Indian Gaming

"A few years ago, one of my 5th grade students, who is Ojibwe, told me that he would get “a lot of money” when he grew up. The money, he said, would come from the reservation where he was an enrolled tribal member.

The student was explaining a high-stakes tradeoff facing American Indians who grow up in the era of tribal-run casinos. Thousands of these Minnesota kids expect to receive large sums of money when they reach adulthood.

He told me his mom wanted him to go to college. But another option tempted him. Sometimes people “buy lots of things” when they get the money, he said. I remember wondering how many Ojibwe kids really did use this coming-of-age windfall for post-secondary education. While the lump sum received as a young adult may be significant, Minnesota’s Ojibwe bands offer only modest monthly per capita payments through adulthood -- or none at all. But none of the Ojibwe bands pay enough in per capita money to be called a living wage, so a good education -- beyond high school -- seems of extreme importance."

Get the Story:
Flood of casino money brings challenges — and opportunities — for reservation schools (MinnPost 12/12)
How Minnesota's American-Indian students are doing in school (MinnPost 12/12)

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MinnPost: The new buffalo -- series on tribal gaming industry (12/11)
MinnPost: The new buffalo -- series on tribal gaming industry (12/10)