Volume 31 Number 3
May 1992

Dr. Ardy Bowker

Prior to the decade of the 80s, interest in the dropout problem in the U.S. waxed and waned. A renewed interest has been brought on by a number of factors, namely: (1) for the first time since 1964, the dropout rate in America is on the increase; (2) dropouts, who historically have been representative of the lower socioeconomic groups or minority groups, are increasingly (nearly 9%) products of the highest socioeconomic class in the country; (3) the U.S. society is an aging society and this growing "elder society" is mostly from the White, dominant social class, whereas the youth of the nation are more and more from the ranks of the poor and minority groups–groups which the American educational system has historically failed; and (4) economic indicators predict decrease in jobs in the U.S. that rely on muscle and non-technical skills, and an increase in those dependent on brain power and critical thinking skills, with even fewer jobs for the high school dropout.

With an aging population that will make larger demands upon the nation's resources, a youthful population comprised more and more of disadvantaged or minority groups, and dropout rates on the increase with fewer jobs for the unskilled, it is not presumptuous to speculate that the nation is at-risk. Not only in terms of economic welfare, but also the very political and social stability of the country may be at-risk. This "threat" has generated a national concern in addressing the dropout problem, a concern which is long overdue in Indian country.

Historically, the dropout rates among American Indian youth have been the highest of any minority group in the country. In addition, Indian youth come from the poorest families, often live in substandard housing, have the shortest life expectancy, and are the most poorly nourished minority group in the nation. In 1970, Coombs reported that American Indians were "badly miseducated" and, as a result, were at the "bottom of the barrel" among the country's minorities. This situation has not changed dramatically in the past 20 years.

Until the decade of the 80s, the terms "at-risk" and "high-risk" were not used in the descriptors about dropouts. As the terms imply, much of the literature today seeks to identify the at-risk student or the potential dropout before he/she leaves school in an effort to provide intervention strategies. Catterall and Cota-Robies (1988) identified three types of at-risk students: (1) children who come from different cultural backgrounds or minority students, (2) children from limited English speaking families, and (3) children from poor families. Using their definition, the majority of Indian students would fall into one or more of those categories. Levin (1989) described at-risk students as those defined in past literature as being educationally disadvantaged. Throughout the literature of the 60s and 70s, American Indian youth were labeled as "culturally disadvantaged" or "educationally disadvantaged." In fact, White (1991) cautioned that "at risk" is another code for "culturally deprived" and is no more than the "continued relabeling and reclassification of disadvantaged students" (p. 36) and that such labels should be used sparingly. Other researchers expressed concern about a system that focuses attention on the dropout problem from an economic perspective. Parker and Margonis (1989) cautioned that "cultural deprivation" is closely linked to a resurgence of educational nationalism which justifies educational policies in terms of national stability and economic competitiveness. They pointed out that in a "nationalistic" atmosphere, equity often takes a backseat to excellence. Such results could further alienate minority populations who are already most at-risk in school.

The issues involved in dropping out of school have resulted in a broad examination of schools and students during the past decade. Some researchers have suggested that schools in America are geared to success, not failure. Goldman and McDermott (1987) maintained that there is considerable evidence that American schools have been designed to assure success for some and failure for others. Historically, minority students from their earliest school experiences have been labeled as potential failures, their language criticized, and their origins suspect. Erickson (1987) reported that certain indigenous minorities have developed a culture of resistance to school. Giles (1985) explained that an apathetic dominant society has excluded the American Indian from the dominant culture; however, she concluded that this exclusion is often a double-edged sword in that frequently, American Indians have chosen to exclude themselves, thus exacerbating the situation.

