How far have Native American people advanced in 500 years of Indian education?
For centuries our Indian people effectively taught and instructed their children in tribal values, morals, survival skills, philosophy, civic responsibility, organization skills, beliefs, spirituality, and reverence of the power of Mother Nature and the Creator God. Indian education was a daily activity that took place by: • Observation and personal application • Hands-on learning • Experimentation • Reciting • Practice under pressure • Learning from the wisdom of the experienced • Instruction by the master teacher Our grandfathers earned their degrees from “courage under fire.” Their children attained their diplomas learning “tenacity amidst hardship” and our grandmothers deserved honorary doctoral degrees in “surviving at all costs!” The days of mission schools and federally operated boarding schools are fading in America. Presently, most of the Indian population under the age of eighteen are now attending a public school, private school, tribal school, or contract school somewhere i
