Uplifting Native Students
For my Individual Written Argument (IWA) and Individual Multimedia Presentation (IMP), I chose to explore the topic of Native American student dropout rates. While it look some time for me to settle on a topic that was multifaceted enough for a comprehensive argument and yet with a scope narrow enough to manage within the word count/speaking time, I am deeply proud of the work I have created and hope that this research can be used to inspire school districts and public officials to more thoughtfully consider the needs of Native communities and Native students in particular. For this topic I chose to focus on Native students in middle and high school, the primary target group for my solution. To learn more and explore my works cited, read the full text HERE.
A Brief History of Native American Assimilation
Parent Pressures
Is skepticism from Native family members to blame for the high dropout rates among Native students? Many Native parents and grandparents formally attended assimilationist boarding schools themselves, leading them to view the public education system deep cynicism and mistrust. However, if middle school age adolescents resist negative influences from parents, then possible solutions to the dropout crisis must address factors within schools.
Student Bullying
Native students often face conflict from non-Native peers, who, given the rampant racial segregation of urban schools who are likely predominantly one race or ethnicity. These environments have resulted in Native students facing the highest rates of threats and physical violence of any race across grades. While the rejection of Native students could prevent these students from assimilation, this high degree of bullying has contributed substantially to the dropout rates as adolescents typically resist peer social pressures.
Teacher Ignorance
Teacher social support is more valuable than peer social support in encouraging students to participate in school. Unfortunately, teachers are largely non-Native and ignorant of Native educational skepticism or cultural communication barriers. Specifically, Native students are often perceived by teachers as disinterested, but this "shyness" is actually a common mode of polite social communication among Native peoples. If Native students could become more comfortable contacting their teachers, this could decrease dropout rates.
Hiring more Native Teachers
Students tend to perform better in school, both academically and socially, when their teacher is the same race as the student. Native teachers may be able to serve as cultural mentors to Native students while guiding these students through an educational system that has largely erased Native history and depicted Natives as “uncivilized" or "savage" in classroom materials.
Limitation: Cultural Isolation
However, hiring more Native teachers may be insufficient. The small number of Native teachers means Native students still may not interact with Native teachers after more are hired. However, districts should nevertheless make efforts to hire qualified Native teachers when possible (there are sizable Native communities across urban areas). Unfortunately, these Native teachers still may face cultural isolation, so to help both Native teachers and students feel welcome in urban communities, school districts should consider implementing a mentorship program as elaborated below.
Solution: Mentorship Program
A possible solution could follow the model of an urban high school in Montana whose Native student mentorship program was highly successful in reducing dropout rates. Despite the program's success, it could have been improved by specifically involving Native teachers who could act as role models and by creating programs in both middle and high school to prevent the conditions of social isolation in the first place. If not enough Native teachers volunteer or are present at the school, the program could remain successful by involving non-Native teachers who would need to be educated on Native culture and modern challenges.