Research indicates that Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians are more frequently alienated by school than Asian Americans and other new immigrants. According to Gibson (1987), Asians and new immigrants often regard the school experience as a major path to success. This is not the case for American Indian youth. The research of Peng and Takai (1983) showed that dropout rates vary significantly by ethnicity and class and that the dropout rates ranged from a low of 3. 1% for Asian Americans to a high of 29.2% for American Indians. They found that White students dropped out at a rate of 12.2%, Blacks at 17%, and Hispanics at 18%. Many American Indian educators use caution when quoting Peng and Takai's study because their study examined students nationwide during their sophomore to senior years. Educators working with American Indian students recognize that a high percentage of dropouts never reach the tenth grade. In a study of Oklahoma City Public Schools, McBee (1986) found that the most frequent time for students to drop out of school was during the ninth or tenth grade. According to Cavatta (1982) male students dropped out more frequently than females and that American Indian students, at least in New Mexico, experienced their highest dropout rate during tenth grade. In a subsequent study, Cavatta and Gomez (1984) found that American Indian students experienced their highest dropout rates during the ninth grade.

Some researchers have examined the lack of success of minority youth in American schools and concluded that the issue has not been addressed because of the lack of power among those groups. Mahood (1981) maintained that the typical high school dropout participates minimally in the political structure, if at all. Levin (1972) suggested that dropouts were not likely to become involved in political decision-making as adults and were, therefore, far less able to shape their own fates. Some researchers maintained that the nation's tolerance of exceedingly high dropout rates among certain minority groups is a manifestation of a social strategy designed to keep minorities out of the political decision-making process (Bowles & Gintis, 1976; Carter, 1970). Clearly the social and economic implications of the American Indian dropout have had little impact on the nation as a whole, and have, therefore, received less attention by economists, educators, and politicians. Hill (1991), who reported that the American Indian high school dropout rate exceeds 65% nationally and that between 75-93% of post-secondary Indian students drop out, pointed out that these statistics are only for students who leave school and suggested that there are hundreds who "effectively drop out of school and physically never miss a day" (p. 47). Hill attributed dropping out to apathy and anomie. He noted:

Other researchers have concluded that minority youth experience more factors (such as poverty, school failure, family problems, premature drug and alcohol abuse, and involvement in the criminal justice and social welfare system) associated with dropping out than the general population (Austin, 1978; Hanson, 1985; Iiyama, Nishi, & Johnson, 1976; Trimble, Padilla, & Bell, 1987; Tucker, 1985; Welte & Barnes, 1987; Wright & Watts, 1988).

Much of the literature on at-risk students or on dropouts speaks to the impact of the problem on the country and society in general. It has been noted that youth who drop out are more likely to become burdens on society and are more likely to require public assistance (Kaplan & Luck, 1977). Considerable attention has been paid to the labor market and the at-risk youth. In the past, an economy existed to provide an orderly transition from dropping out to entry into numerous labor occupations. Such an economy no longer exists; therefore, dropping out of school often leads to no employment, or to underemployment in lowpaid, often part-time jobs (Polk, 1984).

Other researchers have reported that not only are high school dropouts expected to be a massive drain on society through their dependence on welfare programs, but they are more likely to be involved in juvenile courts and prison systems (Catterall, 1985). Others have demonstrated that failure to graduate from high school is a predictor of adult criminal activity (Thomberry, Moore, & Christian, 1985).

Hodgkinson (1990) listed eight major factors contributing to the dropout problem for American Indian youth. The factors, reported in the National Educational Longitudinal Study of eighth grade students conducted in 1988 (NELS: 88), are as follows:

In many ways, American Indian youth who are at-risk mirror the larger society of at-risk youth. They come from a distinct ethnic group; they are often from low-income families; they frequently come from one-parent homes; the educational levels of their parents and older siblings often stop short of high school completion; they have often experienced repeated failure in school; they may be the products of dysfunctional families and physical, psychological, or sexual abuse; they may come from homes where a language other than English is spoken; they may come from a family where drug and alcohol abuse is a problem; they may become pregnant during their adolescent years; and they may have experienced a variety of forms of racism, stereotyping, or discrimination from early childhood.

