Ivan F. Star Comes Out. Photo from Native Sun News
Surviving on the outer edges of society
By Ivan F. Star Comes Out
www.nsweekly.com Why are alcoholism / drug addiction, domestic / child / elder abuse, sexual assault, and suicide, so prevalent on our homeland? Not to mention our negative school statistics and the poverty indicative of the Great Depression (1929-30). How did we arrive at this point in our history where we are struggling to revive our language and our cultural knowledge and our local histories? The answer is quite simple. Our language, for example, which had been transmitted effectively in a natural enlightening environment for centuries, was systematically assaulted and obliterated in the federal government controlled school system. Since Education is defined as a lifelong process of learning that begins even before we enter a school, then is it misconstrued? In other words, it occurs naturally throughout one’s lifetime. Since Schooling is defined as a formalized process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university, then these are two separate definitions of two different concepts. For one reason or another, these two have become somewhat indistinct here on the homeland. I can see that “Education” is used rather loosely as both definitions appear to be endorsed in one breath. When one completes a specific course of study in a classroom, that person is now “educated.” Actually, such a person is schooled in a specific area. Schools were created for the specific purpose of transmitting a certain type of instructional experience. In an ideal school system, the parent community and their public officials determine what their students are to learn and are written in the school’s curriculum. Teachers are trained and hired to fulfill the curriculum. Although the federal government’s infamous boarding school system implements this design, it has a horribly debilitating twist. Even today, federal government controls their school curriculum throughout “Indian” country still without parental input. Did the government ever intend to allow their Indian Self-Determination and Education Act of 1975 policy to bear fruit?
Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: Surviving on the outer edges of society (Ivan F. Star Comes Out, POB 147, Oglala, SD 57764; (605) 867-2448; mato_nasula2@outlook.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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