Post by Okwes on May 30, 2006 15:50:36 GMT -5
Be Proud (edu)
Indian education official: Wear feather and plumes for graduation
Wilson says items show honor
Sam Lewin 5/22/2006
The head of the National Indian Education Association has a message for
Native American graduates: Don’t be afraid to display your cultural
identity when you get that diploma.
Responding to a series of incidents in the past few years where Native
students caused controversy by wearing cultural items, NIEA president
Ryan Wilson says he worries about ”misguided administrators” opposed to
students wearing plumes and eagle feathers on their caps and gowns.
“ This is a phenomenon that is occurring in graduation ceremonies
throughout America, and came to the fore-front last year when a
Blackfeet girl from Portland, Oregon, had eagle plumes physically ripped
from her graduation cap,” Wilson said. “I spoke with the Superintendent
from Douglas School District [and] she explained to me that the whole
event could have been avoided if only the family would have called
district officials before the graduation ceremony. The Superintendent
went on to explain that they would have told the family that this was
not allowable, and hence the family would not have forced the district
to physically remove the plumes from her mortar board.”
A similar situation occurred in the Oklahoma town of Wellston in 2003.
The school district refused to allow a Navajo girl to wear an eagle
plume to her commencement.
Last year a Cherokee student in Maryland was prevented from receiving
his diploma after wearing a bolo tie to graduation.
Wilson, Oglala Lakota, said officials put limits on what students can
wear to prevent them from “making a mockery out of the cap and gown.”
But attaching cultural items achieves the opposite goal, Wilson said.
“Unfortunately, Native American students who wish to honor the
graduation event and their academic experience are punished by schools
because of the acts of their non-Indian counterparts,” he said, adding
that by placing so much emphasis on the cap and gown, education
officials exaggerate its importance.
Wilson says since wearing the cultural items is a form of honor, student
should defy the rules and don them anyway. As he puts it, do not even
feel the need to ask for permission.
“ The [NIEA] not only supports this, but we encourage it, even if it’s
in defiance of ill-conceived school district policies,” he said. “When
Native students wear these feathers and plumes, they are actually
honoring and blessing the cap/mortar board and gown, the graduation
ceremony itself, their classmates, and the schools in which they are
graduating from. This is completely opposite of what mainstream students
do when they are mocking the event by writing on the mortar board,
wearing inappropriate clothes and shoes. The symbolism itself of
honoring both cultures, and elevating the status of academic attire by
being willing to attach our plumes and feathers to the cap and gown
completes the commitment of Native peoples to advance cultural integrity
in education.”
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com
Indian education official: Wear feather and plumes for graduation
Wilson says items show honor
Sam Lewin 5/22/2006
The head of the National Indian Education Association has a message for
Native American graduates: Don’t be afraid to display your cultural
identity when you get that diploma.
Responding to a series of incidents in the past few years where Native
students caused controversy by wearing cultural items, NIEA president
Ryan Wilson says he worries about ”misguided administrators” opposed to
students wearing plumes and eagle feathers on their caps and gowns.
“ This is a phenomenon that is occurring in graduation ceremonies
throughout America, and came to the fore-front last year when a
Blackfeet girl from Portland, Oregon, had eagle plumes physically ripped
from her graduation cap,” Wilson said. “I spoke with the Superintendent
from Douglas School District [and] she explained to me that the whole
event could have been avoided if only the family would have called
district officials before the graduation ceremony. The Superintendent
went on to explain that they would have told the family that this was
not allowable, and hence the family would not have forced the district
to physically remove the plumes from her mortar board.”
A similar situation occurred in the Oklahoma town of Wellston in 2003.
The school district refused to allow a Navajo girl to wear an eagle
plume to her commencement.
Last year a Cherokee student in Maryland was prevented from receiving
his diploma after wearing a bolo tie to graduation.
Wilson, Oglala Lakota, said officials put limits on what students can
wear to prevent them from “making a mockery out of the cap and gown.”
But attaching cultural items achieves the opposite goal, Wilson said.
“Unfortunately, Native American students who wish to honor the
graduation event and their academic experience are punished by schools
because of the acts of their non-Indian counterparts,” he said, adding
that by placing so much emphasis on the cap and gown, education
officials exaggerate its importance.
Wilson says since wearing the cultural items is a form of honor, student
should defy the rules and don them anyway. As he puts it, do not even
feel the need to ask for permission.
“ The [NIEA] not only supports this, but we encourage it, even if it’s
in defiance of ill-conceived school district policies,” he said. “When
Native students wear these feathers and plumes, they are actually
honoring and blessing the cap/mortar board and gown, the graduation
ceremony itself, their classmates, and the schools in which they are
graduating from. This is completely opposite of what mainstream students
do when they are mocking the event by writing on the mortar board,
wearing inappropriate clothes and shoes. The symbolism itself of
honoring both cultures, and elevating the status of academic attire by
being willing to attach our plumes and feathers to the cap and gown
completes the commitment of Native peoples to advance cultural integrity
in education.”
You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com