A National Tragedy: An Overview of Indian Education and Contributing Factors to Low Achievement Rates

Abstract

The American Indian population holds great interest for me. I find the gap between the traditional Indian culture and the present day minority problems fascinating. Therefore, I planned to focus my Senior Individualized Project on some aspect of Indian culture. My SIP work began when I received a volunteer position during the first week of January, 1992 with the Sioux Falls, South Dakota Office of Indian Education(OIE). Originally, I intended to focus on problems facing the phenomena of the Urban Indian. However, upon initial research realized the scope of my intended project was too broad. I decided to narrow my project focus after researching current education levels and achievement rates of Native American students. Therefore, I planned to complete my SIP on Native American education in the public school system's Office of Indian Education. This decision coincided with a job offer as a paid educational assistant. I began working as a one-on-one tutor the third week in January, 1992. I continued my tutoring position until the third week in March, 1992 with elementary school and junior high school level students.