Journal of American Indian Education
Abstracts — 1996

#511
A COMPARISON OF INTEGRATED OUTDOOR EDUCATION ACTIVITIES AND TRADITIONAL SCIENCE LEARNING WITH AMERICAN INDIAN STUDENTS
Thomas T. Zwick; Kenneth W. Miller Vol. 35, #2, pp. 1-9, Winter 1996

This study examines the validity of outdoor-based versus classroom-based science education experiences for American Indian students. The primary focus of the study analyzed a series of hands-on outdoor education activities and compared this experimental group with traditional textbook and classroom science education. Data collection utilized the California Achievement Test 85 (CAT) and compared the American Indian students and non-Indian students in both the experimental and control groups. Findings indicate the American Indian students provided with the outdoor-based science curriculum scored significantly higher than those presented with traditional classroom science methods. Also, there was no significant difference between the American Indian students and the non-Indian students in the experimental group.

#512
NATIVE DROPOUTS AND NON-NATIVE DROPOUTS IN CANADA. TWO SOLITUDES OR A SOLITUDE SHARED?
Patrick Brady Vol. 35, #2, pp. 10-20, Winter 1996

Dropout rates among Canadian Native students attending mainstream secondary schools, like those of their American counterparts, are significantly higher that those of their non-Native peers. Traditionally, this phenomenon has been explained in terms of the existence of a dissonance between the cultures of the students' home communities and those of the wider society as exemplified through such institutions as the public secondary school. This theory, while providing a plausible explanation, does not, however, fully explain why such large numbers of Canadian Native youth choose to exit the educational system prior to graduation. This article examines this issue and seeks to present an alternative to the conventional explanation of this phenomenon.

#513
AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURES AND THE CLASSROOM
Linda Van Hamme Vol. 35, #2, pp. 21-36, Winter 1996

Educators of American Indian children must assist in the maintenance of bonds to traditional and contemporary American Indian cultures while also providing preparation for successful participation in a culturally diverse, modern technological society. The issues that must be addressed by schools in order to meet these challenges include an understanding of the historical relationship between the various American Indian cultures and the American educational system; the issues, meanings, and perceptions revolving around the idea of multicultural education; the nature of culture itself as dynamic and continuously evolving; and, identification of the educational strategies that will be most effective in building on Indian children's cultural strengths.

#514
PREFACE
K. Tsianina Lomawaima Vol. 35, #3, pp. 1-4, Spring 1996

In the preface to this special issue, Dr. Lomawaima, Guest Editor, presents a review of the current literature on the boarding school experience.

#515
ESTELLE REEL, SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS, 1898-1910 POLITICS, CURRICULUM, AND LAND
K. Tsianina Lomawaima Vol. 35, #3, pp. 5-32, Spring 1996

To understand federal education for Indian people, we must examine the philosophies of federal educators as well as the experiences of Indians. This article focuses on Estelle Reel, Superintendent of Indian Schools from 1898 to 1910. Three aspects of Reel's career are noteworthy: (1) Politically astute, and a suffragist, she was an aggressive campaigner, the first woman nominated to a rank in the federal service requiring Senate ratification. (2) A product of the racist philosophies of her time, she believed Indians were a “lesser” race, but that non-threatening, culturally “innocuous” traits such as native crafts should be preserved. Specifically, crafts produced by women were an important economic resource for Indian families. The Uniform Course of Study she developed for the schools, especially the domestic curriculum, influenced generations of students. (3) Linked through family, friends, and profession to western cattle and land “barons,” she facilitated transfer of Indian lands to non-Indians in her capacity as inspector of Indian schools (and by extension, observer of Indian agencies and lands).

#516
“SHOW WHAT AN INDIAN CAN DO”: SPORTS, MEMORY, AND ETHNIC IDENTITY AT FEDERAL INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOLS
John Bloom Vol. 35, #3, pp. 33-48, Spring 1996

Over the past century, some of the greatest athletes in the United States have come from federally operated boarding schools for Native Americans. This article critically examines the diverse meanings of boarding school athletics for students, school administrators, and federal policy makers. The specific historical contexts of boarding school life shaped school sports. However, new theories about ethnic identity help to reveal how Native American students used sports as popular culture to reimagine and rearticulate their cultural memories, traditions, and identities. Drawing upon archival records and published sources from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, this paper explores the ideological contradictions that sports created for Anglo reformers and administrators, between those who understood athletics as symbolizing progress, and those who saw them as exploitative and unprogressive. From oral history accounts provided by former students, this article explores how sports provided a vehicle through which students expressed pride, or acted out mischief at school. Former students reveal how sports constituted a complex cultural practice where Native Americans could not only respond to an educational system that was often insensitive, but through which they could also experience pride, or pleasure, and create new ways of expressing their identities as Native Americans.

