Parent's Role in Education
According to data done found by parent interviews, earlier research on American Indian parent engagement shows Native American parents being disengaged from the school system. Poor experiences with the federally mandated schools scarred an entire generations of Native Americans in their own schooling process leaving them mistrustful of the public educational system. Recent research shows that Native American parents are becoming increasingly more engaged in their children’s learning and have aspirations for them that include graduating from high school and attending college.
From these interviews, researchers learned that Native American parents believed it was their responsibility to teach their children about their heritage and culture and wished schools would incorporate more Native American culture and history into their curriculum. Cultural differences also create riffs between teachers and Native American students:
"For these students, the opportunity to a public education is hollow. It asks them to abandon family and community responsibilities; to sacrifice language, identity, and pride; to ignore the pain and suffering they witness around them and the culture and pleasure they take comfort in; and to deny fundamentally all that sits between their dreams and their circumstances, between the ideologies they so want to believe and the contradictions they so need to confront." (Sheley)
Educational and Cultural Considerations
" It is the parental and/or the community group message that often contains values and attitudes different from those of educators and school psychologists. The following values, behaviors, and educational considerations are taken from the American Indian:Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, Handbook for Educators, 1991." (Native American Awareness)
Values, Attitudes and Behaviors Educational Considerations for Native American Students
According to data done found by parent interviews, earlier research on American Indian parent engagement shows Native American parents being disengaged from the school system. Poor experiences with the federally mandated schools scarred an entire generations of Native Americans in their own schooling process leaving them mistrustful of the public educational system. Recent research shows that Native American parents are becoming increasingly more engaged in their children’s learning and have aspirations for them that include graduating from high school and attending college.
From these interviews, researchers learned that Native American parents believed it was their responsibility to teach their children about their heritage and culture and wished schools would incorporate more Native American culture and history into their curriculum. Cultural differences also create riffs between teachers and Native American students:
"For these students, the opportunity to a public education is hollow. It asks them to abandon family and community responsibilities; to sacrifice language, identity, and pride; to ignore the pain and suffering they witness around them and the culture and pleasure they take comfort in; and to deny fundamentally all that sits between their dreams and their circumstances, between the ideologies they so want to believe and the contradictions they so need to confront." (Sheley)
Educational and Cultural Considerations
" It is the parental and/or the community group message that often contains values and attitudes different from those of educators and school psychologists. The following values, behaviors, and educational considerations are taken from the American Indian:Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, Handbook for Educators, 1991." (Native American Awareness)
Values, Attitudes and Behaviors Educational Considerations for Native American Students