Most of the literature on American Indian dropouts is confined to qualitative, ethnographic studies. A common theme throughout the research addresses the cultural differences and/or "cultural deprivation" of the Indian child, the racial biases of White teachers, negative self-image, drug/alcohol abuse, and language barriers (Bahr, Chadwick, & Day, 1972; Wax, Wax, & Dumont, 1964). The American Indian student often has been the subject of cross-cultural research in which a comparison of the American Indian cultural values and the dominant American cultural values is made (Giles, 1985). This research frequently suggests that American Indian students fail in school because of a value system which is different than the ideology within the school system. Other researchers maintain that the educational goals of schools are fashioned toward competitive achievement orientation of middle-class America and the attainment of material wealth. O'Malley (1982) reported that American Indian youth are willing to compete with their own past performances, but not with the performance of others. Olson (1971) argued that although American Indian students often desire material things, the means to the end is vague, and the delayed and obscure rewards of education are not associated with academic achievement in school. Further, he maintained that scholastic competition is not valued in many American Indian homes. Still, other researchers (Philips, 1983) have addressed the patterns of socialization of American Indian students, and how they differ from the White dominant society and thus result in problems for the Native child within the school setting.

Some researchers have looked at the personal problems confronting American Indian students to explain the high dropout rates. Lin (1985) found alcohol to be a major factor in the high dropout rates among Indian males in Montana. Clawson (1990) pointed out that in a survey of seven reservations in Montana, 33% of the juveniles aged 9-12 were regular drinkers and that drinking was listed as the main reason why one in every two Indian students in Montana did not graduate from high school. According to Coladarci (1983) approximately one-third of the dropouts in his study reported peer pressure in the use of drugs and alcohol as a salient factor in the decision to drop out of school. Trimble et al. (1987) claimed that heavy drinking was the reason why one in two Indian students never finished school.

Poor self-esteem has frequently been attributed to the failure of American Indian children in school. Bahr et al. (1972) described the problem of poor self-esteem of Indian youth: "There is much evidence that Indian students feel despair, disillusionment, alienation, frustration, hopelessness, powerlessness, rejection, and estrangement, all elements of negative views of the self" (p. 140). Many of the studies on self-esteem and the American Indian have compared the Indian child to a White counterpart. This research consistently reported that Indian students have lower scores on conventional tests of self-esteem than Whites (Clifton, 1975; Halpin, Halpin, & Whiddon, 1981; Lefley, 1976; Rosenthal, 1974; Thornburg, 1974). Other researchers have argued that such differences are misleading because the attributes assessed by the self-esteem tests are important to White students, but not to Indian children (Carlson, 1970; Wylie, 1979). Trimble (1981), on the other hand, conducted a study of 791 Indian youth from 114 tribes and reported a moderately positive self-image among the participants. Fuchs and Havighurst (1983) concluded in a national study of Indian youth that the great majority saw themselves as competent individuals within their social world. Their study showed that Indian youth looked to their futures with optimism and hope, and that there was no evidence that Indian children suffered from feelings of alienation, frustration, and hopelessness.

Although there is a plethora of research which attempts to explain the lack of success of the American Indian in the educational system, research on American Indian females within the educational setting is almost nonexistent.

In 1980, the National Center for Education Statistics surveyed 30,000 sophomores and 28,000 seniors in high schools throughout America (Peng & Takai, 1983). The purpose of the study was to provide descriptive information about the dropout rates among various subgroups in the country. The study reported dropout rates for both American Indian males and females along with other racial/ethnic groups including Hispanics, Blacks, Whites, and Asian Americans. Results of the study indicated that although American Indians have the highest dropout rate in the country, American Indian females have the highest dropout rates for all groups, whether male or female. The study revealed the dropout rate for American Indian females at 31.8%, followed by Hispanic females at 18.0%, Black females at 14.1%, White females at 11.5%, and Asian American females at 2.7%. In addition, the study indicated a 27.2% dropout rate for American Indian males. Current estimates place the dropout rate of American Indians at an overall rate of 50% or above (Chavers, 1991). It has also been estimated that American Indian girls constitute approximately 54-60% of those statistics.

Given research which demonstrated the correlation between high school graduation and future income, it is not surprising that the majority of American Indian women fall below the poverty level. According to Sargent (1977), minority women in America face double discrimination in the workplace, and employment opportunities for American Indian women are affected by the educational background. She further pointed out that 86% of American Indian women, more than any other racial/ethnic group, earn less than $5,000 per year.

While it is often noted that the White female in America earns 59 cents for every dollar a man earns, the American Indian female earns only 17 cents for every dollar.

