization
movement, greater teacher support, flexibility and acknowledgment of the
unique contexts of Native schools, and data collection, and research
with culturally appropriate design models and methodologies."
-Re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
-Greater input from Native leaders when Congress debates the No Child
Left Behind Act.
According to the NIEA website, the association is a "membership
based organization committed to increasing educational opportunities and
resources for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
students while protecting our cultural and linguistic traditions."