Native Americans in Public Schools Research Paper

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Indian Education

Although sometimes it goes unrecognized, ethnicity or other superficial prejudices can help to determine an individual's role in a group or community. For example, in a community that is predominately white, those who are among this majority will often receive the most opportunities. Although this does not necessarily guarantee their success, those individuals in the majority will often have the first chance to fulfill the desirable roles. By contrast, individuals within the minority might commonly receive a mediocre education as well as more obstacles to have the same opportunities as other groups; sometimes these obstacles are virtually insurmountable. The feeling of unfairness and inequality can led many students who are disadvantaged to give up or drop out and their futures do not have the same probability for success. In the short story "Indian Education" by Sherman Alexie, the author tells a story in which the stereotypes that people acquire, simply on the basis of their ethnicity, stifle their educational opportunities and result in Native American students on the reservation to get left behind.

In the story, the education the Indian children receive is second-rate, to say the least. In the story's depiction of the second grade, it portrays how the second grade students are treated unequally even at a young age. There is a general sense that these students do not belong in the school which is exemplified by the fact that they are punished irrespective to their actual behavior and are not given equal treatment in classroom tests among other things. For example, "Betty Towle…made me stay in for recess fourteen days straight .Tell me you're sorry, she said. Sorry for what? I asked. Everything, she said and made me stand straight for fifteen minutes, eagle armed with books in each hand" (483). Standing straight eagle armed will result is your shoulder burning as they fill with lactic acid and cause a significant amount of pain.

Furthermore, Betty punishes Junior for seemingly random reasons that have no basis in his actual behavior. The teacher doesn't even give junior a legitimate reason or any kind of explanation as to why he is being punished in the first place.

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Rather, it is evident that she simply has a prejudice against him and acts in an immoral manner based on her disposition towards Indians. The story also illustrates the teacher's desire for Junior to fail. For example, she gives Junior a harder test, one that is more difficult than the other students receive, in a specific manner so that he will most likely fail it. However, somehow Junior actually manages to pass the test. Instead of receiving any kind of praise or recognition for passing the test, Junior is punished and the teacher makes Junior actually eat the paper. Betty wants him to fail so badly that she is actually actively trying to create excuses that would give her the grounds to make him flunk out of school. Instead of giving Junior any kind of opportunity, Betty is trying her best to ensure Junior's failure in while he is in her classroom.

The story portrays the seventh grade children's transition from the Indian reservation to the white farm town. "…kissed the white girl, I felt the good-byes I was saying to my entire tribe."(485).When he kisses the white it makes him feel disconnected from his own culture and his tribe in something of a moment that works to define his personal evolution. By kissing the white girl, he is metaphorically leaving much of his culture behind. Then after this event he physically leaves his tribe and makes the move to a white farm town. This has drastic implications, not only for him personally, but as he leaves the reservation to move to a white farm town an opportunity for success presents itself for him and his future. He will now be able to receive a better education as a result of this move because at this location there will be a predominately white school that he will be able to attend.

In the story, the twelfth grade is also important because the story contrasts some of the differences between the educations the students receive at the….....

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