Kickingbird (1986) reported data organized from the 1980 census on American Indian women and concluded that only 35% of American Indian women are employed in the work force, the lowest percentage for any racial/ethnic group. In addition, it was pointed out that 25% of American Indian families were headed by a single parent, compared to less than onefifth of all families in the United States. Further, it was noted that American

Indians have the highest birth rate of all minority groups in the country, and that American Indian families are three times more likely than Whites to live in poverty.

Few studies on American Indian students distinguished between male and female attitudes, achievement, or perceptions. Fuchs and Havighurst (1983) discovered that on the whole, American Indian adolescents felt slightly more favorable toward their teachers than Anglo-American youth of approximately the same socioeconomic status. However, their study indicated that American Indian girls were more critical of teachers than boys. Selinger (1968) found that Indian girls are more likely to drop out than males. Delk (1974) claimed that pregnancy was a major factor for dropping out among Indian females. Owens and Bass (1969) revealed that 12% of the dropouts occurred between the eighth and ninth grades.

In the area of self-concept, Fuchs and Havighurst (1983) indicated that American Indian girls were more likely to show a significant decrease in self-esteem from pre-adolescence to adolescence than boys. Further study demonstrated that American Indian girls also rate themselves less favorably on selfconcept measures than Anglo girls. In addition, they found a tendency for Indian girls to be more self-critical and self-doubting on self-concept inventories than Indian boys. Manson (1969) disclosed that in a study of White, Mexican, and American Indian youth, American Indian females reported a more negative self-esteem. Burnap (1972), studying Sioux children in grades 4-8, revealed that boys possessed higher self-esteem than girls at all grade levels except for the fourth grade. Corrigan (1970) found that American Indian girls attending public schools had lower self-esteem than Indian girls in BIA schools.

Coladarci (1983) conducted interviews with 46 Indian students who had dropped out of school in Montana. The results indicated that American Indian female dropouts reported more frequently than boys that teachers did not care about them. Forty-eight percent (48%) of the females indicated problems at home as a salient factor in dropping out. Overall, Coladarci found that the absence of parental support figured highly in whether girls dropped out of school. According to Forslund and Cranston (1975) American Indian girls are more likely to run away from home and to be involved in misdemeanors than Anglo girls.

Cress and O'Donnell (1974) tested Oglala Sioux students using the Coopersmith Behavior Rating Form, the Quay-Peterson Behavior Problem Checklist, and Bower's Thinking About Yourself Inventory. Teachers completed the first two instruments, and students completed the latter. The Behavior Rating Form found a significant main effect for gender, with males rated lower in self-esteem than females; however, since teachers completed the form most researchers question the results.

Metcalf (1976) collected data from 23 Navajo women who were born between 1940 and 1949. She divided the women into two groups based upon the amount of "cultural disruption" they had experienced in their education and used a 30-card sorting task designed to measure self-concept. Although she did not report significance levels, there was an indication that the number of schools attended and self-esteem appeared to be inversely related.

Dreyer and Havighurst (1970) tested male and female students using a self-esteem inventory. Among other groups, Sioux Indians from Minnesota and Chippewa and Menominee from Wisconsin were tested. For the American Indian girls between the ages of 8-11 and 12-24 there was a significant drop in self-esteem.

Perhaps the major factor contributing to the at-risk status of American Indian females is the abuse of alcohol, Clawson (1990) pointed out. He wrote that in a study of Indian Health Service (IHS) records, three out of every seven teenage alcohol abusers were female. Whittaker (1962) discovered sex differences in drinking patterns among reservation adolescent males and females. Based on national drinking patterns survey data, Cahalan and Crossley (1969) and Clark, Midanik, and Knupfer (1981) indicated that more Indian boys drink alcohol than girls and that among 15-to 17-year-olds, 60% of the males drink, compared to 40% of the girls. Cockerham (1975) reported no significant attitudinal differences between sexes about drinking, although he found behavioral differences. He suggested that there may be a stronger community sanction among young Indian women which mitigates displays of drunkenness. T.W. Hill (1980) found that a child's sex affects parental standards regarding drinking and noted that Indian parents maintained more restrictive standards for their daughters than for their sons.

