Dave Archambault, Sr. Still image from TEDx Talks / YouTube

'It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows’
By Dave Archambault Sr.

There is a drawing that depicts an American Indian warrior pointing a drawn bow and arrow at his own head. The reader is asked to let the arrow represent the conventional K-12 schooling system. How ridiculous is it for an Indian warrior to shoot an arrow into his own head?

Yet consider the dismal, if not destructive, documented results of Indian schooling in America.

The purpose of schooling is to assimilate children into the dominant culture. But American Indians have their own culture. This is at the heart of their learning difficulties.

The historic sinking of the “K-12 Arrow” into the heads of American Indians has been far less than noble and productive. Only one in 10 Indian children has a rewarding experience; five to six in 10 will drop out.

Some in Congress care and are asking, “How do we teach those Indians how to be successful? They are the dregs of our society and the black eye of our American Dream.”

Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: 'It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows’

{Dave Archambault, Sr., Hunkpapa Lakota, is an Education Consultant for Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.)

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