#517
RUNAWAY BOYS, RESISTANT GIRLS: REBELLION AT FLANDREAU AND HASKELL, 1900-1940
Brenda Child Vol. 35, #3, pp. 49-58, Spring 1996

Rebellion was a common feature of government boarding school life during the period from 1900 to 1940. Boarding schools imposed stringent regulations regarding home visits, and running away allowed students and families to circumvent the harsh system. Letters written by students and family members reveal factors that motivated students to run away, the different forms rebellion took, and the strong emotional history of the boarding school experience. Letters show that rebellion evoked anger and frustration in administrators, anguish and worry in parents, and demonstrate the considerable humor, resilience and resourcefulness of boarding school students.

#518
"A NUCLEUS OF CIVILIZATION": AMERICAN INDIAN FAMILIES AT HAMPTON INSTITUTE IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY
W. Roger Buffalohead; Paulette Fairbanks Molin Vol. 35, #3, pp. 59-94, Spring 1996

The training of young married couples was a component of the historic American Indian education program that existed at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia in the late 19th century. Spearheaded by ethnographer Alice C. Fletcher with the recruitment of two Omaha couples in the fall of 1882, the program focused on the assimilation of a family unit. Twenty-three families, the majority Lakota from Dakota Territory, participated in the program from 1882 to 1891. During the period, there was little understanding of Indian families or the role of the family in tribal cultures. The program ended after less than a decade because of a combination of factors, including the expense of relocating entire families to Hampton, the "extra care" of couples and young children for school personnel, and the increase in the number of homes on the assimilationist model in reservation communities.

#519
"TWO PEOPLE": AN AMERICAN INDIAN NARRATIVE OF BICULTURAL IDENTITY
Michael Tlanusta Garrett Vol. 36, #1, pp. 1-21, Fall 1996

Today, many American Indian youth experience cultural conflicts and difficulties in identity development due to differences between the values and expectations of their tribal traditions and those of mainstream American social and educational systems. The effects of acculturation are discussed in terms of bicultural competence, and the Bicultural Identity Development Model is described and illustrated in relation to the narrative of an American Indian elder. In keeping with the oral tradition of storytelling as an important method of conveying information and experience, the elder's narrative or life-story elaborates upon the informal educational influences of a traditional Indian approach to "learning the Medicine." The narrative, divided according to stages of bicultural identity development--(a) personal identity, (b) choice, (c) denial/confusion, (d) appreciation, and (e) integration--is presented as complete excerpts grouped according to major themes which emerged from the interview. These major themes included the importance of naming, family influences, storytelling, natural approaches to life and healing, life lessons and individual choice, movement between (the physical and spirit) worlds, and integrating all aspects of oneself into a unified whole in order to fulfill one's purpose of "bridging the gap" between worlds and cultures.

#520
SUICIDE AMONG AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH: THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOLS IN PREVENTION
Arlene Metha; L. Dean Webb Vol. 36, #1, pp. 22-32, Fall 1996

Since the highest suicide rates are found among American Indian youth, the schools must assume a major role in suicide prevention. Suicide risk factors are discussed for the general adolescent population as well as for American Indian youth. School-based programs are described in terms of prevention, intervention, and postvention activities with an emphasis on adaptation to specific tribes and customs.

#521
PARENT VOICES: AMERICAN INDIAN RELATIONSHIPS WITH SCHOOLS
Carol Robinson-Zanartu; Juanita Majel-Dixon Vol. 36, #1, pp. 33-54, Fall 1996

In a national survey, 234 American Indian parents and community members representing fifty-five tribes or bands documented their attitudes about education, satisfaction with schools, the degree to which schools value Indian culture, their involvement with schools, and school expectations for their children. Tribally controlled schools were reported to be significantly more respectful of Indian children, expectant of their achievement and potential, and inclusive of the cultures and communities than were either BIA or public schools. Special education was perceived as significantly less satisfactory than general education, reflecting concerns about parents' understanding assessments, interventions and placement processes, and being well served by special education services. Extensive narrative comments stressed the role of culture in learning, and the concern that public and boarding schools have not appeared to try to understand Indian communities, cultures, or ways of learning. Parenting community members offered advice ranging from parent involvement to curricular approaches.