Clawson (1990) maintained that alcohol abuse among young Indian women of child-bearing age may lead to another dilemma: the increasing number of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) births on Indian reservations. May (1983) reported that in excess of 10 FAS births per 1000 births could be attributed to Plains Indian groups. According to May (1983), FAS is believed to be the second most frequent cause of birth defects in the United States and the leading cause for mental retardation. This fact alone contributes to a concern that Indian education, which has been burdened with high dropout rates and low achievement, may, in fact, be further taxed by the entry of a population into the schools which will require special services and perhaps even institutionalization at the expense of limited educational budgets.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine the factors that contribute to the success of American Indian females who stay in school and graduate, and (2) to determine the factors that contribute to the lack of success of American Indian females who drop out of school and do not graduate.

Another major intent of the study was to develop a research project which might replace current practices in American Indian education with better alternatives. Historically, the purpose of Indian education has been to facilitate assimilation. There is no question that this approach has failed. Over the past two decades, a number of strategies have been attempted; however, the dropout rate has not declined nationally and, while some areas have recorded dramatic increases in high school graduation, others have reported increases in the dropout rate.

As most administrators admit, they often must make policy decisions based on personal judgments of what seems to work. This researcher selected research questions to be answered which would have implications for school boards and other policy makers, school districts and their administrators, foundations, and local, state, and federal agencies.

This study was conducted over a two-year period (1989-90) in three states among residents of five reservations and members of seven tribal groups. Nine hundred and ninety one (991) women participated in the study. Because some tribes have encountered negative stereotypes as a result of the release of survey data, this researcher assured all cooperating individuals that data about tribal groups, individual reservations, and community locations would not be released.

The data collected for this study were gathered through individual interviews using a set of predesigned questions. The study employed a cross-sectional design in which interviews were conducted with 991 females residing on the reservation. Participants were categorized according to level of education achieved: (1) high school dropout, (2) high school graduate, or (3) holder of a college degree (including women who had completed associate degrees, bachelors, masters, and doctorates). Using a stratified random sample, several females were interviewed; these were females who graduated from high school, or who should have graduated if they had stayed in school, during a 15-year period between 1971 and 1986. Ages of the women in the study ranged from 17 to 36.

The interview method was chosen over other methods as it provided for the flexibility of participants to respond freely and in-depth to the questions, to express their responses in their own words and way, and to clarify and/or explain at length any responses. An "open-ended interview" process was used. For example, each participant was asked a series of predesigned questions which could have been answered "yes," "no," "I don't know," "I can't remember," or "I prefer not to talk about that topic." If a respondent, for example, replied, "I prefer not to talk about that topic," her wishes were honored and the researcher ceased that particular line of questioning. If the respondent answered "yes" or "no," the researcher took the opportunity to ask further questions which probed for more information, feelings, attitudes, perceptions, and opinions.

The researcher conducted all interviews at the convenience of the participants. Interviews took place in the setting of choice by the participant. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of the interviews were conducted in the privacy of the individual's home, and 27% were conducted in a job setting. Fourteen percent (14%) of the interviews were conducted in the home of a relative or friend or at such neutral settings as a park, a drive-in, or in a natural, country setting. The interviews were conducted at the convenience of the participant in terms of time. Thirty-six percent (36%) of the interviews took place in the evenings, 23% were scheduled on weekends, and the remainder took place during the daytime or working hours.

The interview instrument was designed using the most current research on gender, at-risk youth, and high school dropouts. The instrument included sections on the correlates relating to success and lack of success in school including:

(1) Personal Problems

• substance abuse
• trouble with the law
• low self-esteem/lack of self-identity
• peer pressure
• pregnancy
• mental health problems (suicide)
• racism and prejudice

(2) Family Background

• socioeconomic status
• educational level of parents
• home language other than English
• cultural differences (conflict)
• child-rearing practices
• single-parent families
• dysfunctional families (child abuse)

(3) School Factors

• poor academic achievement
• teacher attitudes and expectations
• attendance (truancy, absenteeism, suspension, and retention)

