School Success or School Failure: An Indian Example

Reporting on a study of Cree Indian students from Manitoba, this paper focuses on Native education as a minority experience within the majority culture and on the culture of the school as it is experienced by minority students. A theoretical discussion presents issues involved with schooling for min...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Leary, Jim, Stiegelbauer, Suzanne M
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published 1985
Subjects
Academic Achievement
American Indian Education
Canada Natives
Cree (Tribe)
Cultural Awareness
Cultural Differences
Educational Change
Educational Responsibility
Elementary Secondary Education
Failure
Foreign Countries
Inservice Teacher Education
Manitoba
Outcomes of Education
Tribes
Canada
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Summary:Reporting on a study of Cree Indian students from Manitoba, this paper focuses on Native education as a minority experience within the majority culture and on the culture of the school as it is experienced by minority students. A theoretical discussion presents issues involved with schooling for minorities: discontinuities, socialization for competence, and the idea of caste. Student assessment, retention, and graduation data over the past 20 years indicate change in the Native students' success in the Manitoba education system is markedly below that of the general population. The "deficit syndrome" and "discontinuity/mismatch explanation" are examined. The "cultural diversity paradigm" is presented as a more contemporary explanation that has the greatest potential for impact upon educational practice for minority students. Initiatives undertaken by Manitoba's Frontier School Division to soften the system's negative regard for the cultural capital of Native students are outlined: cultural awareness workshops and inservice training to prepare non-Native teachers for work with Native classrooms and identification of program needs and development of curricula by Native educators. (NEC)