Abstract

Teaching (Native) America

Ninety percent of Native American students attend non-Indian schools, public or private, where culturally aware teaching is sorely lacking. Many believe the loss of traditional native knowledge and language is intimately related to the problems of high dropout rates and poor academic achievement. The search now is for a balance between Indian culture and Anglo academics that prepares students for success in both the native and mainstream realms. The particular difficulties of finding this balance are as varied as the educational situations of Native Americans, who may constitute either a small part of a large urban student population, a large part of a small rural student body or the entire student body of a Bureau of Indian Affairs school.