The 1991 participants in this study came from all types of family backgrounds. Some grew up in abject poverty, others were from middle class homes, and some were upper-middle class. Some grew up in homes where their mothers were on welfare, others had fathers who worked, and some had professional parents. Many of the women grew up in homes with both a mother and a father, whereas many more lived in one-parent homes, had divorced parents, or mothers with live-in mates. Others were raised by their grandparents or other relatives. Some grew up where alcohol was forbidden in the home, whereas others had parents who were social drinkers. Many, however, were children of alcoholics. Some of the women suffered child abuse–physical, sexual, psychological–whereas others grew up in homes where spankings were uncommon but scoldings and quiet lectures established their behavioral limits. Some described their homes as very permissive with parents who paid little attention to them or their activities, whereas others grew up in more restrictive homes with rules, curfews, and other limits. In some of their homes, education was highly valued, in others no one ever communicated to them that education was important or that they should stay in school.

Some of the women in this study experimented with drugs and alcohol at a very early age, whereas others (67%) never drank while in high school. For many, peer pressure was not a problem, whereas for some peer pressure within family groups involved them in drinking and other at-risk behaviors. Peer pressure from outside the family group often involved drugs and sex. Over half of the women (51%) in the study who dropped out became pregnant while in high school, although the majority did not want to be teenage mothers. Many of them came from homes where a parent or other relative had been in trouble with the law although they, themselves, seemed to have avoided such troubles.

School was a very different experience for many of the women in the study. Some had nurturing, caring teachers who impacted their lives, whereas others experienced humiliation, abuse, and prejudice. Academically, many of them were confident in their abilities to do their school work, yet many of them did not choose to do so.

Some of the women were from traditional homes, others from acculturated, contemporary families. Some were products of mixed marriages and often reported discrimination from other Indians on the reservation. Some of the women spoke their Native language and participated in cultural and religious ceremonies, whereas others knew very little about their cultural heritage and had little connection with their Indianness.

Although the women in this study were all very different with diverse family backgrounds, varying values, and different personal and school experiences, they all had one thing in common: they all grew up on Indian reservations, and they were all exposed to a reservation environment with many social problems. That in itself placed American Indian girls at greater risk than any other female ethnic minority group in America. In this setting they were exposed to a variety of attitudes, situations, and problems that girls in mainstream society often do not encounter. They are products of a society where alcohol abuse is not considered deviant behavior, where child abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse are often overlooked by the authorities and protected by the family unit, where poverty is the norm, where teenage pregnancy is sanctioned, where parents and relatives are often in trouble with the law, and where peer pressure takes the form of family pressures as well. In school they are often confronted with values that are different from the home, uncaring teachers, low expectations, insensitive administrators, and often abusive adults. They are forced to accept adult responsibilities far beyond their chronological years.

And yet, within this setting, more than half of the women in this study survived that environment, graduated from high school (and often college), and became very productive citizens within their tribal groups, and for some, leaders in their tribes and in their states and nation.

Research on American Indian children over the past century (which has rarely reported information on the female) has addressed the problems of the lack of success of Indian youth in the schools. Many researchers have developed lists of characteristics associated with students who eventually dropped out of school. This researcher used the major correlates of dropping out (personal problems, family background, and school factors) as the format for the interviews conducted with the 991 women who participated in this study. Within this structure, such topics as drug and alcohol use/abuse, problems with the law, self-esteem, self-identity and tribal identity, suicide, peer pressure, teen pregnancy, racism and discrimination, socioeconomic status of family, parents' educational level, bilingualism, cultural differences between the home and school, childrearing practices, dysfunctional families, academic achievement, teachers, and absenteeism were explored. All of these characteristics had been identified in the literature as risk factors for dropouts.

This study clearly showed that not all of the women who dropped out of high school possessed only one of those characteristics. In fact, in many cases (when pregnancy was eliminated), there was an accumulation of school, personal, and family problems which resulted in girls leaving school and never returning.

