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O'siyo Brothers and Sister!
The following notice was forwarded to me this
week:
Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 02:30 pm
From: Kahente kahente@paulcomm.ca
Subj: First Nations Education Council Awareness Campaign
Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian <frostysamerindian@yahoogroups.com>
The First Nations Education Council (FNEC) of Quebec is launching a
public awareness campaign to inform the Aboriginal communities and the
federal and provincial governments on the plight of Indigenous
education.
The FNEC, along with the 22 communities it represents, has developed a
website that will provide you and hopefully others, on just how Indian
and Northern Affairs Canada "funds" Indigenous education.
Please read the material and sign the letters of support of the FNEC
position and then forward to your family and friends. It will only take
a moment but you will be helping to educate and inform a wide circle of
friends and family.
Please visit:
http://www.avenir-future.com/home.aspx
From the website: AVENIR - FUTURE
A number of elements of First Nations education remain underfunded. On
the eve of the possible calling of a federal election, the First Nations
Education Council (FNEC) wishes to carry out a public relations campaign
that will make it possible to increase awareness among Quebec public
opinion and influence federal politicians.
OBJECTIVES
1. Influence the Government of Canada so
that it increases funding for band schools as well for other areas
of First Nations education.
2. Persuade the Government of Canada to give adequate support to the
First Nations College project.
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Lack of Indian Education Funding and Planning is Not Restricted to
Canada.
On May 16, 2007 Minnesota Public Radio ran the following piece:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/05/16/indianed/
STATES TOLD TO IMPROVE AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
by Laura McCallum, Minnesota Public Radio
May 16, 2007
Education officials from Minnesota and four other states say states need
to do a better job of teaching both Indian and non-Indian students about
American Indian culture. They also believe more schools should teach
Indian languages. Education experts say research shows a direct link
between language instruction and improved Indian student achievement.
St. Paul, Minn. — Education officials from Minnesota, Iowa, North and
South Dakota and Nebraska just wrapped up a first-of-its kind regional
forum on American Indian student achievement. They're concerned about
the fact that too many Indian students drop out of school, and too many
don't do well on standardized tests. In Minnesota, 40 percent of
American Indian students graduated from high school on time in 2006.
That's half of the graduation rate for white students.
One of the nation's leading experts on American Indian education is Bill
Demmert, a former top federal education official. Demmert, an Alaskan
Native, believes that Indian students will be more successful in school
if they learn their native language.
"If you don't develop a strong language base in the native language, in
English, or both, you're going to have problems academically," said
Demmert.
Bill Demmert said brain research shows that students who learn more than
one language develop a larger brain. If Indian children learn their
native language at a young age, they will have an easier time learning
English, he said. Demmert also believes Indian student achievement will
improve if schools teach about native culture.
"It helps tell native students that their cultural base is important,
that traditional knowledge, their histories, their legends are all
worthwhile," Demmert said. "As opposed to only looking at someone else's
history or someone else's culture."
Demmert notes that American history classes usually begin with the year
1492, and ignore the history of American Indians. He believes that sends
a message to Indian students that their history doesn't matter, and many
then lose their motivation in school.
Keith Moore agrees. Moore is South Dakota's Indian Education Director.
Moore doesn't know the Lakota language because his mother was sent to a
boarding school, where she was told to lose her native language and
culture.
"If you don't develop a strong language base in the native language, in
English, or both, you're going to have problems academically." - Bill
Demmert
"I grew up a confused young man. My mom is full-blood Lakota, and my dad
is an Irishman," Moore said. "And that developed so much confusion for
you.
So it makes sense to me in my head that if you understand who you were,
knew your language, that you're better adjusted. That you can take on
other things easier and take on other languages and accept them more
prevalently if you know your own history and culture. And our kids
don't."
Moore hopes that will change in South Dakota, where about 12 percent of
public school students are American Indian. South Dakota passed an
Indian Education Act this year that will require Indian culture and
history to be incorporated into state academic standards. It also
requires teachers to take a three-hour course on the topic.
"That's not big, it's not deep, three hours is three hours, three
semester credit hours, but again, those are all things that are big for
our state, symbolically, and then, also, some teeth, to say we need to
move forward with this," said Moore. "Because we have issues in the
state of South Dakota with our Indian students and retention, academic
achievement, all those things we've talked about."
The state of Minnesota requires beginning teachers to have a working
knowledge of tribal history and culture, and provides scholarships to
train American Indian teachers. About two percent of Minnesota's public
school students are American Indian.
And while Minnesota is considered a leader in Indian education, the
state's Indian education supervisor said Minnesota schools could do more
to help Indian students succeed. Yvonne Novack, a member of the White
Earth tribe, said the state doesn't require schools to teach Indian
culture, and very few schools teach native languages.
Yvonne Novack"If one of the big districts said immersion in Ojibwe is
important to us, or immersion in Dakota is important to us, and actually
set aside hard money, not grant money, then we could see some growth in
immersion programs," Novack said. "But we don't have all the curriculum
in that language, so it would take good language speakers to create
classroom knowledge and lesson plans and all those key things."
Novack and other education officials also worry that if American Indian
students are completely immersed in their native language, they may not
do as well on standardized English reading tests required by the No
Child Left Behind education law.
This week's conference was sponsored by the North Central Comprehensive
Center, an arm of the federal department of education designed to help
states meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind. The education
officials who attended say it will help them renew their efforts to
improve Indian student achievement.
Minnesota Public Radio c. 2007 All rights reserved.
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Earlier this year the Bush Administration dramatically reduced funding
for both Indian Health and Indian Education. The fallout from those
decisions will adversely affect our nations for decades to come.
During the Plantation slavery era here in the South most states had laws
criminalizing the education of blacks, as enforced ignorance and
illiteracy was regarded as a potent tool to prevent slaves from aspiring
to freedom, and limit their options should freedom be achieved. After
emancipation, states routinely limited funding for black education as
part of a strategy to
"keep them in their place."
It is not difficult to see the parallels here. We must NOT allow our
people to continue to be part of this history repeating itself.
Dohiyi Ani Oginalii
Gary Smith (*,*)
wotanging@bellsouth.net
P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org
Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w===
http://www.nanews.org
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