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.