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Ella Heath

Cooper

11 May 2018

How does a lack of educational opportunities affect Native Americans?

The Academy for Global Studies junior class visited the To’hajiilee Community School

located on the To’hajiilee Indian Reservation. The reservation and the school are located just

west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The To’hajiilee are part of the Navajo Nation who settled

among the Pueblo Indians during the forced relocation, the “Long Walk”, of the Navajo in the

late 1800s. The Community School was originally founded as a boarding school for grades

kindergarten through 3rd grade by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1935. In 1975 it became a day

school and expanded to include kindergarten through 12 th grade. Today the school consists of

about 500 pre-kindergarten to college level students which is roughly the size of the junior class

at Austin High School. Many of the To’hajiilee students are Navajo and are fluent in their Dine

Language and culture. The To’hajiilee students are taught in a culturally aware and sensitive

environment that allows them to maintain their heritage and identity as Navajo and as citizens

of the larger American culture. This has not always been the case with Native American

education and, in fact, many Native Americans on reservations today have little access to a

public education.

During the 19th century many Native children were required to attend boarding school

where they were expected to learn and speak only English. The goal of the schools was to

conform the Native children into the white American society. When the children returned
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home, they could no longer communicate with their families and were no longer connected to

their culture. They also faced discrimination from white Americans. By the 20th century many

Native Americans had begun to move away from reservations looking for better opportunities.

Natives attending school outside of the reservation face daily discrimination which can cause

them to not want to attend school. An average of 30% of Native children drop out of high

school because of bullying and insensitivity related to their heritage. The lack of education can

seriously limit their abilies to find good paying jobs which can result in lasting poverty and its

related issues such as depression, suicide, and drug use. Many of the schools on reservations

are run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs however, students in these schools tend to perform

even worse than Native students who attend urban public schools. Native American students

have the lowest test scores in the nation. Many Native American children are not proficient in

reading or math by age 15 and are not prepared to start high school or participate in higher

level classes. Advanced classed would help them to achieve higher test scores which would

then help them continue education after high school.

The reservation of Standing Rock is the poorest Native American reservation in the

nation. It’s high poverty rate is due to drug use and a lack of employment opportunities. There

are not enough jobs on the reservations because not a lot of people get a college degree or

even finish high school. Earlier this year I researched mental health of Native Americans on and

off reservations. I learned that many Native children living on reservation face challenges that

can prevent them from attending school regularly. Many of those living on the reservation

believe that access to a better education is the key to decreasing the poverty, drug use, and
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suicide rate. However, the education system on Native American reservations are lacking the

necessary tools to help increase the number of high school graduates.

Education is the key to a better future. In school, students learn how to communicate

with others that will then help them succeed in careers and relationships. In the past decade,

Native Americans have been trying to gain control of their schools and to support and to

encourage their students to preserve their language. At the school we visited in New Mexico

they have started a program where they are taught both English and Native language. This is a

beginning for more schools on reservations to teach the younger generation their language and

connect them back to their heritage. The benefit of keeping students connected to their culture

and being sensitive to their culture provides them a sense of security and allows them to

become more confident in learning. The school I visited really encouraged their students to do

well in school and help provide them opportunities to higher education after high school

outside of the reservation. Those higher education can lead them to high paying careers.
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Work cited

Braun David Maxwell. “Preserving Native America’s vanishing languages,” National Geographic,

15 November 2009, blog.nationalgeographic.org/2009/11/15/preserving-native-

americas-vanishing-languages/, Changing Planets. 11 May 2018.

Butrymowicz Sarah. “The Failure of Tribal Schools,” The Atlantic, 26 November 2014.

theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/11/the-failure-of-tribal-schools/383211/. 11

May 2018.

Ellwood Lisa J. “Native American Students Face Ongoing Crises in Education,” Indian

Country Today, 3 September 2017, indiancountrymedianetwork.com/education/native-

education/native-american-students-face-ongoing-crises-education/. 11 May 2018.

Klein Rebecca. “The Education System Is Failing Native American Students. Here’s Proof,” Huff

Post, 6 December 2017, huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/native-american-

education_n_5593253.html, Politics. 11 May 2018.

To’hajiilee Community School Website, http://tohajiileeschool.com/index.php/information/

about/, Information, About Us. 11 May 2018.