Brief Analysis of the education of American Indian Children

Nowadays, though Obama has been elected as the first non-white president in the American history, the racial problem still exists in almost every aspect of the American society. American Indian children are the typical example. American Indians, who were originally the master of this continent, had been forced to live at the margin of the society since the colonization period. Their social status influences their economic status, which is also a key factor to affect their children’s education. Without money, American Indian children have to go to low-quality schools and receive a low-standard education. Thus, their drop-out rate tends to be higher than children of other races. What is worse, their confidence in themselves and the society has crushed, and they turn to the potential violent factor of this society, which exactly obeys the destination of education. This paper aims at analyzing the possible solutions to improve the education condition of American Indian children. The analysis shows that in order to regain their confidence, American Indian children should be given proper racial education, opportunities to contact with children of other races and more financial supports.

To begin with, to avoid unnecessary frustration and confusion from other races, American Indian children should receive proper racial education and learn to face the fact. Proper racial education means to let American Indian children understand the equality of different races. They should understand that people are born to be equal. Their race is not inferior or superior to other races. At the same time, American Indian children should also understand that efforts could improve their current lower social status. Teachers should teach them that there does exist racial discrimination and inequality in this society. American Indian children have the right to know the truth of the racial discrimination. It might not sound nice to them, but at least it is the best way to get out of their current obstacle. They should know that they are a lot of troubles ahead of them if they want to change their social status and financial condition. They should know that they have to be stronger, and they have to try their best to fight for their futures. In that case, they will not easily feel frustrated and disappointed if they meet obstacles. On one hand, American Indian children should be encouraged that they are the equal to children of other races. On the other hand, they should be taught that their current situation is due to the racial discrimination that will take a long time to eliminate from this society. In order to improve their social status and get a better education, they must prepare to defeat a lot of unexpected troubles. The best way to avoid unnecessary frustrations of the inferiority is to let these children understand where the inferiority comes from. The proper racial education could help them realize that this inferiority is not their mistake, but they could get rid of this inferiority by their efforts. Their first step is to learn to face the fact though it is cruel.

In addition, frequent contacts with teachers and students from other races could help American Indian children have a better understanding of themselves, which is a key factor in building confidence. In spite of proper racial education, real contacts with teachers and students from other races could help American Indian children have a better understanding of their current situation. Mutual understanding is also the most effective way to eliminate racial discriminations. In this aspect, education system could contribute by arranging regular exchanges of students and teachers from different races. This step must be taken after American Indian students have been taught what racial discriminations are and where they come from. After American Indian students know the fact about racial discrimination when they contact with teachers and students from other races, they will not feel easily frustrated and defeated. They have prepared to encounter racial discriminations. If students from other races have racial discriminations, they could vividly get the real feeling of being discriminated, which is crucial to make them stronger. If they contact with students without racial discriminations, then they may feel the society is better than they imagined, and they will easily gain confidence about their future. Before American Indian students are taught knowledge from books, they should first be taught facts from reality. This education could eliminate unnecessary psychological stress and stimulate their strong desires to learn and change their fates.

Last but not least, to avoid drop-out due to financial difficulties, American Indian families could be provided with financial supports in an encouraging way. After American Indian students realize the fact and get ready to change their fate by knowledge, and then educational system could try to give financial supports to those American Indian families to avoid unnecessary drop-out due to the financial difficulties. At that time, those financial supports could exert at the maximum level. It will cause a great burden for the society if the government just improves the frustration, quality of teaching and financial status of those American Indian families by direct financial supports (Sedlacek 36). Also, it will arouse great controversies. Meanwhile, those families may not take those supports seriously because they get them so easily. Thus, financial supports should only give those families that take their children’s education seriously and encourage their students to fight for their futures by education. This could avoid those supports go in vain when some American Indian children are not determined enough and drop out of the school. Furthermore, those financial supports should be given as an encouraging way, like educational loans, scholarships, rewards for community service, etc.

To sum up, in order to regain the confidence of American Indian children in their education, they should be taught the facts of racial discriminations in the society and related reasons. Then when American Indian children get prepared to face the challenge and inequality, contacts with teachers and students from other races could help them have a better understanding of they have been taught. By frequent contacts, American Indian students could understand themselves better, which is essential to build confidence and reduce frustrations. When American Indian children are determined to change their fates by knowledge and education, the education system could offer financial supports in an encouraging way to help them.