Certainly, this study demonstrated that there are some early warning signs that may assist educators of American Indian children in identifying those girls who are potential dropouts: poor attendance, lack of basic skills, a history of school transfers, home problems (including alcoholism, drug abuse, and child abuse and neglect), mother is a dropout, low self-esteem, single-parent families, lack of self/tribal identity, boredom with classes and inability to recognize the relevance of the curriculum or of education to their lives, and low grades. Although this list will help alert teachers to the potential dropout, it does not offer a complete explanation of why an American Indian girl chooses to leave school.

Some researchers have noted that one in every two American Indian students drop out of school because of alcohol and drug abuse. This researcher did not find this to be the case. Others have reported that somewhere between 60-80% of American Indian youth are involved in alcohol and drugs on a regular basis. This researcher did not find this to be true of American Indian females. In fact, there was strong evidence to support that American Indian girls drink no more than non-Indian girls, but surprisingly, even Indian girls who drink occasionally feel that they have a "problem with alcohol."

Other researchers have attributed dropping out to low self-esteem, cultural conflict, poor academic achievement, absenteeism, and uncaring teachers. Although all of those things created problems for many of the women in this study, they did not create problems for all of them. Many girls reported developing coping techniques to deal with cultural conflict and uncaring teachers. Most did not perceive themselves as poor students or even failing students, and felt that they had the ability to graduate from high school had they chosen that path.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of the girls in the study reported dropping out due to pregnancy, which exceeds the national rate of 40%. However, despite the old stereotypes, American Indian girls did not become pregnant by choice. Obviously, the majority were aware of the risks they were taking when becoming involved in premature sexual activities; however, other factors such as child neglect, abuse, inattentive parents, alcohol and drugs led to premature sexual experimentation. In addition, teenage pregnancy appears to have become an acceptable norm within many reservation communities, and girls often have the support of parents, grandparents, and other relatives in raising their child.

Approximately 17% of the women reported that their teachers did not care, were sometimes physically, sexually, and verbally abusive, and sometimes racist and prejudiced; in contrast, 22% reported that caring teachers made a difference in their lives. Some of these girls were from dysfunctional families, but had the opportunity to interact with a caring adult, a teacher, who turned their lives around. Among 17% of the respondents, however, that connection was never made. But one fact remains very clear: Most of the girls who became involved in conflicts with teachers also reported other problems. Often when children seek attention through misbehavior, teachers misinterpret their actions and conflict arises. In other cases, some teachers and school personnel seemed to contribute to the accumulation of problems confronting the females in their daily lives.

Coming from more traditional families served as a disadvantage for some girls. Others from extremely poor families suffered alienation and humiliation in the schools from both their peers and teachers. Some traditional women reported language barriers and cultural barriers which were not understood by the teachers, yet other women who came from similar backgrounds were able to succeed despite those odds.

Child-rearing practices, neglect, and dysfunctional families certainly take their toll on American Indian girls. Some girls attribute parental non-interference as apathy, when parents are simply perpetuating child-rearing techniques of their own parents. In other cases. dysfunctional families cloak themselves in the culture and use it to explain their neglect of their children

There is no one characteristic that could describe the women who dropped out, just as there is no one characteristic that could describe those girls who stayed in school and graduated. One factor which seemed to stand out above all others in the lives of girls who succeeded, however, was the support of their families, and particularly that of their mothers and grandmothers. In the case of girls who graduated from college, there was often tremendous family support which extended beyond the immediate family. In other cases, girls reported teachers as being instrumental in their lives. There was evidence that if a girl is to be successful in school she must have a caring adult during her adolescent years. This adult does not have to be a parent; it can he a teacher, a grandmother, or other relative.

Other factors for success which were common in the lives of many of the women who completed school were home environments which established restrictions and rules, homes where parents were good role models (absence of alcoholism, parents valued education and may have been college graduates themselves). and parents who were involved in their children's lives-both in school and out of school.

Nevertheless, in the final analysis, this study found no formula for success or dropping out. Women who dropped were those whom most educators would not consider at risk; others succeeded with the deck stacked against them.

The contents of this article include excerpts from the book, Sisters in the Blood, written by Dr. Ardy Bowker. Sisters in the Blood is scheduled for release in May 1992.